Oil

&
Gas
( Off-Shore )

S.K.Saxena
 Objective of presentation

The objective of Oil and Gas

presentation is to understand how
does oil and gas is produced from
well, processed to meet user
requirement and finally transported
to user end.
 Oil and Gas
The steps involved from production of oil and gas from the
reservoir to supply to users can be broadly classified as
Step 1 : Drilling and production
Step 2 : Processing
Step 3 : Transportation.

Step 1: Drilling and Production

The gas and oil trapped in voids in layers of sediment of the
earths crust is known as Reservoir. The drilling is a
specialized activity which involves a Drilling Rig. A Drilling
Rig is a temporary installation to drill into the earths crust at a
predetermined point where oil and gas reserves are expected to
be present. (The identification of zones rich in hydrocarbons,
quantity of reserve available , expected life, depth , pressure
and temperature etc. is the part of reservoir engineering).
Reservoir
Reservoir
Drilling Rig
Drill cones
A metallic pipe called a casing is installed and
drilled hole is suitably sealed. Mud is used as
lubricants, coolant media during crest drilling.
After drilling , driller installed the casing and
capped the well . The cap is removed and well is
hooked up with production manifold once
facility for production is available.
The Casing consist of the following:

Production tubings .
Casing head.

Each of these are depicted in the following slides

Casing
Well head with Casing

Aker Kvaerner 15
Tubing (Dual completion) installed in
Production String

Aker Kvaerner 16
Christmas Tree Assembly ( Typical )
Typical P&ID depiction

Aker Kvaerner 18
Well head Assembly
There is considerable pressure inside the
reservoir. Sometimes this pressure can be
as high as 200 bars. This pressure is
known as a reservoir pressure or also
referred to as Well Shut in Pressure or
Shut in Tubing Pressure (SITP). The
fluid from the reservoir is (typically)
transported to the platform thru
conductors/risers by the reservoir
pressure.
 Use of Mud during drilling
The mud enters though the drill pipe, through the
cone and rises in the uncompleted well. The Mud
serves several purposes:
a) Clean and Cool the drill cone
b) Lubricate the drill pipe string and Cone
c) Mud weight should balance the down-hole
pressure to avoid leakage of gas and oil. Often, the
well will drill though smaller pockets of
hydrocarbons which may cause a blow out if the
mud weight cannot balance the pressure. The
same might happen when drilling into the main
reservoir.
d) To prevent an uncontrolled blow out.
 Mud
The mud mix is a specialist brew designed to
match the desired flow viscosity, lubrication
properties and specific gravity. Mud is a
common name used for all kinds of fluids used
in drilling completion and work over, It can be
Oil base, Water base or Synthetic and consists of
powdered clays such as Bentonite, Oil, Water
and various additives and chemicals such as
caustic soda, barite ( Sulphurous mineral),
lignite (brown coal), polymers and emulsifiers.
A special high density mud called Kill Fluid is
used to shut down a well for Work-over.
Mud pumping facility
 Grocery or terms used in Oil & Gas industry
Blowout :Uncontrolled release of well fluids from the
well bore during drilling operations
Caisson: Pipe extending into the sea for the purpose of
disposal of waste water or drawing out sea water using a
submersible pump
Casing: Pipe used for lining and sealing the well and
prevent the collapse of the bore hole
Choke valve: First regulatory valve on the Top sides.
Christmas Tree: An assembly of valves attached to the
wellhead for controlling the well production.
Conductor/tubings: A metallic pipe installed into the
reservoir for extracting oil and gas
Drilling rig: Temporary installation to drill into the
reservoir
 Grout: Mixture of cement and water (no sand) used to secure and
seal attachments such as piles into the jacket leg
Hydrate :Solid ice like compound consisting of molecules of
water and hydrocarbon gases
Jacket (side): Supporting structure for the offshore platform
Flow line: Piping which directs the well fluids to manifold
MPFM: Multi Phase Flow Meter, used for well testing for
determining well fluid composition
Mud line: Sea bed
Packer: Device for sealing one casing string from another or from
the production tubing
Produced water: Formation water in the well fluid which is
removed from oil ad gas
 Production Tubing: Pipe used in wells to conduct
fluid from the producing zone in the reservoir till the
Christmas tree
Reservoir :Voids in earths crust where oil and gas
reserves are trapped
Rig: Structures and vessels associated with oil and gas
exploration and production
Riser: The vertical portion of a sub-sea pipeline arriving
at or departing from a platform
RTU: Remote Telemetry Unit, Used for remotely
monitoring an unmanned Platform
Top sides: Facilities installed on the platforms
 Wellhead: Permanent equipment used to secure
and seal the casings and the production tubing and
to provide a mounting place for the Christmas Tree
Well shut in pressure: Max. pressure that can be
developed in the reservoir.
Wire line: Equipment used to introduce tools into
the well bore under pressure.
RVP : Reid Vapor Pressure defined as true vapor
pressure at 100 F.
String : Number of concentric pipes within the
casing called String.
 BS&W: Base Sediment and Water.
GOR : Gas to Oil ratio.
GLR : Gas to liquid ratio.
Step 2: Processing
The fluid from the reservoir consists of oil, gas,
water, sediment (sand), etc. Primary processing
involves separation of water, sediments (sand) and
other undesirable components that may be present
in the produced oil and gas. In some cases, oil and
gas are separated and further processing is carried
out meeting pipe line specification. The
processing required are dehydration, reduction in
hydro-carbon dew point temperature, gas
sweetening and crude/condensate stabilization to
meet RVP requirement ( Discussed in detail in
subsequent slides).
 Step 3: Transportation
After primary separation and processing, oil and
gas are transported to shore by pipelines. A Pig
Launching /Receiving facility is included on the
facility for routine pipeline cleaning and
maintenance etc.
Slug Catcher is provided at the landing end of
two phase and gas pipe lines after the Pig receiver.
 Pig Launcher / Receiver
Vent

