Engineering consultant EPCM Bonisana, a subsidiary of EPCM Holdings, has been appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) and helium producer Renergen’s Virginia gas project, in South Africa. 

EPCM Bonisana is responsible for building the gas gathering system connecting the gas wells for the project, which it started in 2019 and will be completing in 2020.

The gas gathering network ties all 12 existing wells together to feed into the

liquefied natural gas (LNG)/ liquid helium plant. The pipelines also function as buffer storage for the plants. The extracted gas will be transported through a pipeline network to one of two compressor stations; either compressor station A or compressor station B depending on the well location.

At the compressor stations, the gas will be compressed and dried to suit the LNG/ liquid helium plant requirement. The discharge of the compressor stations will join and culminate at a single supply point feeding the downstream LNG/ liquid helium plant.

EPCM Holdings CEO Tom Cowan explains that the gas gathering system is a “crucial element to the project” and should be considered as the “veins of the system” – pumping the required gas to the LNG/ liquid helium plant – with the compressor station forming the heart of the system. 

Meanwhile, Cowan highlights that although EPCM Bonisana has been appointed as the EPC contractor for the project, the company has been involved in the project since the early stages of the project. This includes EPCM’s involvement in the prefeasibility study, construction of the compressed natural gas station as well as the front-end engineering design of the gas gathering system

Through successful completion of various studies, trust between EPCM and Renergen was established, which led to EPCM being able to compete for various other sections in the project.

“We anticipate that, with the successful implementation of this project, the current relationship with Renergen will be solidified. We hope that it will pave the way to further ground-breaking opportunities between our organisations.”