Wärtsilä Hamworthy delivers onshore firewater system to BP refinery in Australia.
Wärtsilä Hamworthy has delivered a firewater pump system to BP Australia, in a custom-built engineering project that met strict delivery schedule requirements. The delivery was part of the oil major’s drive to further enhance safety at its Bulwer Island refinery in Queensland. Wärtsilä Hamworthy has been gaining ground in the oil and gas sector in recent years with a succession of high profile contracts on and offshore.
This most recent success for BP Australia involved Hamworthy’s sites in Denmark, Singapore and Poland and comprised two hydraulically-driven firewater pumps, selected to meet the NFPA-20 standard for the installation of stationary pumps for fire protection. Each has a capacity of 1,358m3/hr, provided through pump shafts measuring 3.8m in length. Wärtsilä Hamworthy delivered the order following a timely assembly and test programme in Singapore and speed of design and delivery were cited as major factors in winning the order. “The delivery schedule was within a short timeframe of just 10 months after a concerted multi-national effort across the company,” says Paul Fleetwood, managing director, Hamworthy Flow Solutions.
The package of equipment includes two long-shaft CL300 pumps from Hamworthy Svanehøj in Denmark, which have been installed on the refinery jetty in the Brisbane River, and two skid-mounted diesel driven hydraulic power units, which were designed and assembled at Hamworthy Singapore with design support from Hamworthy Baltic Design Centre, the company’s specialist design and naval consultancy arm based in Poland. The power units are located onshore under a specially constructed shelter close to the jetty. “We have supplied firewater pumps to a number of offshore installations, but this is a key breakthrough for us onshore proving our ability to apply our firewater pump solutions and know-how to land-based applications,” says Mr Fleetwood.
Hamworthy Singapore’s project manager, Pal Kongsrud explained that the hydraulic motors are mounted above the pumps on the river jetty rather than being submerged. This improves the serviceability of the drives and reduces the risk of contamination of the river by leaking hydraulic fluids. A further containment system has been specified below the drive to protect the local environment.