Purge Connection

Bar Tee
Quick
Pig Closure
Indicator XI

BARREL

Pipeline
Pig
Drain Handling
Drain System

Platform or
Processing Plant
 Types of Pigs
Cylindrical Brush Pig
Gauging Pig Gauge Plate

Cup Brush Sphere Pig - Used for

separation or displacement

Foam Pig
 Slug catcher
Pipelines that transport both gas and liquids together, known as
two-phase flow, can operate in a flow regime known as Slug
flow. Under the influence of gravity liquids will tend to settle
on the bottom of the pipeline, while the gasses occupy the top
section of the pipeline. Under certain operating conditions gas
and liquid are not evenly distributed throughout the pipeline,
but travel as large plugs with mostly liquids or mostly gasses
through the pipeline. These large plugs are called slugs.
Slugs exiting the pipeline overloads the equipment at the
pipeline outlet, as slug produces much larger rate than the
equipment is designed for.
Slugs do generate by different mechanisms in a pipeline:

1) Terrain Slugging is caused by elevation difference in pipeline

at various locations. The liquid built up at the low points of
pipeline until sufficient pressure built up behind it. Once
liquid is pushed out of the low point, it forms a slug.
2) Hydrodynamic Slugging is caused by gas flowing at faster rate
over slow moving liquid . The gas forms waves on liquid surface,
which may grow to bridge the whole cross section of the pipe.
This create blockage on gas flow, which travels as a a slug
through the pipe .
3) Riser based slugging is associated with the pipeline risers often
found in offshore platform. The liquid accumulates at the
bottom of the riser till sufficient pressure is generated behind it
to push the liquid over the top of riser, overcoming the static
head. Behind liquid slug follows the gas slug until sufficient
liquid gets accumulated at the bottom of riser.
4) Pigging Slug is caused by pigging operation in pipeline. The
pig is designed to push all the liquid accumulated in the pipeline
. This intentionally creates a big liquid slug.

All slugs are periodically in nature

Purpose of the slug catcher
A slug catcher is a hold up volume with sufficient buffer to
store the largest slugs expected from the upstream system.
The slug catcher is located between the outlet of the pipeline
and the processing equipment. The buffered liquids can be
drained to the processing equipment at a much slower rate to
prevent overloading the system. As slugs are a periodical
phenomenon, the slug catcher should be emptied before the
next slug arrives.
There are two types slug catchers used in industry:-

- Vessel type when slug volume is less than 50 M3

- Finger type when slug size is bigger than 50 M3.
 A basic slug catcher design contains the buffer
volume for gas and liquid. A control system is used
for controlled outflow of gas and liquid to the
downstream processing facilities. The inlet section
is designed to promote the separation of gas and
liquid.
 Slug catcher ( Finger type)
Pipeline Fluids in
A Typical Finger
Slug Catcher
Gas Out

80 -100 meters long or

more, and sloped towards
Liquids liquid outlet end
Out
Slug catcher ( Finger type)
Slug catcher ( Finger type)
 Slug catcher ( Vessel Type)

 Oil and Gas Production facility

Offshore + Sub-sea export pipeline : Cairn

Energy, LA and Gauri.
Offshore + Pipeline + Onshore Processing a)
Reliance:- KGD6, ONGC:-Uran and Hazira.
Combinations depending on various factors
Wellhead Platform+ Onshore Processing
Wellhead Platform +Partial offshore processing
+Onshore Processing
Sub-sea Completion + FPU ( for deepwater)
Off-shore production ideas
 Jackets Gravity based
Structures - Floating
Steel or production
Concrete and storage
100 vessel
Meters (FPSO)
Tension Leg
Platform
(TLP)

300
Meters

500 + Meters 2000 meters,

3000 meters,
6000 meters

Sub-Sea
 Floating Production Storage and Off-loading
(FPSO)
FPSO design concept

DRILLING/SUBSTRUCTURE

PIPERACK POWER GENERATION

PROCESS LQ
OFF- HELIDECK
LOADING

TURRET +
MOORING THRUSTERS
Sub-sea Facilities
Umbillical
 Wellhead
(Oil and gas Production)
Well Testing

