Professional Documents
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Gas Sweetning Units
Gas Sweetning Units
Total Composite Index 185 205 210 212 216 219 220 221 224
**
This index seems to have been discontinued; however, recent pipeline construction cost can be
obtained from the article 'Pipeline Economics", Oil & Gas Journal, November 28, 1988, P.33. This
gives current costs and a 10 year history of same.
Table 11.3: Alberta Oil and Gas Industry Cost Escalation Indices
Cost Category 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Geological and Geophysical 107 113 131 134 166 186 205 238 258 282 302 322
(Field)
Exploration Drilling and 103 115 132 157 185 211 232 271 326 405 448 467
Development Drilling
Field Equip., Secondary Rec. & 107 119 142 180 213 240 269 290 325 357 402 436
Press. Maint.
Natural Gas Plant Construction 113 125 139 159 188 261 335 408 457 503 568 620
Total Capital Costs 108 119 136 163 193 227 251 285 331 392 439 473
†
Well Operating Costs 113 127 157 165 207 245 293 334 386 414 434 461
‡
Gas plant Operating Costs 119 127 129 152 193 239 284 338 361 436 492 514
Total Operating Costs 115 127 147 160 202 243 290 335 379 420 448 473
†
Costs per well, including flow lines and related facilities.
‡
Costs per unit volume of marketable gas production from plants.
Indexes of selected individual items of equipment and materials are also published on the
Costimating page in the first issue of the months of January. April. July. and October.
One process unit not given in the figures is inlet separation. For this, a rough cost of about
$400/barrel of capacity (in 1982) can be used. When all process units have been costed add 25%-
30% for offsite ie. office, shop, warehouse, utilities etc.
As well as the process units, the well site facilities and the gathering pipelines, several other items
need to be calculated. These include:
a) Development wells - The cost of these should be obtained from the drilling department.
b) Roads - The cost of roads for year round access to all wellsites and other field facilities
should be included. Proper recognition of the amount of road work already built to drill
the well should be made. The cost of an all weather road, of course, varies a great deal
depending on the terrain, gravel availability, etc. The normal range is from
$10,000/mile or less in the plains area to up to $30,000/mile in areas of hills, muskeg,
etc.
c) Catalyst chemicals and initial charges of certain raw materials - Note that in some
cases this cost can be very large; for example, a crude pipeline has to be filled and this
fill is required for the length of the project. The costs for these items are determined by
take-off generally.
d) Initial spare parts, supplies, etc. - If no data is available, about 1% of plant investment
should be used.
e) Equipment supplied directly by the owner - such as maintenance equipment and tools,
office equipment, office furniture and supplies, safety supplies, communications
equipment, laboratory equipment and supplies, etc. If costs for each item are not
available, use about 1.5% of capital cost for the plant for this.
f) The owner's costs for engineering - special facilities, and for inspecting the contractor's
work, both in the engineering office and in the field. This will vary from about 5% of
capital cost for small jobs to about 1% for large jobs.
g) The owner's cost for managing the project - should be determined from the agreement
for constructing the facility, if signed. If it is not, and the anticipated rate has not been
determined, then use 1% of capital costs.
h) Startup costs - which include the cost of training all personnel to operate the plant. The
total personnel for the plant at three months salary is probably a good minimum for this;
often this charge is expensed, if possible.
i) The cost of purchasing the land should be included.
j) Interest during construction - Often the cost of borrowing money for the building of the
facilities is added to the capital cost. This is taken as the cost of interest for obtaining
the funds for the project for half the time it takes to build the project.
k) Working capital - Some of this is capitalized. A figure of 3 months operating cost is
often used.
0.6
size of new unit
New Cost Cost of Existing Unit
size of old unit
This 0.6 should be increased 0.7 or 0.8 if multiple trains have to be put in.
When in an existing plant and close by the existing units, add up to 0.5 to the multiplying factor.
The accuracy of an estimate done this way is probably -10% to +20%. A variation on this type of
estimate, together with some excellent cost data, is given in the article by K. M. Guthrie.
Another variation of the major equipment method is to find the total installed cost for each major
piece of equipment by multiplying the cost of each piece of equipment by the factor for its
installation as given in Table 11.1, then summing these costs and adding 25% to 30% for direct
field costs to find the total cost.
