Emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) and helium producer Renergen has appointed EPCM Bonisana, a subsidiary of EPCM Holdings, as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for its Virginia gas project, in South Africa.
The contractor will be responsible for building the gas gathering system connecting the gas wells for the project.
The gas gathering system is a critical component of the project, as it will reticulate all the gas to a centralised point for processing, before the LNG and helium is sold to customers.
To be developed over two phases, the first phase will see the reticulation of the 12 existing wells, along with several new wells to be drilled in the coming months. This will result in the production of about 2 700 GJ of LNG and 350 kg of liquid helium a day, starting in 2021.
EPCM Holdings CEO Tom Cowan explained that the pipeline would comprise predominantly high-density polyethylene pipe buried about 2 m below the surface and would bring natural gas from various locations across the field.
The pipeline will include two compression stations, which will boost the pressure along the route that terminates at a centralised point where the gas will be processed into the end-product.
“Importantly, the construction is anticipated to bring much-needed employment to the area and will positively impact on local communities through job creation,” he highlighted.
The second phase is currently being planned and could include the helium-bearing sandstone trap discovered on the eastern side of the project area.
In this respect, Renergen said “significant data has been obtained and is being processed to assist in the planning of the first deviated well”. This will determine the scale of helium production in the second phase.
Commenting on the first major milestone for the company since listing on the ASX in June, Renergen CEO Stefano Marani said the company has had “a long-standing working relationship with EPCM, having worked alongside each other since the very early stages of the Virginia gas project”.
He added that EPCM was responsible for the completion of the prefeasibility assessment at Virginia, building the pilot compressed natural gas plant for Tetra4 in 2016 and assisting the company with ongoing feasibility and engineering studies.
“Importantly, EPCM shares our goal of developing Virginia into a globally significant producer of LNG and helium,” he said.
The helium market is expected to continue gaining widespread attention surrounding supply constraint issues.