Sand separation Separation of Oil, Gas and Water

Produced Oil Produced gas Produced Water

Oil and water

Oil Gas
separation
Stabilization Sweetening

Gas
To Pipeline Dehydration
Water to
Oil
Disposal
Recycled
overboard

NGL recovery To Pipeline

 Well fluid composition
The well fluid may contain any or all of followings:
Desirable constituents:
Oil and Gas
Undesirable konstituents:
Water (not required)
H2S ( Responsible for Sour corrosion)
CO2 (Responsible for Sweet corrosion)
Sand ( Creats Abrasion)
Wax ( Plugging)
Process design objective is to optimise production of
oil and gas consideringAker
the effect of the undesirables52
Kvaerner
constituents
 Process Classification of Offshore
Platforms
Depending upon the facilities available for
processing the well fluids, the platforms can
be classified into two categories
Production or wellhead platforms.
Processing Platforms.

A brief description of each of the above

facilities are as follows.
1.Major process systems at Production or
Well head plateform
a) Well testing and production system
b) Utility systems
c) Vent system
d) Drain system
e) Fire fighting arrangements
f) Emergency shutdown system
g) Production enhancement techniques ( Gas
,water injection and gas lift)

Aker Kvaerner 54
 a)Well Testing and Production
The oil and gas from the reservoir flows to the top sides
at reservoir pressure through riser pipe. From the
choke valve there is a provision to route the production
to either the production manifold or to the test header.
Before the production can be routed to the pipeline it is
necessary to know the quality of oil, gas and water
produced from each well. For this purpose each well is
first tested. The well production is tested by a Test
separator. Test separator is typically a two phase or a
three phase separator which separates oil & gas and
water. Flow rates of each of the separated phases can
be measured by On -line instruments to get an estimate
of quality of production from each well.
 It is not necessary that all wells are productive. For
example, some of the wells may be producing more
water than desired. In such cases well testing helps in
identifying and isolating such non productive wells
from the production header. Therefore after obtaining
an estimate of production from a particular well, it is
connected to the production manifold depending
upon the economics.
From the production manifold, production fluid is
routed out of the platform by pipeline. A pig launcher
or/and receiver is also included for clearing the
pipeline off the debris and other blockages. Block
flow diagram for Production manifold is depicted in
next slide, is for a production platform which typically
depicts the provision for the wells to be taken for
testing in the test separator and to the production
header.
 Well head connection with production
manifold
Gas out let

Test Header
Test Separator

Liquid outlet

Flow Arm

Production Header
Wells

Departing Production Pipeline

Pig Launcher / Receiver
 b) Utility Systems
Objective is to provide utilities for enabling un-
interrupted production at well head plateform.

i) Instrument and utility gas system.

ii) Chemical dosing for controlling corrosion .
iii) Diesel Storage for Crane /hali-copter/fire
water pump.
ix) Power : From solar cells and battery back- up
x) Portable water.
Aker Kvaerner 58
 i) Instrument and utility gas system
The objective of the instrument and utility gas
system is to provide gas for:
Operating instruments such as on/off valves.
Operating gas diaphram driven pumps on the
platform.
Providing motive pressure for the hydraulic
systems operating the sub-surface valves.

For above purpose the Dew point of the gas is

required to be controlled so that condensation and
subsequent accumulation of liquid in the tubing
and diaphragm of the on/off valves can be
minimized.
 Refer to flow scheme in next slide A stream from
the production header is taken to a pipe
separator for separation of gas from the liquid
phase. The gas from the pipe separator is first
cooled by an ambient air cooler (without fan).
Subsequently its pressure is dropped to the
required instrument air pressure (usually 8.0
kg/cm2g) by a control valve. This results in
further cooling of the gas by J T effect. An online
filter separator removes the condensate. The
cool gas is now at dew point. It is heated again
by enhancing heat with the production header to
obtain gas above the dew point to be used for
instrument and utility purpose. An instrument air
receiver is included in the system to serve as buffer
storage for instrument air.
Alternative A: Instrument Air from Pipe Instrument Air
Separator Air Cooler Pressure Supply
reduction

Pipe Separator

Production Header

Alternative B: Instrument Air from Lift

gas (if available) Pressure
reduction

Lift Gas Header

 ii) Chemical dosing system
The purpose of the chemical dosing can be one or all
of the following:

For corrosion inhibition

To prevent hydrate formation

Chemicals can be dozed at various points of the

production header by one of the following methods.
Firstly, by a gas driven dosing pump. Secondly, by
gravity after pressure equalization with the
production header as shown in figure next slide.
 Chemical Dosing scheme
Alternative I : Pressure Equalization