The advantage of this method over the Preliminary Budget Estimate method is that the major
engineering has been done and special engineering innovations can be taken into account.
** The range for items making these costs up on typical jobs is given in Figure 11.12.
26. Unknown Uncertainty
%
Schedule Slippage (3 months) 1.0
Strike 1.2
Total 4.1
¥
Engineering control includes the following:
Construction home office expense and drawing reproduction.
Quality assurance engineering and vendor inspection.
Cost control and estimating.
Maintenance - This is usually estimated on a fixed percentage of capital investment.
Hydrocarbon Processing often publishes data for the costs.
For sour gas units use about 3-4% of capital costs.
For sweet gas units use 2-3% of capital costs.
This includes supervisory, maintenance staff, maintenance labour and maintenance
material.
Property Taxes and Insurance - The cost for this runs about 1.5% of investment (This
covers only municipal and similar type taxes, not income taxes).
Miscellaneous Cost - This covers telephone calls, stationery, office operation, vehicles,
etc. Use 0.25 to 0.5% of capital cost/year.
d) Variable Costs - These are costs that vary with the throughput of the plant.
Chemicals - The consumption and costs of these are shown in Table 11.7
**
These are January 1989 Alberta costs in Tank car quantities.
Product Pipelines 6%
g) Taxes - These are continually changing. It is necessary to check with tax people for rates
and what is allowed in deductions. Recent tax rate (1990 are given below).
Federal Income Taxes 28% of Net Income before Royalty
Deduction.
Provincial Income Taxes 15% of Net Income after Royalty
Deduction.
There is also a 25% resource allowance deduction that also has to be taken into account.
**
Normally 60 — 65% of Crude
†
Normally 80 — 85% of Crude
Reading List
1. F. C. Jelen and C. L. Yaws, "Project Cash Flow - Description and Interpretation",
Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1978, p.77.
2. P. F. Reath, "Economic Modelling - A Game of Chance", Journal of Canadian Petroleum
Technology, July-Sept. 1981, p.73.
3. B. A. Horwitz, "The Mathematics of Discounted Cash Flow Analysis", Chemical Engineering,
May 19, 1980, p.169.
4. J. Cran, "Improved Factored Method Gives Better Preliminary Cost Estimate", Chemical
Engineering, April 6, 1981, p.65.
5. F. D. Clark and A. Blorenzoni, "Applied Cost Engineering", Dekker, 1985.
12.1 Introduction
It is necessary to determine how much a gas well will deliver to a gathering system and then to a
plant, both initially and on long term, so as to make sure that the contracted quantity of gas is
supplied to a buyer. Also it is, of course, necessary to know how much a well will produce so as to
size the well site treating equipment. This section discusses the capabilities of wells and how these
capabilities are determined. Also, other items such as sampling etc. are discussed.
Q C ( Pf2 Ps2 ) n
where
Q = Flow rate in MMSCFD (m3/d).
Pf = Shut in formation pressure, psia (kPa(abs)).
Ps = Flowing sand face pressure, psia (kPa(abs)).
C = A coefficient that is determined mainly from reservoir characteristics.
n = An exponent that depends primarily on the type of flow in the reservoir at the particular
well.
where
Q = flow in MMSCFD (m3/d).
Psiw = shut-in pressure at top of tubing in psia (kPa(abs)).
Pw = flowing pressure at top of tubing in psia (kPa(abs)).
C' = a constant which is determined mainly from the reservoir characteristics of a particular
well.
n’ = an exponent that depends primarily on the type of flow in the reservoir at the particular
well.
Figure 12.4 shows the deliverability curve for a well. As is shown the data at the wellhead is used
for this curve rather than the bottom hole conditions.
C1 59.19
C2 39.37
C3 35.89
iC4 29.79
nC4 30.87
iC5 27.48
nC5 27.77
C6 21.77
C7 17.86
The procedure is to analyze the high pressure gas, the low pressure gas, the stock tank vapour and
the stock tank liquid f or each individual compound and to measure the total high pressure gas, low
pressure gas, stock tank vapour and stock tank liquid, then find the total cubic feet per day at
standard conditions of each component, sum them and convert to mole %.
d vap/m
3 d % d d d % d
N2 682.5
CO2 441.6
H2S 553.2
[measure this column]
The procedure is to analyze the high pressure gas, the low pressure gas, the stock tank vapour and
the stock tank liquid for each individual compound and to measure the total high pressure gas, low
pressure gas, stock tank vapour and stock tank liquid, then find the total m3 per day at standard
conditions of each component, sum them and convert to mole %.
