Honeywell Enhances Automation Systems Efficiency

July 20, 2010
Systems at Dolphin's Ras Laffan Plant to be Upgraded with Latest Software and Hardware Automation Platforms

Honeywell announced that it is working with Dolphin Energy in Qatar to upgrade its existing Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS)  servers, stations and software online at its gas processing plant at Ras Laffan to further improve the facility's efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.

The upgrade will enable the enhancement of production processes at the plant located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, which is the largest single build plant in the world and central to Dolphin's operations in the region. Dolphin Energy was set up to produce and process natural gas from Qatar's offshore North Field. The processed gas is then transported to the UAE via an undersea pipeline.

As part of the project, Honeywell will upgrade nine Experion servers and 45 Experion stations to Honeywell certified Experion system hardware platforms, allowing Dolphin to optimize their integrated control system performance and sustain their automation investments.  The project also includes an upgrade of the facility's system software to the latest release, including its operating system.

The offline development system will be a small-scale replica of the gas processing plant's existing integrated control system and will allow Dolphin Energy to test various migration scenarios without affecting the plant's productivity. In addition to supporting a safe and incident-free migration of the facility's systems, the development system will also facilitate the training of engineers on the Experion platform.