Central Area Transmission System

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  7. 1993 establishments
  8. BP
  9. North Sea energy
  10. Natural gas pipelines in the United Kingdom
  11. Natural gas terminals
  12. Buildings and structures completed in 1993
  13. Natural gas plants
  14. Stockton-on-Tees Borough
  15. Buildings and structures in County Durham


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CATS pipeline
Location
Country North Sea, United Kingdom
General direction north-south-west
From CATS Riser Platform
To CATS processing terminal in Teesside, England
General information
Type natural gas
Partners BG Group, BP, Hess Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Eni), Total
Operator BP
Commissioned 1993
Technical information
Length 404 km (Bad rounding hereScript error mi)
Maximum discharge 17.5 billion cubic meter per year
CATS Gas Terminal
<center>Location within United Kingdom County Durham</center>
Alternative names CATS Terminal
General information
Type Gas terminal
Location Seal Sands, Stockton-on-Tees, TS2 1UB
Coordinates

54°36′37″N 1°10′41″W / 54.6103°N 1.17807°W / 54.6103; -1.17807{{#coordinates:54.6103|-1.17807|type:landmark|||||| | |name=

}}
Elevation 5 metres
Current tenants BP
Inaugurated May 1993
Technical details
Floor area 70 acres (280,000 m2)
Design and construction
Owner BP

The Central Area Transmission System (also known as CATS pipeline) is a natural gas transportation system from the Central North Sea to Teesside in England.

History

The receiving terminal site for the system was built between 1990 and 1993. It was originally run by Amoco. The CATS pipeline was completed in 1993, receiving gas from two of Amoco's fields: Everest and Lomond, now owned by BG.[1] Further processing facilities were added in 1997. Plans for the site began from the discovery of BP's Lomond field in May 1972. In addition, other fields were discovered in the Central Graben Area of the North Sea.

In July 2007, the CATS pipeline was damaged by the anchor of the vessel 'Young Lady'. The pipeline was shut-in for two months.[2]

Route

The pipeline runs from CATS Riser Platform adjacent to the BG Group operated Everest gasfield in the Central North Sea, some 230 kilometres (140 mi) east of Aberdeen, to Teesside in England.[2] The pipeline reaches the shore at Coatham Sands near Redcar where it meets a Beach Valve Station. The gas travels under the River Tees in a 5-mile (8.0 km) long pipeline to the gas terminal.

The CATS pipeline was originally conceived to carry natural gas from the Everest and Lomond fields and was built oversized to accommodate future production from fields in the surrounding area. The CATS pipeline now transports gas from other fields such as Fleming, Judy, Jade, Maria et al through six connection points, known as 'tees' (T1 to T6), and seven CATS hubs.

Technical description

404 kilometres (250 mi) long natural gas pipeline The pipeline has a diameter of 36 inches (910 mm) and a capacity of 17.5 billion cubic meter (bcm) of natural gas per year.[2] The outside of the pipe is coated in concrete.

Ownership

BG Group has a 51.18% interest in the CATS pipeline. Other partners of the pipeline are Hess Corporation (17.72%), ConocoPhillips (0.66%), Eni (0.34%), Total (0.57%) and BP (29.53%). The operator is BP.[2] Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) on 1 April 2010 announced that it had agreed to acquire North Sea gas and infrastructure assets from Hess, including its interest in CATS.  The deal was pre-empted by BP and BG.  The deal completed on 2 February 2011 and is effective from 1 January 2010. BG increased its stake to 62.42% and BP increased its stake to 36.01%; other stakes remained unchanged.

CATS Terminal

The Central Area Transmission System Terminal (also known as the CATS Terminal) is the connection point and processing facility for the CATS pipeline. It is based in Teesmouth at Seal Sands (borough of Stockton on Tees) on the North Sea coast. It is not just a storage facility, but processes the gas, about 12% of the North Sea's production. It is situated in the middle of Teesmouth's petrochemical area, between an oil terminal to the north, and a chemical works and the Teesside Oil Refinery (to the south).

Gas processing

The gas terminal processes about 34 million standard cubic metres of natural gas a day in two units. The gas is dried in dehydration towers with a triethylene glycol cold finger regeneration system. One unit passes through a turboexpander and the other through a Joule-Thomson Valve which reduces the pressure.

In the Low Temperature Separator, gas plant also produces the natural gas liquids propane, butane and liquid oil products (also known as natural gas condensate). These are fed into a fractionation system with a stabiliser column (where methane and ethane are removed), a de-propaniser and a de-butaniser.

The NGLs are transported by pipeline to petrochemical companies in the Teesmouth area. The propane and butane goes to the Phillips Norsea plant, and the condensate goes to Sabic North Tees on the former ICI site at Wilton and to the Tees Storage site owned by Vopak in Seal Sands.

px terminal

Since 1999, gas that is not processed by the CATS Terminal goes to the plant next-door owned by px Ltd. Also some of this gas goes through the px Ltd plant to the (former Enron) 1875MW Teesside power station next to the former ICI plant at Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland.

Distribution

The natural gas is metered, removed of hydrogen sulphide, and eventually enters the National Transmission System. It follows a four-mile (6 km) NTS feeder pipe to a pressure reduction station at Cowpen Bewley in Stockton-on-Tees, where gas can enter the Regional Transmission System. Further along the NTS feeder pipe, the gas enters the National Transmission System at Bishop Auckland.

The site has two tall chimneys and one taller flare stack. The site belongs to the Teesmouth Industry and Wildlife Partnership.

References

  1. ↑ "UK double for Aker Kvaerner". Upstream Online (NHST Media Group). 31 January 2005. http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article4591.ece. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Daniel Fineren (30 August 2007). "UK's CATS gas pipe reopens after repairs". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL3058280220070830?sp=true. Retrieved 4 October 2009.

External links


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