PERM ENGINE CO. YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
MIKHAIL DICHESKUL, Managing Director of PMZ and technologically related companies, answers the questions of the magazine
- PMZ started to operate in the sphere of industrial engine building at the beginning of the nineties. What was it in Perm gas turbines that attracted attention of such first-rate gas companies as Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz? Were there any advantages in comparison with Samara and Kazan gas turbine equipment manufacturers, who had been oil and gas-producing companies' partners of a longer standing?
- Surely, the organization of a powerful industrial cooperation for developing and producing industrial gas turbine equipment in Perm was due to implementation of Ural-Gazprom integrated program. The program became the largest conversion project of the beginning of the nineties in Perm. It united almost all of the local machinery manufacturers. It was due to the program that the development and manufacture of gas turbines became one of the core activities for the companies of Perm Motors Group.
As a result, presently PMZ boasts a wide range of gas turbines with capacities from 2.5 up to 25 MW which are used as drives for gas compressor plants (GCP), gas turbine pumping sets (GTPS) and power plants (GTPP).
Since Perm gas turbines were developed on the basis of the aviation engines having high parameters (III-series D-30 and modern PS-90À engine), it predetermined their advantages in comparison with the gas turbines of the other manufacturers:
- High reliability;
- High fuel efficiency;
- Low noise and emissions levels which meet corresponding international standards;
- Long assigned life.
- Adaptation of aviation technology to industrial application happened in your view. How was it happening? How unavoidable difficulties of the transition period were overcome? How the relations between Perm engine builders and their «earthly» partners were forming?
Engine assembly quality control. PMZ assembly shop- Introduction of Perm companies into industrial gas turbine business took place within the frame of Ural-Gazprom program, on completely mutually beneficial terms, when Gazprom faced the fact that a part of gas turbine equipment suppliers turned out to be in different countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and their equipment automatically became export product. The factory and the Design Company faced financing difficulties caused by significant decline in the volume of orders for aviation engines against the background of overall economic recession in the country.
As regards adaptation of aviation engines for industrial purposes, Perm engine-builders were not the first. Gas turbine drives based on aircraft engines had been used widely in gas transmission system as far back as in the seventies of the past century. Therefore the alliance of one of the best design schools headed by P.A. Soloviev, which developed PS-90À, the most reliable civil aviation engine of the fourth generation, with the serial-producing factory possessing competent personnel and all the necessary equipment and technology required for manufacturing the above mentioned engine, allowed developing and setting up serial production of gas turbines for power generation and gas transmission in a relatively short time.
The main hardship of the transition, or rather of the new period was inexperience in operating the new type of equipment and the lack of reference material. However, invaluable help with this matter came from time-tested customer support system created in the aviation industry.
Relations with the new partner, Gazprom, are truly those of partnership. The relations were developing evenly, meaning thatall the issues were solved expeditiously and routinely, without public reproaches from any of the parties. And it could not be different, because Gazprom, with its experience in using gas turbine equipment, perfectly understood that any new machinery has a standard set of «child diseases», and we comprehended that our product must meet customer's requirements and did everything we could to achieve that.
- Which of your projects implemented during the past 15 years do you consider the most significant?
- For the past fifteen years PMZ expanded the geography of operation of its gas turbines from Sakhalin Island in the East to Adria City (Italy) in the West, from Sivas compressor station in the South of Turkey to gas fields on the very North of Russia, at Yamal peninsula.
I would like to mention the participation of PMZ in such strategic projects of Gazprom as the construction of North European Gas Pipeline and Bovanenkovo-Ukhta pipeline.
Among final customers of PMZ appeared such companies as LUKOIL OJSC; Surgutneftegaz OJSC, NK Rosneft OJSC, Gazpromneft OJSC, NOVATEK OJSC, Nortgaz CJSC, TGK-6 OJSC, ÒGÊ-9 OJSC, Bashkirenergo OJSC, etc. Perm-built gas turbine engines were delivered abroad - to Turkey, Italy, Belarus.
It is particularly worth mentioning that only for the last several years Aviadvigatel designed, and PMZ manufactured a variety of new products:
- GTU-6PG with a capacity of 6 MW for use as a drive for gas compressor plants and gas turbine-driven pumping sets;
- GTU-12PG-2 - an explosion-proof 12 MW power unit;
- PS-90EU-16À - 16 MW power-generating gas turbine engine with free 3000-rpm power turbine (does not require a gearbox);
- GTU-25P 25 MW gas turbine mechanical drive;
- GTE-25P 22.5 MW unit.
