AN INTRODUCTION TO OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION & SHIPPING CONTENT A. Introduction B. Facilities and processes > B.1 Exploration > B.2 Production (Onshore, Offshore) > B.3 Upstream process sections (Wellhead, Manifolds and gathering, Separation, Metering, storage and export, Utility systems) > B.4 Midstream (Gas Plants, Gas compression, Pipelines, LNG liquefaction and regasification facilities) C. Reservoir and wellheads ® C.1 Crude oll and natural gas (Crude oil, Natural gas, Condensates) C.2 The resenvoir C.3 Exploration and drilling C.4The well (Well casing, Completion) C.5 Wellhead (Subsea wells, Injection} C.6 Artificial lift (Rod pumps, ESP, Gas lift, Plunger lift) > C.7 Well workover, intervention and stimulation D. The upstream oil and gas process > D.1 Manifolds and gathering (Pipelines and risers, Production, test and injection manifolds) > D.2 Separation (Test separators and well test, Production separators, Secand stage separator, Third stage separator, Coalescer, Electrostatic desalter, Water treatment) > D.3 Gas treatment and compression (Heat exchangers, Scrubbers and reboilers, Compressors, anti-surge and performance) > D.4 Oilland gas storage, metering and export ( Fiscal metering, Storage, Marine loading) E. Midstream facilities » Ei Gathering > E.2 Gas plants (Gas composition) > E.3 Gas processing (Acid gas remaval, Dehydration, Mercury removal, Nitrogen rejection, NGL recovery and treatment, Sales gas specifications) » E.4 Pipelines (Pipeline terminal, Gas Pipelines, compressor and valve stations, Liquid pipelines, pump and valve stations, Pipeline management, control and safety) > E.5 LNG (LNG liquefaction, Storage, transport and regasification) vivA. Introduction Petroleum Exploration & Production Activities 8) PRODUCTION PHASE B. Facilities and processes The oil and gas industry facilities and systems are broadly defined, according to their use in the oil and gas industry production stream: Exploration Includes prospecting, seismic and drilling activities that take place befere the development of a field is finally decided. Upstream Typically refers to all facilities for production and stabilization of oil and gas. The reservoir and drilling community often uses upstream for the wellhead, well, completion and reservoir only, and downstream of the wellhead as production or processing, Exploration and upstream/production together is referred to-as E&P, Midstream Broadly defined as gas treatment, LNG production and regasification plants, and oil and gas pipeline systems. Refining Where oil and condensates are processed into marketable products with defined specifications such as gasoline, diesel or feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Refinery off sites such as tank storage and distribution terminals are included in this segment, or may be part of a separate distributions operation. Petrochemical These products are chemical products where the main feedstock is hydrocarbons. Examples are plastics, fertilizer and a wide range of industrial chemicals. B.1 Exploration A series of surveys, starting with broad geological mapping through increasingly advanced methods such as passive seismic, reflective seismic, magnetic and gravity surveys give data to sophisticated analysis tools that identify patential hydrocarbon bearing rock as “prospects.”‘The first wells in a region are called wildcats because little may be known about potential dangers, such as the downhole pressures that will be encountered, and therefore require particular care and attention to safety equipment. If a find (strike, penetration) is made, additional reservoir characterization such as production testing, appraisal wells, ete, are needed to determine the size and production capacity of the reservoir in order to justify a development decision. ® B.2 Production (Onshore, Offshore) Although there is a wide range of sizes and layouts, most production facilities have ‘many of the same processing systems shown in this simplified overview:At the left side, we find the wellheads. They feed into production and test manifolds In distributed production, this is called the gathering system. The remainder of the diagram is the actual process, often called the gas oil separation plant (GOSP), While there are oll- oF gas-only installations, more often the well-strearn will consist of a full range of hydrocarbons from gas (methane, butane, propane, ete.), condensates (medium density hydrocarbons) to crude oil, With this well flow, we aiso get a variety of unwanted components, such as water, carbon dioxide, salts, sulfur and sand. The purpose of the GOSP is to process the well flow into clean, marketable products: oil, natural gas or condensates. Also included are a number of uti systems, which ate not part of the actual process but provide energy, water, air or some other utility to the plant. Onshore Onshore production is economically viable from a few dozen barrels of oil a day and upward, Oil and gas is praduced from several million wells worldwide. In particular, a gas gathering network can become very large, with production from thousands of wells, several hundred kilometers/miles apart, feeding through a gathering network into 2 processing plant, This picture shows a well, equipped with a sucker rod pump (donkey pump) often associated with onshore oil production. However, there are many other ways of extracting oil from a non-free-flowing well. For the smallest reservoirs, oll is simply collected in a holding tank and picked up at regular intervals by tanker truck or railcar to be processed at a refinery, Product is sent from the plant by pipeline or tankers. The praduction may come from many different license owners, 30 metering of individual well-streams into the gathering network are important tasks. Unconventional plays target very heavy crude and tar sands that became economically extractable with higher prices and new technology. Heavy crude may need heating and diluents to be extracted. Tar sands have lost their volatile compounds and are strip-mined or can be extracted with steam. it must be further processed to separate bitumen from the-sand.Offshore A whole range of different structures is used offshore, depending on size and water depth. Some of the common offshore structures are: Shallow water complex, which is characterized by several independent platforms with different parts of the process and utilities linked with gangway bridges. Individual platforms include wellhead riser, processing, accommodations and power generation platforms. Typically found in water depths up to 100 meters. Gravity base consists of enormous concrete fixed strictures placed on the bottom, typically with oil storage cells in a “skirt” that rests an the sea battom. The large deck receives all parts of the process and utilities in large modules, The concrete was poured at an onshore location, with enough air in the storage cells to keep the structure floating untit tow-out and lowering onto the seabed. The picture shows the world's largest GBS platform, Troll A, during construction, Compliant towets are much like fixed platforms. They consist of @ narrow tower, attached to a foundation on the seafloor and extending up to the platform. This tower is flexible, as opposed to the relatively rigid legs of a fixed platform. Flexibility allows it to operate in much deeper water, as it can absorb much of the pressure exerted by the wind and sea. Compliant towers are used between 500 and 1,000 meters of water depth. Floating production, where all topside systems are located on a floating structure with dry or subsea wells. Some floaters are:FPSO: Floating Production, Storage and Offloading. Their main advantage is that they are a Standalone structure that does not need external infrastructure such as pipelines or storage. Crude oil is offloaded ta a shuttle tanker at regular intervals, from days to weeks, depending on production and storage capacity. FPSOs produce from around 10,000 to 200,000 barrels per day. ‘An FPSO is typically @ tanker type hull or barge, often converted from an existing crude oil tanker (VLCC of ULCC). Que to the increasing sea depth for new fields, they dominate new offshore field development at more than 100 meters water depth. The wellheads or subsea risers from the sea bottom are located on a central or bow: mounted turret, so that the ship can rotate freely to point into wind, waves or current. The turret has wire rope and chain connections to several anchors (position mooring - POSMOOR}, or it can be dynamically positioned using thrusters (dynamic positioning — DYNPOS). Most installations use subsea wells. The main process is placed on the deck, while the hull is used for storage and offloading to a shuttle tanker. It may also be used for the transportation of pipelines FPSOs with additional processing and systems, such as drilling and production and stranded gas LNG production are planned.