GAS CONDENSATE RECOVERY TECHNOLOGIES IN ENI TUNISIA FIELDS

H. Abdelli, F. Colonna, Eni Tunisia B.V.

This paper was presented at the 10 Offshore Mediterranean conference and exhibition in Ravenna, Italy, March 23-25, 2011. It was selected for presentation by OMC 2011 Programme Committee following review of information contained in the abstract submitted by the author(s). The paper as presented at OMC 2011 has not been reviewed by the Programme Committed.
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ABSTRACT
The price of gas condensate is higher than gas, so its recovery can bring an economic gain. This article presents the different technologies used or being evaluated in Eni Tunisia fields, in order to increase gas condensate recovery. Three different kinds of technologies are implemented or under evaluation in Eni Tunisia plants: Gas refrigeration (where the gas is refrigerated through an expansion valve). External mechanical refrigeration cycle (that maintain the pressure of treated gas). Vapor recovery unit (from crude oil stock tanks).

The article describes the gas condensate recovery units in Eni Tunisia fields. It shows the effects of the operating parameters on the gas condensate recovery processes. In the paper are illustrated the results of Eni Tunisia plants simulations, using Hysys and ProII tools, compared with the real data. There is also the procedure needed to evaluate the capital expenditure, the operating expense and the breakeven point. All these data are relevant in order to estimate if the gas condensate recovery unit will be profitable. In order to evaluate the gas condensate gain, one takes into account the proportions of stock tank condensate liquid and accompanying produced gas reported as GOR (gas oil ratio), in standard cubic meter per barrel. Another term often used is standard cubic meter of gas per cubic meter of condensate liquid. An increase of gas condensate rate means a decrease of GOR.

INTRODUCTION
Raw natural gas produced from underground gas fields or extracted at the surface from the fluids produced from oil wells cant be delivered directly to residential, commercial and industrial consumers. It consists mainly of methane (CH4), but it also contains varying amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbons, acid gases (CO2 and H2S), nitrogen, water, liquid hydrocarbons and mercury. Contaminants have been removed and often heavier hydrocarbons have been captured for other commercial uses. Most natural gas is processed to remove the heavier hydrocarbon liquids from the natural gas stream. Recovery of natural gas liquid components in gas not only may be required for hydrocarbon dew point control in a natural gas stream, but also produces a source of revenue, as gas condensate normally has significantly greater value as separate marketable product, as part of the natural gas stream. There are a great many ways in which to configure the various unit processes used in the processing of raw natural gas. The objective of this article is how processing the raw natural gas produced in Eni Tunisia fields in order to produce natural gas liquids. Part of water and gasoline vapours condenses in the liquid phase by the effect of decreasing temperature and pressure (retrograde condensation) of the gas stream flowing from the field to the gathering station. In this case, the separation processes of gasoline and free water occur all together in separators. However, the gas which leaves the separator is still saturated with water and gasoline. To recover gasoline vapours and steam, degassing treatment is carried out. The operation often consists in cooling the gas in a refrigerating plant and to expand it, for the Joule Thomson effect. This is the process implemented in Djebel Grouz plant in Tunisia. In Oued Zar plant, external mechanical refrigeration using propane chiller will be installed. In Tazerka where is located the CPF, the process includes the LPG stripper and the debutanizer. The article describes the gas condensate recovery units in our fields and shows the effects of the operating parameters on the processes. Their simulation has been carried out using Hysys and ProII tools and the results of this, have been compared with the real data.
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I GAS CONDENSATE RECOVERY PROCESSES

I.1 Gas Condensate Recovery Characteristics

In order to understand the gas condensate recovery processes we must take in consideration the behavior of the natural gas as a function of pressure and temperature. Let us consider the phase diagram of a reservoir fluid (Fig. 1). The retrograde condensation zone is an area where the gas expansion produces liquid phase under isothermal conditions. It is the grey area to the right of the critical point C. Outside this area, the lowering of the pressure causes progressive vaporization of the liquid fraction. Obviously any cooling outside the retrograde condensation zone will induce condensation and produce gas condensate. Retrograde condensation phenomenon has an important application in the gas condensate recovery processes.

