Production and oil treatment plants

INTRODUCTION

Oil and natural gas are major industries in the energy market and play an influential role in the global economy as the world's primary fuel source. The processes and systems involved in producing and distributing oil and gas are highly complex, capital-intensive, and require state-of-the-art technology. Historically, natural gas has been linked to oil, mainly because of the production process or upstream side of the business. For much of the history of the industry, natural gas was viewed as a nuisance and even today is flared in large quantities in some parts of the world, including the United States. Natural gas has taken on a more prominent role in the world's energy supply as a consequence of shale gas development in the United States, as mentioned above, and it's lower greenhouse gas emissions when combusted when compared to oil and coal.

Preparatory and investment phase

During the exploration phase, oil and gas companies locate and appraise the hydrocarbons contained in a field. Before production can begin, they must devise a development plan. This involves:

• Calculating the field's profitability to determine whether or not the future sales of oil and gas will be enough to cover the cost of production over the field’s entire lifespan.
• Determining the number of wells that need to be drilled and selecting the most suitable installations for each stage of production. Studies at this point focus on which extraction methods should be used and how products brought to the surface will be processed, temporarily stored and shipped.
• Defining the field's production profile in order to forecast annual production volumes from the start of production to abandonment.

Next, the company needs to prepare the site for production by levelling the land, clearing trees, and developing roads to transport equipment and accommodation for the site's future workers, Offshore or Onshore.

The life cycle of a field's

The life cycle of oil and gas fields can be broken down into four stages:

• Construction and Commissioning Phase
• Start-up (two to three years). During this period, production increases gradually as more and more wells are drilled.
• Production, when output stabilizes. This stage also lasts two to three years, or sometimes longer in the case of larger fields.
• Decline, during which production falls at a rate of 1% to 10% a year. When production ends, large quantities of oil and gas remain underground. Oil and gas companies are therefore constantly seeking to improve recovery rates using enhanced recovery techniques. Oil field recovery rates range from 5% to 50%. The rate is higher (60% to 80%) for fields that produce only natural gas, as its lower density and greater flow rate make production more efficient.

The purpose of this manual is to provide an overview of the methods and equipment used for the production and treatment of crude oil. The notions provided are used to acknowledge a good basic preparation as well as the knowledge of the principles and problems mainly involved in the treatment of crude oil.

This knowledge will allow, through adequate field experience, the correct task performance of the Oil Field Operator.