Equation 12-3
2 2 2 n
PFO f PFO PF
Q max qt 2 2
PF PS PFO
where:
Qmax = suggested allowable flow rate in MMSCFD or (103m3/d).
qt = test flow rate in MMSCFD or (103m3/d).
PS = the measured flowing sand face pressure during the test.
PF = the shut formation pressure during the test.
PFO = the original formation pressure.
n = inverse slope back pressure curve.
f = a factor to describe the reservoir. It normally varies from 0.75 to 0.90 depending on the
reservoir permeability, porosity, etc.
Other provincial regulatory bodies have similar formulas.
In designing heaters, dehydrators, etc., we need to specify flow rates and estimated wellhead
temperature. The wellhead temperature should be measured during the flow test. It should be
noted that it will vary significantly between low and high flow rates and it should not be assumed to
be constant except at high flow rates. At high rates temperature is higher as heat is not lost as
quickly to ground when passing up tubing. Here is a typical flow versus temperature curve for
some operating wells:
12.8 Problems
Example Problem 12.1
It has been decided that it would be desirable to connect a well that has been tested so that its
deliverability against 1400 psia is 10 MMSCFD to an existing gas gathering system operating at
900 psia. What flow should the wellhead dehydrator on this well be sized for?
Additional data
Assume that the reservoir is not underlain with water.
The well when it is shut has a pressure of 2200 psia at the surface.
The AOF based on surface conditions (ie. pressure at surface is atmospheric) is 60
MMSCFD.
13.1 Introduction
Gas as it leaves the reservoir, is normally saturated with water and, of course, it contains all the
impurities normally associated with the gas.
Depending on the composition and the quantity of the gas, it may be treated directly at the well to
make it pipeline gas. However, if it is sour and/or there is much liquid in the gas, it is normally only
treated so that it can be sent to a central processing facility.
The major problem to handle when transporting the gas is the water content of it and thus the
prevention of hydrates. For hydrates to form the gas temperature must be below the temperature of
the hydrate formation and at a pressure greater than the hydrate pressure and there must be free
water present.
Three methods are normally used to handle gases at the well head:
1. Heating the gas to keep it at all times above the hydrate temperature.
2. Removing the water from the gas so that no free water will be formed by cooling in the
transmission line and thus no hydrates formed.
3. Combining the free water formed with some chemical so that a hydrate cannot form.
Figure 13.2 and Table 13.2 summarize the alternates.
13.2 Heating
There are two methods used for heating. The most common is the use of well heaters and line
heaters spaced as required. The other method used is hot water tracing.
13.2.1 Heaters
Figure 13.1 shows a typical wellhead heater. The gas is produced from the well through a set of
coils to preheat the gas to take care of the temperature drop that occurs on choking the gas. It then
passes through the choke and the rest of the heating coils until it is heated to the desired outlet
temperature. This temperature is controlled by regulating the fuel to indirect burners in the heater.
Some additional points to consider are:
1. Heat Transfer Fluid - This is normally a mixture of ethylene glycol and water. The mixture
should be such that problems will not occur if the unit is shut down for an extended period of
time. This does not mean that the solution does not freeze but only that a dangerous solid
ice phase does not exist. For example, a solution that is good for -40ºF (-40ºC) operation is
25% by weight of Ethylene glycol which freezes at about -10ºF (-25ºC) but only forms a mush
type of mixture.
Sometimes straight water is used as it gives a better heat transfer coefficient but particular
care has to be taken when the unit is shut down. Also, sometimes a very low pressure steam
is generated as this gives even better heat transfer coefficients.
It should be noted that particular care should be taken to design the pipeline for proper
temperature expansion allowance when using heaters.
