May 16 2006
One of the world’s largest and most modern centers for the assembly and testing of compressor trains for use in oil and gas industry megaplants is to be built in Duisburg, Germany. Siemens Power Generation (PG) is investing some EUR90 million in this facility. At the groundbreaking ceremony, North-Rhine Westphalia’s Minister of Economics Christa Thoben received strong support from the Mayor of Duisburg, Adolf Sauerland, and from Klaus Voges, chairman of the managing board of Siemens PG.
The dynamic development of the oil and gas market is driving growth in the demand for large-scale compressor trains; petroleum is becoming scarce and thus more expensive. Using gas-to-liquids (GTL) processes, natural gas is converted to a clean liquid fuel. Concurrently, refinery plant concepts are being upscaled to enable processing of increasing amounts of feedstocks. In the future, oil and gas recovery will take place at increasingly remote locations and under more challenging conditions. Liquefaction of natural gas and shipping as LNG to consumer countries is therefore gaining importance compared to pipeline transport.
The new test center will be built on a 62,000 square meter site located directly adjacent to the existing Siemens PG manufacturing facility in Duisburg Hochfeld. The new building will be 220 meters long, 40 meters wide and 35 meters high. Completion of the plant is scheduled for June 2007 with commercial operation planned for August 2007. It will then be possible to simultaneously assemble and test as many as eight large-scale compressor trains, including their drives. This investment increases the competitiveness of Siemens PG in the growing oil and gas business and thus secures employment at the Duisburg manufacturing plant. Furthermore, this large project could add up to 150 new jobs in the test center and in fabrication.
Some 2,000 employees, including about 200 trainees, are employed at the headquarters of the Siemens Industrial Applications division in Duisburg. This facility concentrates on activities relating to compressor manufacturing. The center of competency with complete solutions for the oil and gas industry and the division’s worldwide service center are also located here.
http://www.siemens.com/powergeneration