Equali- Corrosion Inhibition

zation line Storage Tank

Gravity Head Inhibitor dosing line

Production Header

Alternative II : Dozing Pump

Corrosion Inhibition
Storage Tank

Dozing Pump

Production Header
Chemicals
 iii) Diesel Storage .
Diesel fuel is required for crane, halicopter and fire
water pumps operation. Normally diesel
requirement is not very high on well head
plateform , therefore, small capacity storage is
provided at the platform. The diesel fuel is
transported to platform by the service vessel
regularly and stored in tanks . The diesel from
storage tank to users is supplied by hand driven
pump or gas diaphram operated pump.
 iv) Potable water
For Well head platform normally potable water
requirement is lower , water treatment plant can
not be economically justified, therefore, most of
cases potable water is transported to the platform
by supply vessel. The well head platform shall be
provided with storage and all the decks
distribution facility.
Some time only chlorination facility is provided
g) Production Enhancement Techniques
The process described in the previous slides was
with out any external driving force apart from the
reservoir pressure. As the pressure of the well
depleted, it may not be possible to efficiently
exploit the reservoir fully by the reservoir pressure
alone. For this purpose capacity enhancement
techniques have to be adopted. These techniques
can be broadly classified into the following.
i) Injection operations : Water or Gas
ii) Artificial lift operation using (lift) gas : Lift gas
iii) Lifting by Mechanical means : Pumps
Wells are also divided into Production and Injection
wells. The former is for production of oil and gas,
injection wells is drilled to inject gas or water into the
reservoir. The purpose of injection is to maintain overall
and hydrostatic reservoir pressure and force the oil
toward the production wells. When injected water
reaches the production well, this is called injected water
break through. Special logging instruments, often based
on radioactive isotopes added to injection water, are used
to detect break through. Injection wells are
fundamentally the same as production wellheads other
than the direction of flow and therefore the mounting of
some directional component such as the choke.
 i) Injection Operations : Water/Gas
The injection operations involve injecting an
immiscible fluid (liquid or gas) in the reservoir
to increase the pressure. The mechanism can
be imagined more simply as equivalent to
making liquid rise through a straw by applying
pressure at the liquid surface.
The decision of which fluid to use for
injection in which operating scenario is based
upon reservoir exploitation program best
suited for optimal economic recovery .
The usual liquid that is used for liquid
injection is Produced water and Produced gas.
These fluids have to be treated before they can
be injected to the wells.
The possible sources of water for injection
are as follows:
Produced water
Sea water
Injection water sourced from another nearby
platform
The possible sources of gas are as follows:
Produced gas processed compressed and
injected
Injection gas sourced from another nearby
platform .
 ii) Artificial lift operation by gas
The purpose of the lift gas is to enhance
production by injecting high pressure gas. Gas
is injected continuously into the production well
at a maximum depth on the basis of available
lift gas pressure. The injected gas mixes with
the produced well fluids and decreases the
flowing well pressure drop and static head from
the point of gas injection to the surface. This
reduced back pressure , rate of production and
thus enhancing the production from the well.
Refer to Schematic for Lift Gas arrangement in
subsequent slides.
High pressure gas to be used for lift gas can be
available from the following sources:-

High pressure produced gas from nearby

wells by pipe line.
Compressed gas from other platforms by
pipeline.
By separation compression and treatment
of the produced gas.
Here no separate wells are required for injection
just like in case of water/gas injection
Artificial lift operation by gas
 iii) Lifting by mechanical means
The mechanical means by which oil and gas can be
transported to shore is by Electrical Submersible Pump
(ESP) or by a Beam Pumping unit.
The ESP is a similar to a conventional submersible
pump with variation to suit oil well operations. The
ESP is installed in the casing. Electrical Submersible
Pump (ESP) depicts typical installation of an ESP in
the oil well. The major difference between the ESP and
a conventional submerged pump is that of location of
the electrical motor. In an conventional submerged
pump the motor is at the top whereas in an ESP the
motor is near the production zone. The reason for such
an arrangement in an ESP is to cool the motor by the
flowing well fluids.
Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP)
Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP)
 Beam pumping unit operation is similar to
the hand operated water pump. The
difference being the motive force to operate
the pump is electrical or gas driven. Refer to
next slide: Beam Pumping Unit.
Beam pumping unit
Beam pumping unit
 c) Vent System
Objective is to provide safe passage to hydro-carbon
vents during normal and emergencey scenarios
Platform vents are classified as follows:
Vents from safety relief valves
Manual depressurization vents
Vents from low pressure storage tanks
All the above mentioned vents are connected to a vent
header. The vent header is routed to the vent boom
via a liquid seal pot and flame arrestor. For an
unmanned platform the vent boom is a cold vent i.e.
it is not a lit flare and the gases are discharged to
the atmosphere without Akercombustion
Kvaerner 81
Safe disposal point of the vent boom is determined by
a dispersion and radiation analysis.

