El Tablazo Natural Gas Processing Plant

Corporación Venezolana del Petróleo contracted Fluor to provide design, engineering and procurement services for a 165-million-standard-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas processing plant. The El Tablazo plant, located in Estado Zulia, Venezuela, was constructed to supply ethane feedstock to the El Tablazo Petrochemical Complex.

Fluor's Turbo-Expander Cryogenic Process technology was implemented on this project. The turbo-expander process is a proprietary technology to recover liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas.

Client's Challenge

The sanction to expand the El Tablazo Petrochemical Complex required a significant capital investment. Fluor was selected due to the role of its proven technology and project expertise in reducing the client's execution risk.

Upon completion, the El Tablazo plant's new product will be supplied to market both domestically and for export.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor pioneered the extraction of liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas using the turbo-expander process. Fluor built the first commercial turbo-expander plant in 1963.

Fluor utilized this technology on the El Tablazo plant to efficiently recover liquid hydrocarbons.

Conclusion

Fluor provided design, engineering and procurement services for the El Tablazo plant in Venezuela. Startup of the natural gas processing plant on-stream was achieved in May 1975.