9500 HP high speed motor driven compressor

The paper discusses a motor driven compressor used to compress and inject natural gas as a part of the Greater Point McIntyre Oil Field-Enhanced Oil Recovery Program on the North Slope of Alaska. The motor and compressor are direct coupled (there is no gearbox), have magnetic bearings, and the compressor has dry gas seals. The induction motor is controlled by a medium voltage, liquid cooled, variable frequency drive (VFD) that generates frequencies up to 246 Hertz and runs the 2-pole motor up to 14700 RPM. The project was required to be inspected and approved by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL), and there were challenges to get the European manufactured systems built to US Standards.