"Helping E&P Companies Translate Their Business Goals To Reality" SM

Facilities Introduction

Ivan Puckett
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 Facilities Introduction
What is included in “Facilities” ?

• Everything downstream of the wellhead

• Main purpose is to convert wellstream into
products that can be sold, and delivery of these
products to end users
• Separation of fluid phases, including separation of single phases, eg
hydrocarbon liquid, into individual components
• Removal of contaminants
• Disposal of waste/byproducts
• Generally, each product to be sold has
quality/purity specifications that must be
satisfied

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 Facilities Introduction

Products
Wellstream
To consumer(s)
Processing Facility or further
processing

Waste Streams

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 Facilities Introduction
“Facilities” & the Oil & Gas Industry Sectors

Sector boundary definitions vary !

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 Facilities Introduction
Upstream
• Flowlines/gathering systems (onshore & offshore)
• Wellsite facilities
• Test satellites
• Oil batteries
• LNG liquefaction plants
• Offshore platforms
• Separators • Glycol dehy’s
• Heaters • Produced water
• Pumps treating
• Compressors • Water
• Piping injection/disposal
• Tanks • Vapor recovery units
• I, C & E • Flare systems
• etc
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 Facilities Introduction

Upstream
Subsea gathering system Onshore gathering system

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 Facilities Introduction

Upstream

Offshore platforms Onshore oil battery

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 Facilities Introduction
Midstream
• Gas plants
• NGL fractionation facilities
• Gas/LPG storage facilities
• Gas, NGL and oil transportation pipelines
• Similar equipment & processes as Upstream, plus:
• Gas sweetening
• Sulfur recovery
• NGL recovery
• Liquid product treating
• NGL fractionation
• Nitrogen removal
• Crude oil dehydration, desalting, stabilization &
sweetening

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 Facilities Introduction

Midstream
Onshore turboexpander gas plant

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 Facilities Introduction

Downstream
• Refining
• Petrochemicals
• LNG regasification
• Gas and finished liquid product storage and
distribution
• Many of the same types of equipment as Upstream
and Downstream, but:
• Much more focus on reactive chemistry, ie. rearranging
molecules
• Higher temperatures (and often higher pressures)
• Located in more populated areas
• Additional safety, environmental and PR concerns

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 Facilities Introduction

Downstream
Typical oil refinery & process flow
diagram

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 Facilities Introduction

Basic oil and water separation is dictated by

the equation known as Stokes Law.

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 Facilities Introduction

When separating the various components, we

generally rely on the density variations.
Therefore, all we have to work with is time and
gravity!

However, various techniques can be used to

enhance time and gravity.

A variety of Mechanical, Electrical, Thermal

and Chemical manipulations can help.
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 Facilities Introduction

Conventional Separators are volume and

pressure sized to provide adequate “residence
time” to allow the density different fluids to
separate.

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 Facilities Introduction

The addition of heat will affect both the density

and viscosity and improve separation.
Sometimes called a “Heater Treater”.

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 Facilities Introduction

The addition of a high voltage grid and

emulsion breaking chemicals can further
encourage separation. These are referred to as
Electrostatic Treaters.

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 Facilities Introduction

Hydrocyclones mechanically and artificially

increase gravity.

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 Facilities Introduction

Corrugated Plate Interceptors (CPI) and

coalescing filters help increase the diameter of
oil droplets making separation easier

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 Facilities Introduction

Flocculation cell inject air bubbles to help carry

oil to the surface where skimming paddles can
push the oil off the top of the water.

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 Facilities Introduction

Onshore large volume tanks (Gunbarrel) can

be used to provide residence time needed to
generate “clean” water for disposal.

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 Facilities Introduction

In addition to separation equipment, a wide variety

of pumps, meters, control systems gas treating
systems, compressors and piping systems are
required to complete the facilities equipment
installation.

In addition, for offshore installations, other

systems (firewater (deluge), quarters, power
generation, crew survival, relief systems,
ballasting, refueling, etc.) are required to complete
the offshore installation.

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 Facilities Introduction

There are a few strategies which should be

considered when developing a field. As always,
there are pros and cons with each strategy and
each must be weighed carefully in order to
optimize cost, profitability, manpower and the
corporate portfolio of projects.

Here are three strategies to consider:

• Cover The Peak
• Drill To Fill
• Ramp up, Ramp Down
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 Facilities Introduction
"Cover The Peak"
250.0

200.0

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Pros Cons
• One project • Could be wrong (Hi or Low)
• One set of equipment • Way over sized at the beginning and
• Accelerates production the end
• Up front Capital intensive

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 Facilities Introduction
"Drill to Fill"
180.0

160.0

140.0

120.0

100.0

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Pros Cons
• One project • Could be wrong (Hi or Low)
• One set of equipment • Up front Capital intensive
• Accelerates initial production • Intentionally limits production peak
• Reduces Capital

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 Facilities Introduction

"Ramp up, Ramp Down"

250.0

200.0

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Pros
• Reduces Capital
• Equipment reuse option
• Adjust capacity as data requires
Cons
• Constant project execution mode
• Still have to start projects well ahead of
production curve
• Will require SIMOPS
• Continuous funding
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Questions?

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