Vent boom snuffing system

There is always possibility of accidental igniting of

the vent due to lightening. In such an event, the
flame at the tip of the vent boom is detected and
snuffed out by a snuffing system. The snuffing
system consists of a flame detector, snuffing
nozzles and storage for snuffing medium. Typical
snuffing medium used are carbon dioxide .
 Vent Boom

LP KO Drum
PSH

HP KO Drum
 d) Drain system
The purpose of the drain system is to collect all the
drains containing hydrocarbons and minimize oil
spillages to the sea. The drain headers are classified
into following types.
Open hydro-carbon drains
Closed hydro-carbon drains
Open deck drains
Drain collection sump and pumps
Open hydrocarbon drains: The drain from Test
Separator and Instrument gas filter separator skids are
routed to the open hydrocarbon
Aker Kvaerner
drain by gravity . 84
 Close hydrocarbon drains: The drains from
pressurized process vessels such as instrument air
filter separator etc are routed to this.
Open deck drains: Drains free of hydrocarbon like
deck drains of routing deck floor washings and
rain water is collected and directly drained into
sea.
Drain collection sump and pumps :
Hydrocarbons from the open and closed drain are
collected in the Drain collection drum located at
the lowest elevation of the platform to enable
gravity flow from the various drain points. The
drained liquid from this drum is pumped into the
outgoing production pipeline by a gas driven
pump.
 e) Fire Fighting Arrangement
There are dual objectives, primary and secondary.
Primary : To ensure safe evacuation of personnel on the
platform during emergency.
Secondary : To protect the Vessels and structure from over-
heating and collapse by providing a water spriklar.

Fire and Gas Detectors ( 20% and 60% LEL)

Fire water deluge system (only if water is available)
Foam system (only if water is available)
Dry chemical system
Portable fire extinguishers
Alarm and shutdown system
Aker Kvaerner 86
 f) Emergency Shutdown System
Objective is to ensure safe shutdown of the platform in
event of an emergency (API-14 )
ESD 0 : Fire shutdown Abandon Platform
ESD 1 : Confirmed Gas Detection (60% LEL)
ESD 2 : Manual shut-down

ESD Level 0 : Fire shutdown -Abandon Platform is

activated automatically by a fusible plug loop or
manually by one of the FSD push buttons located at
various locations on the platform. ESD Level 0 will
activate the fire water system; show an alarm at Shut
Down Panel (SDP) and at the Remote Telemetry Unit
(RTU) gives an audio plus a visual alarm at the RTU.
Aker Kvaerner 87
 ESD Level 1.0 - Confirmed Gas Detection - is
activated by a signal from ESD Level 0 or by 60 %
of Lower Explosion Level (LEL) gas detection, low
hydraulic pressure and low pneumatic pressure at
the SDP, low pressure in the Instrument Gas
Receiver and high -high level switch in the Crude
Condensate Drum. The ESD Level 1.0 sounds a
common alarm at the Well/Fire Shutdown Panel
and sends a signal to shutdown Emergency
Shutdown Level 2.0.
ESD Level 2.0 Manual shutdown is activated by a
signal from ESD Level 1.0 or manually by one of
the ESD push buttons located at SDP. ESD Level
2.0 will close all wells Sub-Surface Safety Valves
(SSSVs) and Surface Safety Valves (SSVs), give
ESD alarm at SDP and at RTU, gives an audio plus
a visual alarm.
 2.Major process systems at
Production Platform
Main Process Systems :
Phase Separation
Crude Stabilization
Gas re-compression
Gas Sweetening
Gas Dehydration
Gas hydrocarbon Dew point temp. control
Gas export ( Custody transfer metering )
Produced water treatment
Flare system
 Various definitions used in industry
Gas sweetening: Removal of Hydrogen sulphide (H2S)
and Carbon dioxide (CO2) from hydrocarbon gas.
Gas dehydration: Removal of water from hydrocarbon gas.
Condensate: Hydrocarbon liquid produced when liquid
drops out (condenses) from hydrocarbon gas streams.
Wet gas: Hydrocarbon gas containing significant heavy
hydrocarbons (propane and heavier).
Pipeline gas: A sufficiently dry gas that will not drop out
natural gas liquids (NGL) when entering the gas pipeline.
Natural gas liquids (NGL): Liquid or liquefied component
of natural gas (i.e. excludes methane). Condensate is a
sub-group of the NGLs (low vapour pressure NGL).
Sales gas: Processed gas consisting mainly of methane
and ethane and free of liquefied hydrocarbons, moisture
and corrosive components.
 Typical well-stream composition
Component Physical Properties
Formula Mol Boiling Mol % Mol %
weight point
Methane CH4 16.043 - 161.5 86.5 45.3
Ethane C2 H4 30.070 - 88.6 6.4 3.9
Propane C3 H8 44.097 - 42.1 2.7 1.4
I-Butane i-C4H10 58.124 - 11.8 0.4 0.6
N-Butane n-C4H10 58.1 - 0.5 0.8 0.8
I-Pentane i-C5H12 72.151 27.8 0.2 0.7
N-Pentane n-C5H12 72.151 36.1 0.3 0.4
Hexane C6 H14 86.178 68.7 0.6 1.0
Heptane C7 H16 100.205 98.4 0.5 4.2
Octane C8 H18 114.2 125.0 0.3 3.5
Nonane C9 + Specified by analysis 0.2 36.7
CO2 -- 44.010 - 78 0.2 1.0
Nitrogen N2 28.13 - 195. 0.86 0.5
TOTAL 100.0 100.0
 Typical well stream composition
The general formula for straight-chain
hydrocarbons is Cn H 2n +2 (for alkanes no
double or triple bonding).
Hydrocarbons which are gas at standard condition
(1 bara and 15.6 C) are called "light
hydrocarbons", i.e., from Methane to n-Butane
inclusive. The others are called "heavy
hydrocarbons", i.e., from pentane and upwards
(often called C5+) normally at liquid form at
standard condition defined by pseudo
components.
 Block diagram for a typical oil & gas
production platform
GAS GAS
GAS COMPRESSION and GAS TO PIPELINE
WELLSTREAMS DEHYDRATIO METERING
N

