Rolls-Royce announced today that it had signed a Long Term Service Agreement with Metragaz, affiliate of the Spanish group Natural Gas, worth £11.2 million covering the maintenance of their RB211 gas compressor installations operating in Morocco, North Africa.
The contract covers seven Rolls-Royce RB211 compressor sets installed on one of the world’s most important natural gas pipelines, the 1375km Maghreb line linking North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula.
The new LTSA will benefit the pipeline’s operator, Metragaz, on behalf of Europe Maghreb Pipeline Ltd (EMPL) the project leader of the Maghreb pipeline in Morocco and affiliate of the Spanish Group Gas Natural, by enabling Rolls-Royce to ensure maximum equipment availability and reliability through a six-year programme of scheduled maintenance and technical support including a resident Rolls-Royce engineer.
The Maghreb pipeline, which conveys natural gas from Algeria via Morocco to Spain and Portugal, began operations in 1996 with four RB211 gas compressor sets. In 2003 EMPL ordered three additional RB211s as part of a programme to further enhance the pipeline’s performance.
These latest units provide a 50 per cent increase to the original 8.5 billion cubic metre annual capacity of the Maghreb pipeline, helping to meet increasing demand for gas in the Iberian markets.
The compressor sets, complete with their En-Tronic control systems also manufactured by Rolls-Royce, will be covered by the new Long Term Service Agreement. This continuing partnership between Rolls-Royce and Metragaz will control the operator’s maintenance budget while maximising availability and profitability of the pipeline and its power system.
As a result of the enhanced performance of the Maghreb pipeline, gas from Algerian fields now accounts for some 30 per cent of all the gas Spain consumes. At the same time this increased availability of economically-priced natural gas has led to a vigorous growth in demand for gas fired electrical power generation installations.
Foremost in this market is the Rolls-Royce range of
gas turbines and reciprocating gas engines. Sales of these engines have passed 100 units in Spain alone to meet industrial power requirements for a wide range of processing and manufacturing plants throughout the country.