3. Specifications - The items that should be specified when purchasing heaters are as follows:
a) The gas composition.
b) The operating pressure for the heater.
c) The wellhead pressure. This is needed for sizing the choke and the sizing of the
heating coil upstream of the choke.
d) The wellhead temperature. This information is needed as in c). Also it is needed for
sizing the heater.
e) The reservoir pressure and temperature. This gives the amount of water that may
condense out after the choke. It is normally not too significant.
f) The gas outlet temperature. This, along with c), d) and i), determines the size, ie. BTU
rating of the heater.
g) The heat transfer fluid to be used. This was discussed previously.
h) The pressure drop allowed. This determines tubing size in the heater. Normally should
be between 5 to 10 psi (35 to 70 kPa).
i) The design flow. The expected flow through the heater is to be used (See previous
chapter). For sizing line heaters please see later in the chapter on what to use.
13.2.3 General
Both the heater system and the hot water tracing system do not remove any water in the treatment
system. All water that is produced at the wells is carried to the plant and has to be disposed of
there. Also, since on choking free water is formed there will nearly always be water flowing along
the bottom or sides of pipe (depends on type of two phase flow). This sounds like it could be a
problem in sour gas systems. However, as has been mentioned, there are several systems that
are operating very successfully without reporting corrosion problems.
13.2.4 Design
The problem of designing systems such as heater or hot water tracing systems is actually
calculating the loss of heat from the buried pipe and making sure the fluid flowing through it does
not cool to a temperature below the hydrate formation temperature of the fluid. The length of line
that can be used for reheating or how much the gas has to be heated can be calculated from the
following equation:
Equation 13-1
T1 t T2 t
q UA UA t lm
T t
ln 1
T2 t
where:
U = the overall heat transfer coefficient for transfer from buried pipes to the ground
BTU's/HR/sq ft/ºF (W2/m2/HR/ºC)
A = the area of transfer, ie. pipe perimeter x its length ft2 (in2)
T1-t = the initial temperature (T1) - outside ground temperature (t). The final temperature is
some temperature above hydrate point; usually about 5ºF (3ºC) above the hydrate
temperature (see Chapter 5 for a discussion on hydrates).
An easier way is to use enthalpies at the pressure and temperatures of the system, ie.
q W ( H 1 H 2 ) then use equation 1 for finding A. The overall heat transfer coefficient, U's
value, varies considerably with the soil conditions. Table 13.3 gives some experimental
determined values.
q W H1 H 2
where:
W = the rate of flow, lbs/hr or Kg/hr
H1 = the enthalpy per unit of mass at temperature T1 and the pressure at 1.
H2 = is the enthalpy per unit of mass at temperature T2 and the pressure at 2.
Combining equations 1 and 2 we get
Equation 13-3
W H 1 H 2
A
U t lm
Note: Charts on Page 20-20 and 20-20 of the 1987 English Unit GPSA Data gives more
information on this.
Some design criteria are as follows:
The normal circulation rate for these units is about 4 gals of glycol circulated per lb. of
H2O to be removed (about 30 L glycol per Kg of H2O picked up. The glycol contactor
13.3.3 Specifications
The data required for a specific dehydrator is as follows:
The gas composition.
The operating pressure.
KW
d
100 M MW
where:
d = the dewpoint suppression required.
M = Mole weight of alcohol.
W = Weight percent of alcohol in final solution.
K = a constant, equals 2335 (1297) for methanol, ethanol, ammonia – 4000 (2222) for any
glycol.
Note: The example problem 13 in Chapter 5 illustrates the circulation required.
13.6 Problems
Also please indicate by calculations if you believe it is necessary to install a line heater on this line if
this is the only well on the line to the plant. The area of the field is Alberta, Canada.
Example Problem 13.2
A well that is two miles from a processing plant in Alberta produces gas to a plant without any
heating or dehydration. It has been decided to set a minimum flow alarm on the well to warn the
plant operators when the line might be close to having hydrates forming. Determine what this flow
is in MMSCFD.
Additional data
The wellhead temperature after choking is 100ºF.
The line to the plant is 6" diameter (the area per lineal foot of 6" pipe is 1.734 ft2) -
ordinarily coated pipe is used.
The soil to the plant is silty gravel.
The gas mole weight is 20.
The gas specific heat at the operating pressure is 0.64 BTU's/lb.
The hydrate temperature of the gas is 68ºF.