Fig. 1: Phase diagram of a reservoir fluid I.2 Mechanical Refrigeration

Fig. 2: Vapor compression refrigeration cycle

External mechanical refrigeration is the simplest and most direct process for gas condensate recovery. The process is supplied by a vapour compression refrigeration cycle (Fig. 2) that usually uses propane as the refrigerant and reciprocating, centrifugal or screw types of compressors to move the refrigerants from low to high pressure operating conditions. A gasto-gas heat exchanger recovers additional refrigeration by passing the gas, leaving the cold separator countercurrent to the warm inlet gas. The temperature of the cold gas stream leaving this exchanger approaches that of the warm inlet gas. The chiller is mainly a shell and tube, kettle type unit. The process gas flows inside the tubes and gives up its energy to the liquid refrigerant surrounding the tubes. The refrigerant boils off and leaves the chiller vapor space essentially as a saturated vapor. When water is present in the gas processed by refrigeration, hydrate formation is prevented either by dehydration of the gas or by injection of a hydrate inhibitor. If the processing temperature is relatively low, the gas is usually dehydrated before the refrigeration step. If not, injection of an inhibitor (usually methanol or glycols) upstream of the gas-to-gas heat exchanger is often the simplest and most
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economical solution. The inhibitor is injected at the inlet of the gas-to-gas exchanger and/or chiller to prevent hydrate formation, or freeze up, the last one being more common. Freeze up will partially block exchanger tubes, thus increasing pressure drop and decreasing heat exchange. The weak solution, containing absorbed water, is separated in the cold separator, reconcentrated, and recycled (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: External mechanical refrigeration process

A mechanical refrigeration process is adopted when sizeable amounts of condensate are expected. This process may also lead to the recovery of LPG. As for recovery up to 90 %, a simple propane refrigeration system provides refrigeration at temperatures to -40 C. There are many straight refrigeration process schemes, which vary according to all the design variables, such as gas composition, process pressure, and LPG recovery objectives. Any material could be used as a refrigerant. The ideal refrigerant is no toxic, no corrosive, has Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PVT) and physical properties compatible with the system needs, and has a high latent heat of vaporization. The practical choice reduces to one, which has required physical properties and will vaporize and condense at reasonable pressures at the temperature levels required. In general, the lower practical limit of any refrigerant is its atmospheric pressure boiling point. It would be better to carry some positive pressure on the chiller to obtain better efficiency in the compressor, reduce equipment size, and avoid air induction into the system. Propane is by far the most popular refrigerant in gas processing applications. It is readily available (often manufactured on-site), inexpensive, and has a good vapor pressure curve. It is flammable but this is not a significant problem if proper consideration is given to the design and operation of the facility. This configuration is typical of LPG unit of CPF, our treatment plant. Scope of our study consist in optimize the operatives conditions in order to increase the gas condensate recovery.
I.3 Self-Refrigeration

As opposed to external mechanical refrigeration, in the self-refrigeration process, the inlet gas is precooled against the treated gas (through the gas-to-gas exchanger) and subsequently cooled further by isoenthalpic expansion (Joule Thomson expansion) through a valve, resulting in heavy hydrocarbons and water to condense. The main concept is to chill the gas by adiabatically expanding it across the Joule Thomson valve. With appropriate heat exchange and large pressure differential across the Joule Thomson valve, cryogenic temperatures can be achieved resulting in high extraction efficiencies. In this process, the no ideal behavior of the inlet gas causes the gas temperature to fall with the pressure reduction. The temperature change depends first on the pressure drop. The use of the Joule Thomson effect to recover liquids is an attractive alternative in many applications. The advantages of the Joule Thomson unit are:
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Low gas rates and modest ethane recovery. The process can be designed without rotating equipment. Broad range of flows. Simplicity of design and operation.

The condensed liquids are then removed in one or more separators to meet the vapor pressure and composition specifications. The gas from the low temperature separator, once satisfying the sales gas specification, is reheated against the incoming feed. Generally, treated gas must be recompressed to sales pipeline pressure if it has been expanded to a lower pressure. Thus, this process is most favored when the raw gas is produced at a very high pressure and can be expanded to sales line pressure without recompression. If the gas must be recompressed, the process is penalized by the recompression horsepower requirement. Note that the extent of cooling in this process is often limited by the hydrate formation temperature at the prevailing pressure unless a hydrate inhibitor, such as methanol or glycol, is injected upstream of the gas-to-gas heat exchanger (Fig. 4). In this case, the wet glycol and hydrocarbon condensate are heated and separated in a three phase separator. Glycol can be regenerated in a stripper. Because glycol shows some affinity for hydrocarbons, the off-gas from the glycol stripper often contains BTX (benzene, toluene and xylene). The self-refrigeration process is also attractive if the inlet gas pressure is very high. It is important that the reservoir pressure remain high for the intended life of the plant. If the reservoir pressure is less than the sales line pressure, a possible configuration consists of installing a compressor before the Joule Thompson valve. The discharge pressure must be sufficiently higher than the sales line pressure in order to obtain the necessary temperature reduction. This is the solution adopted in Djebel Grouz, an on-shore field located in the South of Tunisia where Eni is operator. In this article we want to underline the importance of Joule Thomson Expansition phenomen to avoid loss of heavy hydrocarbon into the gas.

