Wärtsilä, the marine and oil & gas industry’s leading provider of innovative products, solutions and services, has signed three contracts with Aker Midsund of Norway to deliver its Vessel Internal Electrostatic Coalescer (VIEC) systems for three North Sea oilfields. The system enhances the speed and efficiency of the separation process of oil and water on board in an environmentally safe manner. The systems are scheduled to be delivered between April and August 2014.
The VIECs will be utilised at the Gina Krog, Mariner and Ivar Aasen oil fields in the North Sea. Aker Midsund is the separation package supplier for all three projects towards the EPC contract holders. Wärtsilä will supply a complete VIEC system with all required elements, all vessel internal cabling and tubing, penetrators and stainless steel frames, supports, and other items including the power distribution to each project. The systems will enable the quality of the oil and water to be notably improved.
The VIEC is suitable for both offshore and onshore installations and greatly improves both oil and produced water quality. It solves the problems often associated with emulsion and capacity limits in separators. Until the development of VIEC, electrostatic coalescer technology had been unavailable for use in inlet separators.