Petro Data Mgt III- Facilities Petroleum Professor Collins Nwaneri

Introduction History about the origin of Oil: The first oil well discovery was drilled by colonial Edwin Drake in 1859 in northwestern Pennsylvania. The wells were shallow at less than 50 meters deep and produced oil were collected in wooden tanks. After the oil discovery, oil replaced most other fuels for motorized transportation. The automobile industry which was developed at the end of the 19th century, adopted oil as fuel. Gasoline oil was essential for successful aircraft engine design. Ships driven by oil moved twice as fast as their coal powered counterparts. Gas was burned off or left in the ground.

Introduction Pipelines were constructed to natural gas and the petrochemical industry increased production. Refineries were built to divide the crude in fractions. Gasoline from crude was about 10 -40 % a century ago and with modern refineries, it can be up to about 70 % due to advanced reforming and cracking processes. Afterwards, came the petrochemical industry at around the 1940’s, and chemicals were derived from petroleum and natural gas. Thereafter, plastics, rubber and several household goods were developed, amongst other products to date.

Facilities and Processes Oil and gas facilities and systems are defined as per their use in the following oil and gas industry production stream: Exploration: means the prospecting, seismic and drilling activities that occurs prior to a field development. Upstream: Refers to all facilities for production and stabilization of oil and gas. Normally, for upstream this includes: wellhead, well, completion and reservoir only, and downstream of the wellhead as production or processing Midstream: defined as gas treatment, LNG production and regasification plants, and oil and gas pipeline systems. Refining: crude oil and gas, which includes condensate are processed into marketable products such as gasoline, diesel or feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Offsite storage tanks and distribution terminals are included in this segment. Petrochemical: This are chemical products such as plastics, fertilizer from by-products of hydrocarbons. the

Exploration Currently, this involves using surface geological mapping and advanced sub-surface surveying method such as passive seismic, reflective seismic, magnetic and gravity surveys to help identify potential hydrocarbon rocks. In the past, surface indications such as tar seeps or gas pockmarks gave clues for shallow hydrocarbon locations. Offshore wells typically costs between $10 to $100 million range. Offshore rig leases are typically in the range of $200,000 to $700,000. U.S onshore wells cost about $4 million. ( normally have lower production capacity) A shallow wells at marginal fields can be drilled for as little as $100,000. Therefore oil and gas companies carry out analysis on exploration data from this first drilled wildcat wells for good indication of source rocks and hydrocarbon potential, amongst other things such as probable down-hole pressure for safe drilling of other wells Furthermore, if a find is made, additional requirement production testing, drilling appraisal wells, et.c , to determine the size and production capacity of a well before developmental wells are drilled.

Production The following diag. is an overview of typical oil and gas production facilities: Fig A: Oil and Gas Production Facilities

Production The following diag. is an overview of a typical production facility. This varies in size and type. Fig B: Oil and gas production overview Disc…

Production Many part of the processes in a production facilities are similar despite the oil and gas production rate per day. The diagram in Fig. B shows production and test manifolds (called a gathering system in a distributed production) placed next to the wellheads. A gas oil separation plant (GOSP) that takes a well stream of hydrocarbon from natural gas, condensate and crude oil and unwanted elements such as water, salt, sand e.tc for separation. Utility systems are not part of actual processes in facilities, but they provide the energy, water, air or other types of utility as needed in facilities.

Onshore Onshore gas and oil production is economically viable with oil production capacity from wells as high as thousands of barrels per day. This is connected to a 1,000,000 barrel or more per day GOSP. The oil product from this facilities are distributed by pipelines or tankers; and can also be stored. Oil from the smallest reservoir can be collected in holding tanks and transported for processing at the refinery via tanker trucks or railcar. Gas gathering network can be large due to production from thousands of wells.

Onshore The following onshore unconventional plays can be exploited: Heavy crude can be extracted by heating and use of diluents. Tar sands can be strip-mined or extracted with steam. It should be followed processed to separate bitumen from sand. Shale gas and oil have being produced by advances in drilling technology and hydraulic fracturing.

Offshore A whole range of various type of structures are used offshore, and this depends on size and water depth. More recent structures includes sea bottom installations with multiphase piping to shore and no offshore topside structure at all. The following are examples of common offshore structures: 1. Shallow water complex: has several independent platforms with different parts of processes and utilities linked with a gangway bridge. - Examples of individual platforms are wellhead, riser, processing and power generation platforms. (See Dia. A) - Found in water depths of up to 100 meters 2. Gravity base: fixed concrete structures placed on the bottom with oil storage cells on the sea bed. (See Dia. B) - Has a large deck with all parts of the process and utilities in large modules. - Typically used for large fields I about 100 to 500 meters water depth about 20 -30 years ago. 3. Compliant towers: has flexible narrow towers attached to a seafloor foundation that can operate in deeper water depths unlike the fixed platforms. (See Dia. B) - Typically used in about 500 TO 1000 meters water depth. tow

Offshore 3. Floating production: All topside systems are located on a floating structure with dry or subsea wells. Examples are: FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) FPSO main advantage is that they are standalone structures and does not need external infrastructure such as pipelines or storage. They currently produce about 10,000 to 200,00 barrels per day. Typically tanker type hull or barge and can be used In water depths of more than 100 meters. Wellhead or subsea risers used in some FPSO are centrally located for ease of rotation to point into winds, waves or current. Anchors (positioning mooring-POSMOOR) or Thrusters (dynamic positioning-DYNPOS) can be used to hold FPSO in place on the water. Most FPSO installations use subsea wells. Main processes are placed on deck and hulls are used for storage and offloading to a shutter tanker. The hull can also be used for pipeline transportation. In the future, FPSO with additional processing and systems, required for drilling, production and stranded gas LNF are planned. One variation of FPSO is Sevan Marine design. (Circular hull has many characteristics of a ship-shaped FPSO, but does not rotate. (See Dia. D and C)

Offshore 4. Tension Leg Platform (TLP): consists of a structure held in place by vertical tendons connected to the seafloor by pile-secured templates. (See Dia. E2) - Held in a fixed position by tensioned tendons. - can be used in water depths of up to 2000 meters. 5. Semi-submersible platforms: have a similar design but without taut mooring. - Has more lateral and vertical motion and generally used with flexible risers and subsea wells. (See Dia. E1) 6. SPAR: They are single tall floating cylindrical hull, with a fixed deck. - cylinder hull does not extend to the seabed and is anchored to the bottom by cables and lines. (See Dia. F) - Used for water depths from 300 to 3000 meters. - can support dry completion wells and mostly used with subsea wells. 7. Subsea production systems: have wells located on the seafloor or seabed rather than the surface. (See Dia. G) - hydrocarbon is extracted at the seabed and “tied-back” to pre-existing production platform or onshore facility (depends on horizontal distance or offset). - After Wells are drilled, produced hydrocarbons are transported by undersea pipeline and riser to processing facilities. Allows for more production handling from more wells in a large area. - Used in water depths of 500 meters or greater. - cannot be used to drill, bit to extract and transport.

Common offshore structures Dia. A Dia. B Dia. C Dia. D Dia. E1 & 2 Dia. F Dia. G