Fig. 4: Self-refrigeration process I.4 Vapor Recovery Unit

Underground crude oil contains many lighter hydrocarbons in solution. When the oil is brought to the surface and processed, many of the dissolved lighter hydrocarbons are removed through a series of separators. After being extracted from production wells and treatment, crude oil is stored in tanks. During loading and storage, lighter hydrocarbons dissolved in the feedstock separate from the oil and are often vented into the atmosphere or flared. The composition of these vapors varies, but the largest component is methane followed by ethane, propane, and butane classified as vapor organic compounds (VOC). Other heavier compounds that may be present are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX). Losses of the remaining lighter hydrocarbons are categorized in three different ways:
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Flash that occur when the last separator dumps oil into the storage tanks, which are at atmospheric pressure. Vapors released from the changing fluid levels and agitation of tank contents associated with the circulation of fresh oil through the storage tanks. Daily and seasonal temperature changes.

These emissions can create safety hazard and air pollution. One way to prevent emissions of these light hydrocarbon vapors and generate significant economic saving is to install vapor recovery units (VRU) on oil storage tanks. These simple units can capture about 95 % of the emissions from stock tanks. However, feasibility of these units requires close design tolerances. It is a small package composed mainly of a scrubber, a compressor, a pump and a control system. The figure below illustrates a VRU installed on a system of crude oil storage tanks. Hydrocarbon vapors are drawn out of the tanks under low pressure and through the suction line go to the scrubber to collect any liquids that condense out. The liquids are usually recycled back to the storage tanks through the pump. From the scrubber, the vapors flow through the compressor that provides the low pressure suction for the VRU system. Rotary vane compressors are recommended for VRU to move the low volume of gas at low pressures. The vapors are then metered and removed from the VRU. Because of the very low pressure differential between the storage tanks and the compressor, large diameter pipe is recommended to provide less resistance to the gas flow. The control system detects pressure variations inside the tanks and turns the compressor on and off (Fig. 5). To prevent the creation of a vacuum in the top of the tanks when oil is withdrawn and the oil level drops, the controller stops the unit and permits the backflow of vapors into the tanks. The control unit also permits to operate the VRU remotely and is equipped of: Pressure indicator controller (PIC). Level indicator controller (LIC). Low pressure shutdown (LPSD).

It is very important to choose reliable, sensitive control systems, because the automated gas flow valves must be opened and closed on very low pressure differences. VRU provides significant environmental and economic benefits for oil and gas producers. The gases flashed from crude oil and captured by VRU can be: Sold as natural gas. Used as a fuel for onsite operations. Sent to a stripper unit to separate LPG and methane when the volume and price of LPG are attractive.

Fig. 5: Vapor recovery unit -5-

By capturing methane, VRU also reduces the emissions of a potent green house gas (GHG). Vapor recovery can provide generous returns due to the relatively low cost of the technology and in the cases where there are market outlets for the high heating value vapors. VRU should be installed whenever they are economic, taking into consideration all of the benefits environmental and economic. This kind of process is not actually used in EniTunisia fields but it is being evaluated. In this article, we will present an economic study in order to evaluate the profitability of Vapor Recovery Unit installations in Oued Zar storage tanks.

II. ENIS ECONOMIC EVALUATION

Every company invests money in different projects to get profit. The same way is followed by the oil companies. Enis strategy to evaluate if a project is profitable is to find the best process alternative that reduce the investments and increase the returns: select the process and provide for its optimization. The problem is difficult because very many process alternatives could be considered. For each alternative, project manager consider two key cost indicators: CAPEX and OPEX. Capital expenditures (CAPEX) are expenditures creating future benefits. A capital expenditure is incurred when a business spends money either to buy fixed assets or to add to the value of an existing fixed asset with a useful life that extends beyond the taxable year. CAPEX are used by a company to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as equipment, property or industrial buildings. An operating expenditure OPEX is an on-going cost for running a product, business or system. Its counterpart, the capital expenditure (CAPEX) is the cost of developing or providing non-consumable parts for the product or system. In our case, the purchase of a plant is the CAPEX and the cost of workers and fuel are the OPEX. CAPEX and OPEX estimations allow operation and project teams to evaluate capital and operating expenditure trade off in order to optimise the design and the cost through the entire lifecycle of the asset. The input data for this evaluation are: Plant number and type. Production profile. Contract strategy. Logistic strategy. Third party transportation.