GAS / GAS RECOMPRESSION

OIL/ WATER
SEPARATIO
N

OIL OIL PUMPING OIL TO PIPELINE

STABILISATION and METERING

PRODUCED
GAS TO FLARE
WATER WATER
TREATMENT
EFFLUENT
WEATER TO
SEA
SEPARATION
 Horizontal two-phase separator
TO FLARE

(9 - 15 PSI)
12 -20 MA

4 - 12 MA
SPLIT (3 - 9 PSI) GAS OUT
RANGE
PSV

TO FLARE PC

FLOW
DISTRIBUTION/CALMI
NG ELEMENT
INLET

MIST EXTRACTOR

P T
LG

LC

LIQUID OUT
DRAIN
Horizontal three-phase separator
Inlet Cyclone Separator
( Separation of gas from liquid )
Inlet Schoepentoeter
( Separation of gas from liquid )
 Full diameter distribution plate
Its function is to distribute and
maintain steady flow conditions in
the gravity separation region. Also
produces some coalescence and
gives a good flow path through
the separator, reducing
recirculation and channeling
effects. The area between the inlet
device and the distributor plate
contains the turbulent region .The
distributor plates gives controlled
flow of liquid into the separation
region and promotes the desired
laminar flow type, thus
minimizing preferential flow
throughout the phases.
 Perforated baffle plates
This plate is located in the
separating section of the vessel.
It is a specially designed single
perforated baffle plate with 35%
open area. These are suitably
positioned along the vessel
between the distributor plates
and the weir. Their function is to
maintain steady flow
conditions in the separation
region by reducing surges. They
also achieve liquid drop
coalescence and give a good flow
path through the separator,
reducing recirculation and
channeling effects.
Coalescer Plate Pack
Sand Jetting
 Sand Jetting
De-sanding system consists of a liquid jetting
system and sand pan arrangement as shown. The
sand pan is an inverted trough with serrated edges
resting on the vessel shell. This nipple regulates
the proper flow velocity required to capture the
sand as it passes through the serrations. The
serrations allow a uniform area of influence.
A sand jet system is used in conjunction with the
sand dump system to assist in washing the
sediment towards the sand pans, thus increasing
the effective area of influence. The sand jet system
uses about 10 20 m3 of water per sand wash
system.
 Vane Type Demisters
Coalescence of small particles is
accomplished by two mechanisms -
agitation and surface contact (the vane
surface is wet and small particles striking
it are absorbed). This coalesced liquid
film is then drained through slits to a
liquid sump prior to drainage to the liquid
compartment of the vessel. Typical
operating properties for this vane pack are
high efficiency (normally 99% removal of
droplets > 10 micron, large capacity at low
pressure drop and high liquid loading rate
per vane element.
Three Phase Separator
Vertical separator (scrubber)
Control valve normally not installed in
compressor suction, might be in discharge.
 CRUDE
STABILIZATION
 Crude Oil Transport by Ship

Separation of oil / gas in several stages.

Vapor pressure to be reduced to 10 RVP

(Reid Vapor Pressure), i.e.: real vapour
pressure less than 0.95 bara @ 37.8 C.

BS&W content to be reduced to 0.2 vol .%

(electrostatic "Coalescer may be required )
Crude Stabilization
Marine loading terminal
GAS RECOMPRESSION
Reciprocating Compressor
Screw Compressor
Centrifugal Compressor
Compressor Curve
Axial Blades Compressor
Process Flow Diagram, Gas
Recompression
Process Flow Diagram, Expander
Operation and Compression
 Gas Compressor House
On a production platform, the most usual type of gas compressor is a
centrifugal compressor. The reason for this is that usually the amount of
gas to be compressed is too large for the other types to be used (screw
or reciprocating compressors). For a centrifugal compressor the
pressure increase over one step must not be higher than:
P out / P in < 4

The number of steps necessary in the gas recompression is decided by

the start pressure (P1 ) and the final pressure (P2 ). The number of steps
necessary can therefore be calculated by using the following formula:
P1 / P2 = (4)n
Example:
The pressure into the compressor is 5 bara. The pressure necessary for
mixing into the feed stream to the gas process is 110 bara. User P2 = 112
bara (i.e. 2 bar overpressure).
112 / 5 = (4)n n = 2.3
Therefore in this case we must use three-step recompression.
GAS SWEETENING
 Gas Sweetening Processes
Gas sweetening ( Removing both CO2 and H2S) is
required to prevent pipe line corrosion and
meeting the enviornment pollution norms:

Typical Solvent used:

MDEA - methanol- di-ethanol-amine
Alternative solvents:-
MEA - Mono-ethanol-amine / DEA - Di-
ethanol-Amine /
Sulfinol
Selexol
Amine Treatment
 Sale gas specification

