SYRIA - The Suwaidiyah Associated Gas Treatment/Processing Plant.

The first gas plant to be built in Syria, Suwaidiyah's facility came on stream in late 1973 to treat associated gas. A bigger, modern processing plant was built later and came on stream at the beginning of 1985. This treats and processes associated gas from the Karatchok, Suwaidiyah and Rumailan oilfields.

The plant's design capacity is 660,000 CM/day of raw gas. It produces 560,000 CM/day of dry gas. About 520,000 CM/day are transported by pipeline to two nearby power plant stations, and 40,000 CM/d are consumed locally. The plant also produces 132 t/d of LPG, transported by tanker trucks to local consumers; 70 t/d of condensate injected into the oilfields with crude oil; and 20 t/d of sulphur.

Suwaidiyah Power Station-I is small, with three turbines using associated gas from the Suwaidiyah field installed by end-1973: two Hitachi turbines with 18.75 MW design capacity, at 27[degrees]C, and a 24% yield ratio; and one AOG turbine with 19.5 MW design capacity, at 27[degrees]C, and a 28% yield ratio. Three other AOG turbines were installed at the station in 1984. Now the station functions with five operational turbines and one reserve.

Electricity from these turbines was used to power the Hasaka region, in the north-west of the country, until 1979 - when they were linked to the national grid owing to their production of surplus electricity. These turbines use treated associated gas from Suwaidiyah and free gas produced at the Triassic wells in Suwaidiyah.

Consumption there amounts to 182 MCM/year from the treatment plant and about 26 MCM/year of untreated Triassic gas. This covers the annual operations of the turbines, at 66% of installed capacity - or 115.5 MW. Electricity produced through 1978, including the power consumed in meeting the requirements of oilfields in the Hasaka area amounted to 308,600 MW-hours. Total electricity produced from 1979 until mid-1989 to meet the Hasaka fields' requirements, with surpluses directed to the national grid, amounted to 2,817.45m MW-hours.

The quantity of gas consumed by the Suwaidiyah-I station during 1988 amounted to 144.5 MCM/year, producing 461,135 MW-hours of power, of which 266,381 MW-hours went to the national grid.