The steps to be followed to estimate the capital expenditure are: Identify the asset (In our case, the gas condensate recovery unit, the storage and loading facilities, etc.). Definition of its cost.

The process to evaluate the operative costs foresees the following steps: Identify the activities associated with the asset (In this case operate and maintain the gas condensate recovery unit, chemical injection, fuel consumption, etc.). Identify the necessary resources (Personel, spare parts, chemical, etc.). Definition of the operative costs.

The revenues and the costs must be normalized with respect to a reference time, usually the actual. The objective consists in maximizing their difference. In this way, we can find the best process alternative to realize our project. Enis strategy to measure and compare the profitability of investments, consist in taking into account these key economic indicators; Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Payback Period. These indicators enable the comparison of different solutions. The economic framework includes the study period (the time frame in which the cash flows are evaluated), the discount rate which takes into account the risks related to oil price and other pertinent elements such as the environment in which the company would operate. Sensitivity and risk analysis are included in the economic evaluation, to provide insight into the major risk factors in the development of Enis projects.
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The net present value (NPV) of a time series of cash flows is defined as the sum of the present values of the individual cash flows. The NPV of a sequence of cash flows takes as input the cash flows and a discount and outputs a price. Each cash flow (inflow and outflow) is discounted back to its present value and then they are summed. Therefore NPV is the sum of all terms:

Rt (1 + i )t
t - time of the cash flow i - discount rate Rt - net cash flow (inflow minus outflow) at time t R0 - projects investment The rate used to discount future cash flows to the present value is a key variable of this process. An approach to choose the discount rate value is to decide the rate which the capital needed for the project could return if invested in an alternative venture. It is appropriate to use higher discount rates to adjust for risk or other factors. NPV is an indicator of how much value an investment or project adds to the firm. With a particular project, if Rt is a positive value, the project is in the status of discounted cash inflow in the time t. Instead, if Rt is a negative value, the project is in the status of discounted cash outflow in the time t. Appropriately risked projects with a positive NPV could be accepted. This does not necessarily mean that they should be undertaken since NPV may not account for opportunity cost (the advantage forgone as the result of the acceptance of an alternative) in other words, comparison with other available investments. In financial theory, if there is a choice between two mutually exclusive alternatives, the one producing the higher NPV should be selected.
The investment would add value to the firm The investment would subtract value from the firm The investment would neither gain nor lose value for the firm

NPV > 0

The project should be economically accepted

NPV < 0

The project should be rejected We should be indifferent in the decision whether to accept or reject the project This project adds no monetary value Decision should be based on other criteria, for example strategic positioning or other factors not explicitly included in the calculation Tab. 1: NPV decision criteria

NPV = 0

The internal rate of return (IRR) is the rate used in capital budgeting to measure and compare the profitability of investments.The IRR is a rate quantity, so it is an indicator of the efficiency, quality or profitability of an investment. This is in contrast with the NPV, which is an indicator of the value or magnitude of an investment. An investment is considered acceptable if its internal rate of return is greater than an established minimum acceptable rate of return. This minimum rate is the cost of capital of the investment (which may be determined by the risk adjusted cost of capital of alternative investments). Given the pairs, time and cash flow of a project the IRR follows from the NPV as a function of the rate of return. The rate of return for which this function is zero is the IRR. Given for each time t the cash flow Rt where t is a positive integer, the IRR is given by i in:

(1 + i )
t =0

Rt

=0

N is the the study period that is usually given in years or in months (using months if most of the cash flows occur at monthly intervals).
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As an investment decision tool, the IRR should not be used to rate mutually exclusive projects, but only to decide whether a single project is worth investing in. Payback period in capital budgeting refers to the period of time required for the return on an investment to repay the sum of the original investment. Payback period intuitively measures how long something takes to pay for itself. The shorter payback period is preferred because: The investment costs are recovered sooner and are available again for further use. A shorter payback period is viewed as less risky. It is usually assumed that the longer payback period is the more uncertain. For this reason, payback period is often used as a measure of risk.

Payback period as a tool of analysis is often used because it is easy to apply and easy to understand. The payback period does not account for the opportunity cost. When used to compare similar investments, it can be quite useful but it has no explicit criteria for decision making. This tool for investment decisions should not be used in isolation. An implicit assumption in the use of this economic indicator is that returns to the investment continue after the payback period.