- CO2 2.0 vol% for delivery to Emden

(continental gas grid) 2.5 vol% for delivery to
St. Fergus (UK gas grid)
H2S 40 - 50 ppm ( ppm = g/10 6 g, i.e. 50
ppm = 0.005 %)
GAS DEHYDRATION
 Gas Dehydration
Water Dew Point control is required:-
-For Hydrate prevention.
-To achieve sales gas specification ("Net Heating
Value reduced by water content)
-To reduce sweet corrosion (combination of water and
CO2 )

Final sales gas specification required :

5.0 lbs/MMSCFD
 Glycol De-hydration
Dry Gas Out Distributor
Lean
Glycol
inlet

Internals
Vent of trays
or
structure
Glycol Contactor
Regeneration
d packing
Package

Glycol/Gly
col
Exchanger

Rich Glycol
outlet
Heating to
drive off
water vapour

Wet Gas In
Gas Dehydration by use of Tri -ethylene
glycol (TEG)
HYDROCARBON DEW POINT
CONTROL
Phase Diagram for Natural Gas
Molecular weight Sensitivity (increased
content of heavy hydrocarbons)
Gas Dew Point Control :- Joule Thompson Valve

Joule-Thompson
valve
Process (Constant enthalpy)
Flash vessel
gas 70 bar
(-)30C
118 bar
(-)12C

69 bar
Condensate
Dry gas to
compressor or
pipeline
 Sales Gas Dew Point Control
by Expansion and Re-compression
Dry gas to compr.
100 bar

118 bar,( - )12C

Process gas

Expander Compr.

Turbo-Expander
Constant entropy,
i.e. S=const
75 bar, (--)30C

Condensate
 Sales Gas Dew Point Control
by refrigerant (propane)
Refrigerant,
propane

Process gas 118 bar, 117 bar,

( - )12C (- )30C

116 bar
Condensate
Dry gas to compr.
GAS EXPORT
 Gas Transport
DRY GAS PIPELINE ( HVJ pipeline from Hazira, rich in
Methane).

2-PHASE PIPELINE .

RICH GAS PIPELINE ( Rich Gas from ONGC complex at

Hazira passes thru the Petro chemicals complex for removal
of Ethane before charge into HBJ pipeline).

CONVERT INTO LNG AND TRANSPORT BY

SHIPS.

CONVERT EITHER INTO METHANOL OR DI-

METHYL ETHER AND TRANSPORT BY SHIPS.
ypical composition of the well stream.:
Typical well head composition
Component Mol %

Nitrogen, N2 0.64
Carbon Dioxide CO2 8.95
Methane, CH4 70.72
Ethane, C2 H4 8.82
Propane, C3 H8 4.89
iso-Butane, iC4 H 10 0.73
normal Butane, nC4 H10 1.17
iso-Pentane, iC5 H12 0.37
normal Pentane, nC5 H12 0.35
normal Hexane, nC6 H14 0.40
Heptane plus, C7 + 2.96

Total 100.0
 Pipe line gas specification
Source : Gujarat State Petronet.
Comp. % Mole
C1 91.0384
CO2 -------
C2 5.5900
C3 2.1111 Gross Calorific Value:9871.47 Kcal/M3
i-C4 0.4001 Net Calorific Value : 8909.27 kcal/M3
n-C4 0.5562 Relative Density : 0.6185
i-C5 0.0312
n-C5 0.0095
N2 0.2635
______ _______
__Total____ 100.00
 General Sales Specifications
Description General KGD6

H2S , Max < 4 ppm < 4 ppm

Water in gas < 80kg/MMSCM < 80kg/MMSCM
( 5.0 lbs/ MMSCFC) --- Same ---
Free oxygen < 0.2 %V < 0.2 %V
None H/C < 0.5%V < 0.5 %V
H/C dew point temp. 8 C , Max. 8 C
(At 72 Kg/Cm2)
Net HV 8-9000 Kcal/Nm3 WI= 48.2 to 52.2 MJ/M3
Typical export Condensate Specification
The specifications of the condensate are as follows:

