Oil & Gas

Transformer solutions for the oil and gas industry need to be customized for special operating environments such as offshore platforms, desert oil fields, refineries, etc. and harsh operating conditions, with explosion-proof, corrosion-resistant, and high reliability. The following are key application scenarios and technical solutions for the oil and gas industry:

Ⅰ. Upstream oil and gas

1. Drilling platform power system

- Explosion-proof transformer: meets the standards and is suitable for drilling sites with flammable gases. It adopts a fully enclosed design or positive pressure ventilation structure.

- Compact design: The space on the offshore platform is limited. Dry-type transformers or gas-insulated transformers are used to withstand salt spray corrosion and high humidity environments.

- Case: The North Sea oilfield platform uses a 35kV epoxy resin cast dry-type transformer with a protection level of IP56.

2. Power supply for electric-driven fracturing equipment

- High overload capacity: matches the short-term high-power demand of the fracturing pump, and adopts forced air cooling or liquid cooling design.

- Frequency conversion compatibility: the output end integrates a harmonic filter to suppress the interference of the 5th/7th harmonics generated by the inverter on the power grid.

Ⅱ. Midstream oil and gas

1. Oil pumping station and pipeline heating

- Long-distance power supply solution: Power remote oil pumping stations through 66kV or 110kV high-voltage lines, and configure on-load tap-changing transformers to cope with voltage fluctuations.

- Electric heating system transformer: Provide stable low-voltage power supply for pipeline electric heating cables to prevent crude oil condensation.

2. LNG liquefaction plant

- Low temperature environment adaptation: Use low temperature toughness silicon steel sheet transformers in the LNG storage tank area to avoid material embrittlement.

- Redundant power supply design: Double-circuit transformer + diesel generator backup to ensure continuous operation of the core liquefaction process.

Ⅲ. Downstream of oil and gas

1. Refinery power system

- Corrosion-resistant design: stainless steel housing or special coating is used to resist corrosion from hydrogen sulfide and acidic gas.

- High temperature tolerance: transformers in the refining unit area need to operate in an environment above 50°C and be equipped with high-temperature insulation materials.

2. Variable frequency drive compatibility

- Low harmonic output transformer: built-in multi-winding balanced structure to reduce harmonic pollution caused by the inverter of refining equipment.

- Dynamic reactive power compensation: real-time compensation of reactive power demand of impact load of refining unit.

Ⅳ. Solutions for special scenarios

1. Offshore floating production storage and offloading unit

- Anti-vibration design: elastic base and shock absorber are used to adapt to ship shaking and mechanical vibration.

- Modular transformer: supports rapid disassembly and replacement, reducing downtime and maintenance time.

2. Desert oil field power supply

- Anti-wind and sand packaging: fully sealed design to prevent sand and dust from invading the winding, and the heat dissipation system is equipped with a self-cleaning filter.

- Microgrid integration: transformers work together with photovoltaic/energy storage systems to achieve hybrid energy power supply for off-grid oil fields.

3. Subsea power transmission

- Fully sealed wet transformer: suitable for powering underwater oil trees, resistant to deep sea high pressure and seawater corrosion.

- DC power distribution system: with transformers, to achieve long-distance and efficient power supply for subsea equipment.

Ⅴ. Intelligence and reliability improvement

1. Harsh environment monitoring technology

- Explosion-proof sensors: Real-time monitoring of winding temperature, partial discharge and insulating oil status.

- Edge computing nodes: Process data on-site in the explosion-proof box to reduce the risk of electromagnetic interference in signal transmission.

2. Predictive maintenance system

- Digital twin model: Combine historical equipment data with real-time working conditions to predict insulation aging trends.

- AR remote support: Use augmented reality technology to guide on-site personnel to quickly troubleshoot faults.

Ⅵ. Green transformation and sustainable development

1. Application of environmentally friendly materials

- Bio-based insulating oil: Use natural esters to replace mineral oil to reduce the risk of leakage pollution.

- Switchless equipment: Use vacuum arc extinguishing technology to avoid greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Energy efficiency optimization

- Amorphous alloy transformer: The no-load loss is 60-70% lower than that of traditional silicon steel sheets, which is suitable for oil field distribution systems with low load rates.

- Waste heat recovery power supply: Use waste heat from refineries to generate electricity with dedicated transformers to achieve energy cascade utilization.

Ⅶ. Decommissioning and remanufacturing

1. Harsh environment equipment recycling

- Insulating oil regeneration technology: restore the performance of aged transformer oil through adsorption and filtration to reduce waste.

- Modular remanufacturing: replace partial components of retired transformers on offshore platforms to extend their service life by more than 10 years.

Summary

Transformers in the oil and gas industry must meet core requirements such as explosion-proof, corrosion-resistant, vibration-resistant, and high reliability, while evolving towards intelligence, low carbonization, and modularization. Future trends include:

- Deep integration with digital technology, such as AI-driven health management systems;

- Green designs that adapt to carbon neutrality goals, such as transformers for hydrogen refining;

- Innovations in extreme environmental adaptability, such as the -50°C ultra-low temperature operation solution for Arctic oil and gas fields.