III. CASES STUDIES

III.1 Mechanical Refrigeration (CPF Tazerka)

Maamoura and Baraka Facilities are designed to process the reservoir fluid delivered from Maamoura and Baraka fields through the dedicated 10 and 12 pipelines to the CPF (Treatment Plant). Maamoura and Baraka on-shore treatment plant is located, approximately 13 km northwards from Nabeul and located at 1.8 km from the coast. The facilities are design to receive the off-shore fluids and produce sales gas, stabilized oil, and Butapro I (A mixture of propane and butane). The streams are routed to the slug catchers (Finger type) to separate water and liquid hydrocarbons from the gas. The fingers operate at approximately 12 Bara and 20 C. Liquids from the two slug catchers are combined and sent to the oil treatment section (Three phase separator and crude oil stabilizer) for further separation. Gas from the three phase separator is combined with the crude oil stabilizer overhead gas and sent through a booster compressor before combining with gas from the slug catchers. Then the gas will be combined with gas from the LPG unit and routed to the three main compressors. Compressed gas from the main compressors passes through the amine unit to remove carbon dioxide in the gas stream before going to the dehydration unit and then to the LPG unit. Dry gas from the top of the TEG contactor is sent through the TEG outlet coalescer to remove any glycol carryover before being cooled to -37 C through the Gas/Liquid Exchanger (340-HA-001), the Gas/Gas Cooler (340-HA-002) and the Propane Chiller (340HA-003). Condensed liquids are removed through the Cold Separator (340-VA-001). Treated gas from the top of the Cold Separator is heated to 41 C through the Gas/Gas Cooler and the Sweet/Sales Gas Exchanger before going to sales. Hydrocarbon liquids from the Cold Separator bottoms are heated through the Gas/Liquid Exchanger and then fed to the LPG Stripper (211-VE-001). The LPG Stripper Reboiler (211-HR-005) is heated by hot oil. The overhead gas from the top of the LPG Stripper is partially condensed via propane refrigerant through the LPG Stripper Overhead Condenser (211-HA-006) before going to the LPG Overhead Accumulator (211-VA-005). Gas from the LPG Overhead Accumulator is heated up through the Gas/Propane Exchanger (400-HA-001) before it is recycled back to the main compressors. Liquid from the LPG Overhead Accumulator is recycled through the LPG Reflux Pumps (211-PA-001 A / B) to the top tray of the LPG Stripper. Condensed liquid from the LPG Stripper is routed to the Debutanizer (211-VE-002). Also the Debutanizer Reboiler (211-HR-004) is heated by hot oil. The overhead vapor is condensed by the Debutanizer Overhead Air Cooler (211-HC-001) and flows to the Debutanizer Overhead Accumulator (211-VA-004). The off-gas from the top of the accumulator is sent to the flare header. Liquid product (Butapro I) from the accumulator a fraction is pumped to the top tray of the Debutanizer as reflux and the rest to storage. The Debutanizer bottom liquid is recycled back to the stabilizer. The propane refrigeration system supplies propane refrigerant to the Propane Chiller (340-HA-003) and to the LPG Stripper Overhead Condenser (211-HA-006).
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Propane gas from the users is routed to the Propane Receiver (400-VN-001) to remove the entrained liquids. It is then compressed to 17.3 Bara by Propane Compressors (400-KA-001 A / B). The compressors are oil flooded two stage screw compressors. The discharged propane gas flows to the Propane Lube Oil Coalescers (400-CQ-001 A / B) to remove entrained lube oil and is condensed through the Propane Condenser (400-HC-001A / B). Condensed liquid propane is sent to the Propane Surge Drum (400-VA-001). Propane liquid from the surge drum is flashed and routed to the Propane Economizer (400-VN-002). Vapor from the economizer is routed to the second stage Propane Compressors suction and liquid from the bottom is sent to the Propane Chiller and the LPG Stripper Overhead Condenser.

Fig. 6: CPF Tazerka - LPG unit

Fig. 7: LPG unit - Hysys simulation -9-

LPG unit was simulated using Hysys tool (Fig. 7). The results compared with the real operatives conditions are showed in following table (Tab. 2).