- What are the most important requirements that Gazprom imposes on PMZ products? And to what extent do Perm-built gas turbines satisfy them?
GPA-16DKS-02 gas compressor plants based on GTU-16P gas turbines.
DKS-5 booster station of Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg Ltd
- Gas compressor plant is the main processing equipment of compressor stations. These plants compress gas for its further transmission in the pipelines and pumping it to underground storage facilities. Reliability of the whole unified gas supply system of Russia depends upon the reliability of gas compressor plants. Therefore, the main Gazprom's requirement to gas turbine drives is reliability, maintainability and operability. PMZ and Aviadvigatel constantly work on product reliability improvement and design development.
The corresponding modifications are being taken into consideration during manufacture of new units and are introduced into the design of the previously manufactured units. If possible, it is done on site or otherwise during overhaul at PMZ.
Gazprom places high emphasis on the gas turbine parameters which influence life cycle cost - the costs of a new unit and an overhaul, and fuel and oil consumption. PMZ continuously works on lowering costs of production, and decreasing production and overhaul cycles.
- Mikhail Dmitrievitch, how do you evaluate the current position of Perm engine-building on the Russian market of gas turbine equipment?
- Initially, Perm gas turbines were developed in cooperation with Gazprom. The latter remains the core final purchaser of our products. In the longer term, after 2010 Gazprom's demand is assumed to increase to 40-50 gas turbines annually due to the planned retrofitting of gas compressor plants put into operation between 1980 and 1987, because it was exactly then a record number of gas compressor plants, which are now outdated and run-down, went into service.
Also in the period of 2008-2010 the number of planned overhauls is presumed to increase. This refers to the gas turbines brought into service from the end of the nineties to the beginning of the present century. However, the percentage of exterior customers who require drives for both gas compressor plants and gas turbine power plants grows year by year. A quest for new markets allows PMZ to diversify its business and minimize risks attributable to dependence upon one major customer. The undoubted advantage of PMZ that distinguishes it from the other domestic producers is a wide variety of gas turbine drives with capacities ranging from 2.5 to 25 MW.
This factor, combined with other advantages of our products, namely reliability and operational efficiency, enables our enterprise to maintain a leading position among other manufacturers of gas turbine equipment. In terms of the quantity of gas turbine engines commissioned as part of gas compressor plants and gas turbine power plants on the post-Soviet territory between 1999 and 2007 (with capacities ranging from 2.5 to 25 MW), PMZ's share amounts to more than 30%.
The arrival of ÎPÊ Oboronprom OJSC as a proprietor in March 2008 enabled us to create a development strategy, which resulted in approving and commencing implementation of the Investment Program of Perm Motors Group for the year 2008, planning period of 2009 and 2010, and development forecast for the period of 2011 - 2015.
Implementation of the above mentioned program allowed us as recently as at the initial phase to consolidate core assets of Perm Motors Group, improve management efficiency and, most importantly, start solving problems of the Group' development, and to achieve higher level of sales.
- Could you please evaluate the participation of Perm engine-builders in the Sakhalin II project, as well as in the construction of power facilities by LUKOIL-Zapadnaya Sibir.
Assembly of Ural-4000 gas turbine power plant on Sakhalin-Energy site, Gastello settlement, Sakhalin Island
In the end of 2007, PMZ delivered six GTU-12PG-2 gas turbines for LUKOIL-Zapadnaya Sibir Ltd to be used as part of EGES-12S power plants on Vat'-Yoganskoye oil and gas field. Aviadvigatel OJSC acted as a supplier of EGES-12S plants.
After commissioning gas turbine power plant of Vat'-Yoganskoye oil and gas field became a large-scale captive power generating facility. The power plant uses associated petroleum gas as fuel.
To develop further cooperation between the companies in 2007 Perm companies and LUKOIL-Zapadnaya Sibir Ltd concluded the contracts for two GTU-10P gas turbines delivery to be used as part of gas compressor plants on Severo-Gubkinskoye field. In 2008, the contracts for delivery of eight GTU-12PG-2 gas turbines to operate as part of EGES-12S power plants at Tevlinsko-Russkinskoye field were signed.
