Learnings

Outcomes

Progress 2018/2019: 
The project is still in the design stage, but the current progress indicates that a fully functioning design which considers a variety of different aspects, for example Health and Safety and operability, will soon be delivered. 

Progress 2019/2020: 
The project is still in flight – but it is anticipated that a fully working solution can still be produced to meet the objectives of developing a mobile condensate collection solution. 
 
Closure 2020/2021: 
At the project close, the design produced has been trialed and proven to work - that is the transfer of condensate collected in a scrubber to the mobile vessel whilst maintaining pressure in the system and minimising the volume of natural gas vented to the atmosphere. The produced design also meets the other project aims and addresses the possible health and safety concerns with the existing system on site alongside the complex and infrequent operation of this plant. 

Lessons Learnt

Progress 2018/2019: 
The approach of producing eight feasible designs and presenting them to the relevant stakeholders and then scoring these designs against a matrix promoted a lot of useful discussions and ideas. It allowed the stakeholders to visualise various options as well as challenging the operational philosophy of the process. This approach should be considered for all future projects that require a design work-package. 

Progress 2019/2020: 
There are three main lessons identified during the course of the project to date: 
Consider the possibility of splitting this kind of project in to two separate NIA’s at the start. The first project could cover all the initial FEED activity and produce some accurate solution designs that costs can be allocated to. The second NIA could then cover the manufacturing, testing and field trials of the solution. This would then prevent a possible change control midway through a project. 
Setting up a supplier on an industry procurement system can take a substantial duration of time – and any issues along the way could cause severe programme delays. Future consideration could be to contract directly with one supplier who can order all the parts needed for the manufacture on NG’s behalf. 
Allocate more FEED time at the beginning of the project whenever any intrusive, or potentially risky operations are being considered as part of the project solution to prevent down-stream delays. 
 
Closure 2020/2021: 
In addition to the lessons mentioned above, a few other lessons learnt have been identified: 
Use of existing / decommissioned equipment. In the latter stages of the project and leading up to the trialing activities, there was a great deal of time and resource invested into preparing the decommissioned scrubber acquired from a National Grid compressor station. In hindsight, fabricating a purpose-built test scrubber would have been preferable. 
Covid-19 related delays. Some delays were incurred due to suppliers located in a country with high Covid rates. Although this was not something that could have been anticipated by the project team, potentially procuring the parts from within the United Kingdom may have been the preferred option. 
Longer trial periods to allow for fuller trialing of the equipment in order to troubleshoot issues that arise. During the trials, the transfer operation was completed but due to time constrains the different liquid mediums could not all be trialed. Consideration for multiple days of trialing may be beneficial for future projects.