Qatar’s HBK Power Cleaning, recognised as one of the region’s leading specialists in all corrosion control protection coating applications for both offshore and onshore oil and gas installations, has taken delivery of its first Atlas Copco XAMS 856 portable air compressor - purpose-ordered for its latest award to recoat 100,000 m2 on Oxy Oil Company’s PS1 offshore facilities.

The award follows the completion by HBK Power Cleaning in December 2007 of recoated areas totaling a similar area of 100,000 m2 on PS1’s remote wellhead jackets; relying on eight Atlas Copco compressors for abrasive blasting and painting applications.

For its latest award, HBK has mobilised three Atlas Copco compressors including the new XAMS  856 onto the PS1 offshore facilities.

Additionally HBK currently has four Atlas Copco compressors performing similar duties at Qatar Petroleum’s PS2 and PS3 offshore facilities.

The new XAMS 856 compressor provides an actual free air delivery of 850 cfm at a pressure of 6.8 bar. 

“It is ideal for our blasting applications allowing four blasting guns compared with the previous XA 750 which only permitted three guns offering increased production – plus the additional power ensures additional penetration resulting in a better surface profile on steel,” said general manager of HBK Power Cleaning Farooq Yassin.

“We consider Atlas Copco to be the best air compressor and the company, with more than 30 years experience with the units, currently has around 20 Atlas Copco’s in our fleet.”

This includes a total of eight Atlas Copco compressors delivered by the local distributor Oriental Trading Co over the past year.

HBK Power Cleaning’s core business is very much offshore but according to Yassin they are also receiving an increased order booking for on-shore operations and new fabrications.

The compressors are being used to blast 50 – 75µ profile normally and upto 110µ profile depths on blasting with abrasive garnet before the application of protective coating.
 
Generally an area of 25 – 30 m2 is blasted over a seven hour shift offshore and 80 – 85 m2 on open steel. – TradeArabia News Service