Successful execution of Sakhalin II project contributes to the formation of a new power center on the Russian Far East. Sakhalin II will become a new source of liquid natural gas supply for the Asia-Pacific Region. The project offers several unique advantages, including its close proximity to the markets of the consumers and to rich oil and gas reserves.
This year PMZ completed its contractual obligations before Aviadvigatel by manufacturing three GTU-4P and two GTU-6PG gas turbines for Sakhalin II project. Implementation of these projects was preceded by winning in the end of 2006 of two tenders for gas turbine equipment delivery by two Perm enterprises, namely Aviadvigatel OJSC and Iskra-Energetika CJSC. The competitors of Perm companies were the enterprises well-known throughout the world, including Siemens and Solar.
The fact that the tenders were won by the companies taking part in Perm gas turbine equipment-building cooperation underlines the important role that the Russian enterprises play in executing one of the largest power-generating projects in the world. The results of Sakhalin II project tenders show that Perm-built gas turbine machinery is recognized as competitive not only by domestic, but also by Western customers on the world market of power generation and oil equipment.
- Do you consider feasible PMZ's participation in North European Gas Pipeline project, and, if you do, with what equipment?
Locations of Perm gas turbine equipment in land-based section of North-European gas pipiline
- The construction of North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) is one of the significant prospective projects of Gazprom. NEGP will directly link the Unified Gas Supply System of the Russian Federation with the consumers of the European Union and provide Russia with additional capabilities to develop its natural gas export. Sea section of the pipeline will run at the bottom of the Baltic Sea from Russia (Vyborg) to Germany. Its length will be 1,220 km. On the Russian territory Gazprom builds Gryazovets-Vyborg ground section measuring 917 km.
PMZ is actively participating in manufacturing the equipment required for constructing the ground section of NEGP. To date, the contracts for manufacture of five GTU-25P gas turbines for Babayevskaya compressor station and four GTU-16P for Elizavetinskaya compressor station were signed with Gazprom, and the manufacture of these units has already started. The delivery term is the year 2009. Separate contracts stipulate the delivery of one back-up engine for each station. Furthermore, it is planned to conclude the contracts with Gazprom for delivery of five GTU-16P for Sheksninskaya compressor station and four GTU-16P for Pikalevskaya compressor station, with the delivery due in 2010.
- The Program of Improvement of Industrial and Economic Activity of the Company and Technologically Related Companies is active at PMZ. Within the framework of this Program the management of all the technologically related companies and PMZ is concentrated in your hands. How is it going to influence the production process optimization? And what benefits will your customers obtain from it?
- Development of production of industrial and aviation engines, launching products on the international market impose up-to-date requirements on the production conditions and the quality of manufactured goods. Meeting these requirements within the framework of an industrial production complex is unthinkable without implementing cardinal changes in management structure and production organization, without finding new planning methods, applying cost optimization, reducing cost of production.
The Program of Improvement of Industrial and Economic Section of PMZ and Technologically Related Companies is directed at solving all the tasks assigned. As a part of this program, which specifies centralization of day-to-day operations management, PMZ was integrated with the enterprises technologically related to it: Energetik-PM OJSC, Instrumental Plant-PM CJSC, Metallist-PM CJSC, Motorservis-PM CJSC, REMOS-PM CJSC. This allowed obtaining integrated industrial entity with full technological cycle, including foundry, mechanical, testing and welding operations, possessing unique advanced customer service support system, which includes prompt inspection and diagnostics, technical state prediction, complete maintenance, complete overhauls and localized repairs.
For the first time in the operating experience of industrial enterprises, the Center for planning and order fulfillment monitoring was created. This Center performs centralized planning and order fulfillment monitoring for PMZ and technologically related enterprises, from purchasing to complete fulfillment of an order.
The foundation is laid for taking drastic measures aimed at reducing production costs and increasing profitability of sales. The integrated system, one for all of the companies, is being introduced to facilitate innovative technologies implementation, equipment replacement and new products preproduction.
All efforts of the PMZ management are directed at meeting customer requirements, amplifying the demand for the manufactured goods, raising PMZ products to a higher level of competitiveness, making their manufacture most cost-effective.
