Shell - Groundbirch Montney 3

Gas Liquids Engineering Ltd. (GLE) provided EPCM services for the debottlenecking of the Groundbirch Montney 3 plant. The Montney 3 plant was originally designed for 80 MMSCF/d gas, no free condensate, and an inlet composition with 1.9% propane, as well as slug capacity of 30 m³. After initial startup the plant was only able to process 40 MMSCF/d, making approximately 90-100 m³/d of condensate, an inlet composition with 3.5% propane, and slug sizes of 100-130 m³. The inlet separators were overloaded with too much liquids and caused high level shutdowns of the plant when pigging. The stabilizer was overloaded with too much condensate, and the high propane content was also affecting stabilizer operating temperatures.

The Groundbirch Montney 3 debottleneck project consisted of three phases, allowing the Montney 3 plant to reach full capacity and recover a propane plus product, as well as safely storing its hydrocarbon liquids:

• NGL Bullet and Inlet Separator Piping to Bullet (complete with tie-ins for all 3 phases)
• Inlet Slug Fingers and slug pumps with 150 m³ of slug capacity
• Inlet Free Condensate Stabilization Package with a rating of 1500 bbl/d