Published on 06 June 2014
The Karachaganak field, located in north-west Kazakhstan, is one of the world's largest gas and condensate fields, operated by KPO (Karachaganak Petroleum Operating) under a Production Sharing Agreement.
KPO (then KIO) has been an industrial member of TWI since 2002, when the Phase 2 plant was still under construction.
The Karachaganak field faces a range of engineering challenges, including ambient temperatures that vary between -40 and 40◦C, sour production fluids, and the need to reinject sour gas at pressures of up to 550 bar.
TWI has delivered continuous support to KPO over the past ten years, providing advice both remotely and via site visits, in such diverse areas as weld procedure development, structural integrity analysis/engineering critical assessment (ECA), materials engineering, failure investigation, training of staff and contractors, site hardness measurements and laboratory testing. Much of the support was delivered via a call-off contract, allowing rapid mobilisation of TWI staff and a flexible approach to laboratory work, with the workscope changing regularly according to findings in the laboratory or on site.
For more information about TWI capabilities in this technology, please visit the structural integrity pages on our website.