Sulphur < 1.0 wt %

Wax < 1.0 wt %
Water < 2.0 wt %
Carbon Dioxide, CO2 < 1.5 mol %
Hydrogen Sulphide, H2 S < 20 ppm wt.
Methane, CH4 < 0.4 wt %
"Pour Point" < (-) 3 C
Viscosity (at 37.5 C) < 10 C S
True Vapour Pressure ( at 37.8 C) < 13.0 bara
Pipeline
Gas Metering
Orifice Meter
Metering
 Electro-Static De-Salter
If the separated oil contains unacceptable amounts
of salts, it can be removed in an Electrostatic de-
salter .The salts, which may be Sodium, Calcium or
Magnesium chlorides/sulphates comes from the
produced water and is also dissolved in the oil. The
de-salter will be placed after the first or second stage
separator depending on Gas Oil Ratio (GOR) and
Water cut. The de-salter can be single or double
stage depending upon the final salt desired in the
treated oil. The de-salter requires around 6 %V water
of feed for de-salting and DC power supply for
breaking the emulsion formed and also helping for
re-coalescing of smaller oil globules to make bigger
globules for gravity separation.
Typical Electro static de-Salter performance
Oil contents Salt and BS&W ( Base Sediment and Water),
both are reduced by de-salter.
Use of electro-static energy to breack emulsion and also
enhance the coalescing of droplets and to accelerate the
gravity process.
Two phases:
Dehydration: coalescing and gravity process
Desalting: addition of dilution water and dehydration
Outlet performances:
0,1% BSW
0,5 ptb
Main equipements: Transformer, Grids, Distributors,
Mixing Valve etc.
Electro-Static De-Salter
Electro-Static De-Salter
Electro Static De-Salter
 Produced water treatment
On an installation, when water cut is higher produces
very high quantity than it becomes mandatory to
treat it before disposing it into sea. Often this water
contains sand particles bound to the oil/water
emulsion. The environmental regulations in most
countries are quite strict, as an example, in the
North-East Atlantic the OSPAR convention limits oil
in water discharged to sea to 40 mg/liter (ppm). In
India, limit is 50 ppm for sea discharge.
The illustration in next slide shows a typical water
treatment system.
Water from the separators and coalescer first goes to
a sand cyclone, which removes most of the sand. The
sand is further washed before it is discharged.
 The water then goes to a hydro-cyclone, a centrifugal
separator that will remove oil drops. The hydro-
cyclone creates a standing vortex where oil collects in
the middle and water is forced to the side. Finally the
water is collected in the water de-gassing drum.
Dispersed gas will slowly rise to the surface and pull
remaining oil droplets to the surface by flotation. The
surface oil film is drained, and the produced water can
be discharged to sea. Recovered oil in the water
treatment system is typically recycled to the third
stage.
Produced water treatment
 Instrument and Plant air
A large volume of compressed air is required for
the control of pneumatic valves and actuators,
tools and purging of cabinets. The air is
compressed by electrically driven screw
compressors , further treated in conventional
desiccant beds air dryers followed by activated bed
for removing the fine oil droplets to make it free
of particles, oil and water.
It is conventional unit used in any of chemical
industry. The M/s Atlas Cop co and many other
vendors do supply full skid .
Air Skid
 Flare System
The flare system include Flare, atmospheric ventilation and blow
down. The purpose of the Flare and Vent System are to provide
safe passage to hydrocarbon vapors and disposal of gases and
liquids resulting from:
a) Spill-off flaring from the product stabilization system. (Oil,
Condensate etc.).
b) Production testing.
c) Relief of excess pressure caused by process upset conditions
and thermal expansion.
d) Depressurization either in response to an emergency
situation or as part of a normal procedure.
e) Planned depressurization of sub-sea production flow lines
and export pipelines.
f) Venting from equipment operating close to atmospheric
pressure , like storage tanks.
The systems are typically divided into a High Pressure (HP) Flare
and a Low Pressure (LP) flare system depending upon the
economics. The LP system is operated marginally above
atmospheric pressure to prevent atmospheric gases such as
Oxygen to flow back into the vent and flare system and create a
combustible mixture. With low gas flow, inert gas is injected at
the flare nozzle to prevent air ingress. Traditionally, considerable
amounts of hydrocarbons have been more or less continuously
flared. In these cases, a continuously burning pilot is used to
ensure ignition of hydrocarbons in the flare. Stronger
environmental focus has eliminated continuous flaring and the
pilot in many areas. Vapors and flare gas are normally recovered,
and only in exceptional situations does flaring occur. To avoid the
pilot flame, an ignition system is used to ensure safe ignition
even when large volumes are discharged. One patented solution
is a ballistic ignition system which fires burning pellets into the
flare gas flow
Flare Gas Recovery System
 Production platform flare system with
flare gas recovery

PSH
0.8 MMSCFD

2nd Stage FGC

Flash Gas 29 psig
Recovery Comp.

LP 1st Stage FGC

PSH
5.0 MMSCFD

0.05 MMSCFD HP ATM VENT A

0.2 MMSCFD ATM VENT B

Flare system
 Potable water
For smaller installations potable water is transported in
by supply vessels. Water storage facility and distribution
to all the decks are provided.

For larger facilities, potable water is produced in- situ

by treating of seawater /blackish water either though
De-salination ( distillation) or Reverse Osmosis.
Onshore potable water is provided by purification of
water from above ground or underground reservoirs.
Reverse osmosis requires a membrane driving pressure
of about 7000 kPa / 1 PSI of pressure per 100 ppm of
solids dissolved in the water. For seawater with 3,5 %
salt, 2,5 MPa, 350 PSI is required.
Reverse Osmosis
Electric Supply (Single Line Diagram)
HVJ Pipeline
HVJ Pipeline
Control Bus bar
Operator Console
Process Flow Diagram, Gas Condensate
Separation
Process Flow Diagram, CO2 Removal and
Dehydration
 Codes and standards used
API-520/521
API-14C/14E
IP-15
IS-5572
OISD
Petroleum rule
SMPV
Thank
you