Twister BV announced a joint technology development agreement with Petrobras for the development of a subsea gas processing unit. The project is built on results of a feasibility study completed in 2002 by a partnership comprising Shell, FMC-Kongsberg and Twister BV that was funded by the Norwegian Government under the DEMO 2000 program. It also benefits from a subsequent subsidy award from the European Commission for the development and testing of the company’s subsea gas processing system.

The company’s processing unit treats gas at supersonic velocities, extracting water and hydrocarbon liquids. The process requires no chemicals, so it reduces environmental emissions and exposure to hazardous gas. In addition, the module has no moving parts, permits near instant startup and allows considerable cost reduction for offshore installations.
Petrobras purchased a unit for an onshore test to take place during 2008 at the Estacao Geofisico Vandemir Ferreira de Oliveira (EVF DPP), which processes gas from the Manati platform (PMNT-1), both located the Bahia State in northeast Brazil. The gas processing module will be used for dehydrating and dewpointing Manati gas before it is delivered as sales gas.

Petrobras has identified the Canapu field in the Espirito Santo basin as the preferred location for subsequent testing of the company’s subsea pilot system. An onshore chemical-free gas processing module will be installed in early 2008 to process 120 MMcf/d of gas that will be supplied as fuel to the 970 MW Afam V1 Power Plant in Nigeria, which is owned and operated by Shell Petroleum Development Co.

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