Maxoil Director to present at Topsides, Platforms - Hulls Conference & Exhibition 9-11 February, 2016
21 Oct 2015
Topic - CRUDE OIL SEPARATORS, LATE LIFE DEBOTTLENECKING
Presenter - Wally Georgie, Principal Consultant, Maxoil Solutions Inc
Poor performance of crude oil systems with field maturity has been experienced over the years with many facilities offshore. The failure to improve the performance of the system in many cases has been due to the lack of understanding of the root cause of the initial problem.
Without defining the root cause, separator upgrades are often applied to those facilities and consequently the outcome of the upgrades is a disappointment in many cases. It is essential to assess the root cause of oil water separation problems by first carrying out a systematic
and holistic approach of the facilities. As a field matures, increased water rates, gas rates or sand production can have an impact on the performance.
The configuration of the separator internals should be assessed in order to ensure the design does not impact performance with field maturity. Instrumentation and operating practices should also be part of the assessment. Additionally, understanding the nature of the fluid that is processed through the facilities greatly helps to develop the optimum picture of the issues associated with the poor separation performance. This includes any issues related to solid production such as sand and the use of production chemicals. The presentation will address all these aspects and the way forward to improve the design of separators with field maturity.