South African engineering company Energas Technologies is celebrating 25 years of supplying engineered solutions, equipment and technical support to the natural gas industry.
Established in 2001, the Jet Park-based company supplies equipment and executes projects across the natural gas value chain. Its offering includes pressure reduction and metering stations, pipeline ball valves, gas filtration, custody-transfer metering, gas heating systems and gas-to-power solutions.
During this period, Energas has established itself as the leading South African specialist in the design and supply of high-pressure customer metering stations (HPCMSs) and customer metering stations (CMSs).
These stations provide the critical interface between a gas transmission or distribution pipeline and a new gas user. Typical customers include power stations, manufacturing plants, mineral-processing facilities and other large industrial users requiring natural gas for boilers, process heating or gas engines.
“Connecting a new industrial customer to a gas pipeline involves much more than simply installing a branch connection,” says Energas product manager Laetitia Jansen van Vuuren.
“The gas must be safely isolated, filtered, accurately measured, heated where necessary, reduced to the customer’s required operating pressure and protected against overpressure. All these functions must operate reliably as one integrated system.”
Reducing Project Risk
Energas offers complete turnkey HPCMS and CMS solutions, including process, mechanical, piping, civil, electrical and instrumentation engineering. Depending on the project requirements, its scope can extend from the pipeline tie-in and underground connecting pipeline to the skid-mounted station, control system, civil works, installation, commissioning and operator training.
A central feature of the Energas approach is the prefabrication of stations on structural steel skids in a workshop environment.
The skid-mounted configuration enables welding, non-destructive testing, pressure testing, coating, assembly, wiring, inspections and factory-acceptance testing to be completed before the equipment is transported to site.
“Prefabrication allows engineering and manufacturing to continue while the customer, pipeline operator and authorities complete the necessary site and regulatory approval processes,” Jansen van Vuuren explains.
“Applications for construction licences and associated approvals can take several months. Completing as much work as possible in the workshop reduces the amount of construction undertaken at site, shortens the installation period and lowers site-establishment costs.”
Workshop fabrication is also less exposed to adverse weather, remote-site constraints, fluctuating site labour availability and interfaces with other contractors. Once approvals and civil works are complete, the tested skid modules can be delivered and connected.
The approach reduces project risk while giving the customer a single point of responsibility for the integrated station.
Quality and Support
An HPCMS typically incorporates filtration, custody-transfer metering, heating, pressure regulation, overpressure protection, isolation, instrumentation and remote monitoring. Energas designs its pressure reduction and metering systems in accordance with applicable pipeline and process-piping standards, including ASME B31.8 and ASME B31.3, as well as customer-specific requirements.
The company combines its local engineering and integration capabilities with equipment from established international manufacturers.
GFS REGES pressure regulators and SAGES safety shut-off valves are used for accurate pressure control and rapid, non-venting isolation during abnormal pressure conditions. Pressure regulators and slam-shut valves are at the heart of stations supplying regional gas networks, industrial users and power plants.
RMA Pipeline Equipment supplies fully welded pipeline ball valves and insulation joints. The ball valves provide double-block-and-bleed functionality and primary metal and secondary soft sealing, while insulation joints electrically separate sections of pipeline to support cathodic-corrosion protection.
Gas filtration is provided using equipment from GTS Thielmann, including cartridge filters and filter separators designed to remove solids and, where required, liquid contamination before the gas enters the regulators and meters.
RMG turbine or ultrasonic custody-transfer metering systems provide accurate measurement of the gas delivered to the customer for operational and billing purposes.
Mokveld critical-service valves provide dependable solutions for demanding applications where ultra-fast response, stable control and proven reliability are essential.
“Equipment selection is based not only on its initial performance, but also on long-term reliability, maintainability and the availability of technical support,” Jansen van Vuuren says.
“Energas provides local commissioning, maintenance and troubleshooting support, backed by long-standing relationships with its international technology partners.”
Proven African References
Energas’ project track record includes gas receiving and metering infrastructure for facilities across Africa.
For the Kpone Independent Power Plant in Tema, Ghana, Energas designed and supplied a skid-mounted fuel gas receiving station for the roughly 340 MW power facility. The station comprised five prefabricated and factory-tested skids for inlet filtration, ultrasonic metering, gas heating and pressure reduction, together with a packaged control room. The modular design also helped Energas accommodate the station within a restricted installation area.
In Mozambique, Energas completed the turnkey HPCMS for the 120 MW Gigawatt power plant at Ressano Garcia. The project included the mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and civil design and construction of a station that filters, meters and heats the gas before reducing the pipeline pressure from about 120 bar to 6 bar.
More recently, Energas supplied and commissioned an HPCMS for a manufacturing facility in Mozambique.
LNG Drives Development
Energas expects imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to create new opportunities for gas-fired power generation and industrial use in South Africa.
The country’s gas industry is preparing for declining conventional gas supply from Mozambique, while new LNG import, storage and regasification infrastructure is being investigated to support longer-term energy security.
“The introduction of imported LNG into the existing pipeline network could give current users greater supply security while enabling customers to convert to natural gas,” Jansen van Vuuren says.
“After 25 years of engineering natural gas infrastructure across Southern Africa, Energas believes it is well positioned to support the next phase of the region’s gas market.”