Tab. 2: Hysys results and real data comparison

The setting of LPG unit with the actual operative conditions is not recommended because it is in commissioning phase. Project team is regulating the parameters in order to obtain Butapro I specifications. So now it is not in steady state conditions, necessary constrain to set our model. After the handover, it will be possible to perform the setting and then optimize the process. Actually the LPG stripper is the most critical part of the process. As we can see from the results, the operative conditions of the column and its equipments are different from the simulation outputs. Now the temperature of the top is bigger than the value provided from our model. This means a high flow rate to LPG Overhead Condenser and then the design capacity of only one propane compressor is not enough to cool down the stream to -37 C. Our simulation has permitted us to locate the problem and to help the project team in the regulation phases.
III.2 Self-Refrigeration (Djebel Grouz)

The Djebel Grouz field lies in the northern part of the Saharan Platform and covers an area of 144 km2. Actually, the exploitation of its reserves takes place through two wells PDG 3 and PDG 4. The treatment plant is being designed to treat their productions in order to achieve oil and gas sales specification. The produced fluid is first directed to the oil treatment process that comprises separation, stabilization and storage, then the separated associated gas is sent to the gas treatment process composed by compression, cooling and glycol dehydration. Oil is exported to marine terminal located in La Skhira, while the treated gas is delivered to the STEG pipeline. Associated gas from the two first stage separators is routed to Compressor KB-500 suction through a pressure control valve located on the flare line, to be compressed up to 95 Barg through 3 compression stages. This valve maintains a constant pressure at compressor suction of 3 Barg. Compressed gas from KB-500, at 95 Barg, after being air cooled down to 45 C, flows to Gas Scrubber VC-510 to separate condensed liquids, then to Joule Thompson Refrigeration Unit. In this unit, the compressed gas is first cooled by flashed condensates from 45C down to 40 C, then it expands adiabatically through a Joule Thompson valve from 95 Barg to 68 Barg and cools down to 30C. Cold gas is then routed to
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Gas Filter Coalescer VA-530 to be filtered down to 1 micron mesh before entering TEG Contactor VE-700. Dehydrated gas from TEG Contactor is directed to export Gas Metering Skid JM-1100 and then injected into 6 gas departing pipeline. Recovered gas condensate from gas treatment plant is routed to the oil station via 4 pipe. Joule Thompson Refrigeration Unit is composed by the following equipments: Gas/Condensates Heat Exchanger HX-510 to reduce the temperature of the gas flowing from Gas Scrubber by heat up cold condensates recovered mainly from LP Cold Separator. Joule Thompson Expansion Valve to expand adiabatically the cooled gas from 95 Barg to 68 Barg and to cool it down to 30 C. HP Cold Separator upstream the Joule Thompson valve. LP Cold Separator downstream the Joule Thompson valve.

Gas/Condensates Heat Exchanger HX-510 is constituted by two exchangers collocated in series. The first one uses the flashed condensates from VC-510, while the second one is cooled by the condensates that come from the two separators. In the HP Cold Separator, the gas separates from condensed liquids and then expands through the Joule Thompson valve. After it is directed to LP Cold Separator where it separates condensed liquids and flows to VA-530. After it goes to dehydration unit where it reaches the required water dew point (-5 C at 77 Barg). On the separators condensate outlet lines, methanol injection is used in order to prevent hydrate formation.The gas treatment unit has being designed in order to obtain the required gas specification for delivery to STEG and also the insertion of the Joule Thompson Refrigeration Unit permit to recover condensates that otherwise would be lost in the gas.

Fig. 8: Djebel Grouz process flow diagram

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Fig. 9: ProII simulation - Joule Thomson unit

Actually Joule Thompson Refrigeration Unit does not work. For this reason, we have simulated and optimized this unit using ProII tool (Fig. 9). We have used the PVT of the levels actually on production and the last production data. Scope of this simulation is to evaluate the amount of gas condensates that we can recover. The results are reported below:

Tab. 3: Joule Thomson unit simulation results

Our simulation shows a gas condensate recovery of at least 3.5 m3/Day, which are recycled to the oil treatment plant and then are sent with the oil to the storage tanks. Now the Joule Thomson Unit does not work because in the tanks, a large amount of light hydrocarbons is discharged in the atmosphere through the relief valve and then lost. So a modification of the actual plant configuration is strictly necessary in order to reduce hydrocarbons losses. Two different solutions can be carried out: Installing a dedicated pipeline with the necessary equipments, to connect STEG gas condensate pipeline with Joule Thompson Refrigeration Unit. Installing a VRU on crude oil storage tanks.

An economic evaluation may help us in the choice.