Example Problem 13.3
A shallow gas gathering system has 25 wells that have a capability of producing 5 MMSCFD. It is
decided that the method of controlling hydrates and/or freezing of the gathering lines in the winter is
to inject methanol at the wellhead. Calculate how much methanol has to be injected in a 4 month
period.
Additional data
The wellhead temperature is 40ºF.
14.1 Introduction
All fluids are carried to the plant in steel pipes. The use of other types of material for gas gathering
facilities is very limited, plastic has been used in some cases in gas distribution lines at low
pressures and coiled aluminum has been used for high pressure lines.
Sub-total 16.89
**
Sum of lines to plant 14.5 + 16.5 + 5.5 + 3.5 = 40.0 MMSCFD compared to 30.8 MMSCFD
required. Probably should design for the 40 MMSCFD or at least 1.1 (30.8) = 34 rather than the
30.8 required.
Metric Answer
Max. Flow Expected Design Flow
Line Description 3 3 3 3
10 m /d 10 m /d
**
A-B 55 + 40 95
B-D 55 55
B-C 40 40
**
A-G 170 + 110 + 125 405
G-J 125 125
G-H 170 + 110 280
H-I 170 170
**
A-K 155 155
**
A-E 185 + 280 465
E-F 185 185
** Sum of lines to plant 95 + 405 + 115 + 465 = 1120 103m3/d compared to 863 103m3/d required.
Probably should design for the 1120 103m3/d rather than the 863 103m3/d required.
Pb STlZ 2 f
where:
Q = Flow in SCFD at the base conditions of Tb and Pb.
d = Pipe diameter in inches.
= length in feet.
P1 = Pressure upstream in psia.
P2 = Pressure downstream in psia.
Z = Compressibility factor.
S = Specific gravity of the gas as compared to air.
f = The friction factor as obtained from Figure 14.2.
T = The operating temperature in ºF or in metric units.
Metric
d 2.5 1 0.5
Q 0.1034 0.5
P12 P22
GTLZ f
where:
Q = Flow in m3/d.
d = Pipe diameter in mm.
L = length in meters.
P1 = Pressure upstream in KPa (abs).
P2 = Pressure downstream in KPa (abs).
Z = Compressibility factor, at (P1 + P2)/2 and T.
G = Relative density of the gas (air = 1).
f = The friction factor as obtained from Figure 14.2.
T = The operating temperature in ºK.
Weymouth Formula
Equation 14-2
1
2
T P12 P22 16 3
QD 433.5 b d
Pb STlZ
where:
d = pipe diameter in inches.
QD = flow in SCFD at the base conditions of Tb and Pb.
= length in miles.
Panhandle Formula
Equation 14-3
1.02 2 2 0.51
T P P
QD 737 b
E 01.961 2 d 2.53
Pb G LTZ
where:
d = pipe diameter in inches.
QD = flow in SCFD at the base conditions of Tb and Pb.
= length in miles.
where:
QD = flow in m3/day at Sc condition.
Note: The symbols are same but units are in the standard metric units.
PTOTAL PTP Ph
where:
P total = the total pressure drop.
PTP = the two phase pressure drop.
Ph = the pressure drop due to changes in elevation over the length of the line.
The procedure is as follows:
For PTP
1. Find superficial gas velocity with no liquid present.
2. Find R - the BBLS of liquid in gas in BBLS/MMSCF.
U
3. Calculate .
R 0.32
4. Read off pipeline efficiency from Figure 14.3
5. Calculate the pressure drop from the Panhandle Formula by inserting the proper
pipeline efficiency.
For Ph
Find from the formula:
Equation 14-5
hFe C
Ph
144
where:
h = the height of each separate hill.
Fe = the elevation correction factor obtained from Figure 14.5.
C = liquid density in lbs/cu.ft.
The metric version of the Flanigan method is as Follows:
For PTP:
1. Find superficial gas velocity with no liquid present. U 5.18 QTZ2 , m/s, all terms as
Pd
previously defined.
2. Find R, the liquid/gas ratio in aL/m3.
U
3. Calculate .
R 0.32
4. Read off pipeline efficiency from Figure 14.4.
5. Calculate the pressure drop from the Panhandle Formula by inserting the proper
pipeline efficiency.