Tobago Natural Gas Receiving Facility

Location: Cove Eco Estate and Business Park, Tobago
Owner/Operator: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago 

The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC)  onshore Gas Receiving Facility in Tobago is located adjacent to the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission Power Plant. It was designed to operate with two independent processing trains each with a capacity of 100mmscf/d and a metering system for measuring the gas volumes sold.

At present, only one processing train has been installed and therefore the facility’s current processing capacity is 100mmscf/d. This Gas Receiving Facility boasts of a ground flare, the first of its kind in the country. As a result, there exists no visible or open flame and no smoke emanates from the flare.

HGC Engineering was retained by Environmental Services Limited on behalf of the NGC to undertake a noise impact study of the then proposed onshore natural gas receiving and metering facility.  The study used predictive sound dispersion modeling to assess industrial noise emissions from the proposed site with respect to federal environmental regulations. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Environmental Management Act forms the basis of environmental noise assessments, specifically the Noise Pollution Control Rules.

At the onshore gas receiving and metering facility, incoming supply gas from an offshore pipeline is separated from its liquids; the produced condensate and water is then stored, and the separated natural gas metered before being delivered from the facility to offsite consumers.

The primary sources of sound associated with the facility include various pumps, heaters and compressors, a metering skid, electrical transformer and ground flare. Engineering calculations and measurements of similar/equivalent equipment conducted by HGC Engineering on past projects were used as the basis for modelling the sound emissions of the then proposed facility.

Our analysis indicated that sound emissions from the proposed gas receiving and metering facility would be within the applicable noise pollution control rules.

Acoustical engineering services delivered:

• Employed predictive analysis to determine the anticipated offsite sound levels in the neighbouring residential communities, resulting from the future operations of the facility.
• Evaluated the anticipated sound levels with respect to local environmental noise guidelines.