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III.3 Vapor Recovery Unit (Economic Evaluation - Oued Zar)

When heated during the treatment, some of the oil vaporizes. The heated oil inside the tanks continues to vaporize, thus filling the space between the liquid and the top of the tanks. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, this vapor is vented into the atmosphere or flared. This reduces the API gravity and decreases the value of the crude oil. As temperature changes, pressure of the vapor also changes. If the temperature increases, the vapor and the pressure increase. If the temperature decreases, vapor condenses and the pressure decreases. If the pressure reaches a value too high, venting is necessary. Within a battery of tanks, two or more tanks together, if vapor pressure is high in one tank gas goes to the other one through the equalizing line. When the pressure in all tanks becomes equal and reaches the set point, the VRU begins operative by draining the vapor through a gas line. The gas by-pass system is made by a series of valves and pipes that re-circulates compressed vapor back to the scrubber and the compressor. This doesnt maintain vapor pressure at a level which keeping compressor running until the pressure inside the tanks can increase. Pressure inside the stock tanks is usually measured in inches of water. The compressor starts when the vapor pressure increases to a predetermined set point, usually 2 inches of water. If the vapor pressure drops to 1 inch of water, the compressor stops. In the gas by-pass system, the by-pass valve opens partially operates by a control pilot and some of the compressed vapor re-circulates while the rest is discharged to the gas gathering system. The vapor pressure drops well below one inch, a by-pass valve opens full and all compressed gas re-circulates. However, a continue decrease behind a predetermined set point will cause the shutdown of the unit. Decision Process Companies using fixed roof crude oil storage tanks can assess VRU economics by following five steps: Identify possible locations for VRU installation. Virtually any tanks battery is a potential site for a VRU. The keys to successful VRU project are a steady source and an adequate quantity of crude oil vapors along with an economic outlet for the collected product. The potential vapors volume depends on the make-up and the flow rate of the oil through the tanks. Pipeline connection costs for routing vapors off-site must be considered in selecting sites for VRU installation. Quantify the volume of vapor emissions. Emissions can either be measured or estimated. A calibrated orifice and a pressure gauge can be used to measure the maximum emissions rate that will be utilized to size the VRU. Orifice meters, however, might not be suitable for measuring total volumes over time due to the pressure of tanks. Calculating total vapor emissions from oil tanks can be complicated because many factors affect the amount of gas that will be released: o o o o Operating pressure and temperature of the separator dumping the oil to the tank and the pressure in the tank. Oil composition and API gravity. Tank operating characteristics (sales flow rate, size of the tank, etc.). Ambient temperature.

There are two approaches to estimating the quantity of vapor emissions from crude oil tanks. Both use the gas oil ratio (GOR) at a given pressure and temperature, expressed in standard cubic meter per barrel of oil. The first approach analyzes API gravity and separator pressure to determine GOR, through curves constructed at different temperatures using empirical flash data from laboratory studies and field measurements. This graph can be used to approximate total potential vapor emissions from a barrel of oil. For example, given a certain oil API gravity and the vessel dumping pressure, the total volume of vapors can be estimated per barrel of oil. Once the emissions rate per barrel is estimated, the total quantity of emissions from the tank can be determined by multiplying the per barrel estimate by the total amount of oil cycled through the tank. The shortcoming of this approach is that it does not generate information about the composition of the vapors emitted.
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The second approach is to use a process simulation software (Hysys, Pro II, etc.) for estimating vapor emissions from crude oil tanks. These tools can estimate the quantity of vapor using thermodynamic flash calculations. An operator must have several pieces of information to use a process simulation software, including: o o o o o o Separator pressure and temperature. Separator oil composition. Tanks reference pressure. Reid vapor pressure of sales oil. Sales oil production rate. API gravity of sales oil.

Determine the value of recovered emissions. It depends on how these vapors are used: o o o Using the recovered vapors onsite as fuel produces a value equivalent to the purchased fuel that is displaced, mainly natural gas. Piping the vapors to a natural gas gathering pipeline should generate a price that reflects the higher heating value of recovered emissions. Piping the vapors to a processing plant that will strip the LPG from the gas stream and resell the LPG and the methane separately should also capture the full energy content of recovered hydrocarbons.

Value of recovered vapors R=QxP R = gross revenue Q = rate of vapor recovery P = price of natural gas Determine the cost of a VRU project. The major elements that impact the profitability of VRU are the initial capital equipment, the installation and the operating costs. Equipment costs are determined largely by the volume handling capacity of the unit, the sales line pressure, the number of tanks in the battery, size and type of the compressor and the degree of automation. The main components of VRU are the suction scrubber, the compressor and the automated control unit. A VRU should be sized to handle the maximum volume of vapors expected from the storage tanks. When sizing a VRU, the industry rule of thumb is to double the average daily volume to estimate the maximum emissions rate. Thus in order to handle a given volume of vapor, a unit capable of handling at least the double should be selected. Installation costs can add as much as 50 100 % to the initial unit cost. Installation costs can vary greatly depending on location (remote sites will likely result in higher installation costs) and number of tanks (larger VRU systems will be required for multiple tanks). Expenses for shipping, site preparation, VRU housing construction (for cold weather protection) and supplemental equipment (for remote, unmanned operations) must also be factored when estimating installation costs. Operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses vary with the location of the VRU (sites in extreme climates experience more wear), electricity costs and the type of produced oil. For instance, paraffin based oils can clog the VRU and require more maintenance. Finally, the cost of a pipeline to interconnect the tanks battery site with a processing plant or a pipeline is a factor in overall VRU economics. Evaluate VRU project economics. Installing a VRU can be very profitable, depending on the value of the recovered vapors in the local market. When assessing VRU economics, gas price may influence the decision making process. Therefore, it is important to re-examine the economics of installing vapor recovery unit as natural gas prices change.

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Economic Evaluation The economic evaluation performed for supporting the installation of Vapor Recovery Unit in Oued Zar plant was based on the following base case: Gas price equals 0.25 $/Sm3. Oil price equals 92.44 $ (Zarzaitine Mlange - January). Discount rate variable 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 %. Operating and Maintenance costs equal 33678 $/Day. Capital costs equal 118810 $/Day. Installation costs equal 89108 $/Day. Gas recovery factor equals 80 %.

The VRU was based on the compressor operating at 100 psig and on a design capacity of 15000 Sm3/Day, corrected by a factor to take into consideration the recovery of hydrocarbons from the gas phase stream. In fact, the amount of gas from Adam and Oued Zar fields that is sold to STEG (Socit Tunisienne de llectricit et du Gaz) is less than the produced, all the rest is burned. But the gas recovered by the VRU, contains a great quantity of gas condensate. So the value of this gas is higher and its recover brings an economic gain.The flow rates of gas and liquid recovered by this process were estimated by a simulation with Hysys using the PVT data of well HAWA 1 (Adam concession). The results of our simulation are: Gas flow rate equals 10265 Sm3/Day. Gas condensate flow rate equals 0.4252 BBL/Day.

The results of the economic evaluation are the follows:

DISCOUNT RATE IMPACT ON ECONOMIC ANALYSIS DISCOUNT RATE (%) 2,5 5 7,5 10 PAYBACK PERIOD (MONTHS) 4 4 5 5 NPV ($) 880825 631418 459625 337751

In the table above we can see how the variation of discount rate variable influencing the NPV and the payback period. The project was justified with 29 % of IRR at a discount of 10 % in a period of 5 months. Finally this project should be economically accepted.
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CONCLUSIONS
This article has illustrated the different technologies used or being evaluated in Eni Tunisia fields, in order to increase gas condensate recovery. We have spoken about the existing LPG recovery plants in Djebel Grouz, Maamoura and Baraka fields. We have studied and simulated each process and where was possible optimazed. The differents steps are: Data collection: o o o o Project data (Technical equipments data, P&ID, PFD, O&M manual, etc.). Actual operative conditions (Flow rate, temperature, pressure, etc.). PVT data of wells on production. Delivery specifications.

Building the model of the process using a simulation tool (Hysys, ProII, etc.). Setting the model using actual operative conditions. Optimizing the model by regulating where is possible, the operative parameters.

The Djebel Grouz study consists in quantifying the amount of recovered gas condensate. Actually this unit does not work. The scope of this article is to explain why now this process is not profitable and what we can do to obtain an economic gain. Gas refrigeration process is simple to manage but the recovered LPG is off spec. It is necessary another treatment or as we can see in the actual configuration, we can stock it with the oil. But this solution is not the best because an important quantity of light hydrocarbons can be lost in the atmosphere. To improve the performances of this plant, we have proposed some alternative solutions and one of these consists in joining two different technologies (VRU and expansion valve). For choose, we need an economic evaluation. In Tazerka plant, The LPG recovery unit consists in a complex process that uses an external mechanical refrigeration cycle. Also in this case we have simulated the plant but we did not set the model with the real data because actually the CPF is in commissioning phase. For the existing plants we can optimize the process or study different technical solutions in order to increase the performances. The evaluation of vapor recovery unit in our fields is in progress. For the non-existing plants many alternatives have to be considered and the choice depends on economic evaluation. Each alternative must to be profitable and the best is selected for the development phase.

REFERENCES
Natural Gas Epa Pollution Preventer, Installing vapor recovery unit on crude oil storage tanks. Gas Processors Suppliers Association, GPSA Engineering Data Book. Saeid Mokhatab - William A. Poe - James G. Speight, Handbook of natural gas transmission and processing.

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