Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) owns and operates several Oil & Gas fields and Pipeline networks in Kuwait and is responsible for exploration, development, production and operation of Kuwait's Hydrocarbon assets. The oil fields in the western part of the state predominantly produces high sour gas and normally the compressed sour gas is transported to downstream refineries for treatment, wherein the Acid Gas Removal Plants extract the sulfur contents in the gas received by treating it with regenerative Amine based treating processes for removing acidic impurities such as H2S, CO2 and organic Sulphur compounds. The country has been long battling with the limitations in downstream sector such as limited handling capacity, unplanned shutdowns, and delay in their expansion projects. This created huge bottlenecks for the upstream unit of KOC which consequently resulted in operational disturbances and gas flaring beyond the company's global flaring target of < 1%. To overcome these challenges, a comprehensive study was carried out for sour gas handling in the State of Kuwait and installation of Gas Sweetening Facility (NGSF) within KOC was considered imperative. However, the process of project delivery was a great challenge due to emerging operational approaches and conflicts with expansion projects in refinery. Thus, breakthrough solutions were set out deploying appropriate core technologies. This paper discusses the challenges at length and the innovative solutions implemented which were intended to optimize the production and utilization of gas in support of energy requirements for the State.
An overview on the future challenges that the oil and gas production is facing in regards to the continuous increase of the produced water (effluent water), the volume of effluent water associated with crude oil production has been increasing due to the maturing of the oil fields, field developments forecasts can be used in order to estimate this increase, and develop the required mitigation methods. This paper discuss the future challenges which will occur due to the rapid increase of the produced water in the upstream oil and gas industry and demonstrate variances between possible solutions. This increment in the produced effluent water shall develop a huge challenges in achieving the required oil targets due to the limitation in capacities of the separation equipment's at the existing facilities, also the produced water handling facilities shall face a challenge in delivering this quantum of produced water to the produced water disposal/ injection plants. Limitation of available spaces at the existing facilities will be a challenge as well. To face such challenges several technology options were explored and a comparison study was done to compare among those options based on applicability and compatibility, where we can see that a adopting new separation technologies by knocking- out the free water using a portable separation unit can be an advisable solution, also avoiding the issue of limitation in space at the existing facilities by using a compact separation units or by upgrading the existing facilities and enhancing the separation at those facilities, We shall touch other experiences and compare between different technologies allowing us to share the knowledge and Skills from around the world.
Description: Marked by rapid expansion and revamp, year 2012-13 for KOC's NK directorate experienced situation wherein each of the operating facility (3 Gathering Centers-450MBOPD
Objective / Scope The oil and gas processing facility was upgraded as part of the project. However, it has been experienced that separation capacity of facility was reduced post installation of new separator under upgradation project. The main objective of this in-house debottlenecking study was to identify contributing factors for reduction in separator handling capacity and carry out required modifications to eliminate these factors. Methods, Procedures, Process This paper shares detail of complete technical study conducted to identify factors affecting capacity of oil and gas separator. This case study includes hydraulic calculations, simulation study and other relevant design calculations. Various design cases were developed to identify and resolve factors affecting separator capacity. The most appropriate solution is selected based on hydraulic calculation and simulation results. Results, Observations, Conclusions It has been concluded that main reason for such limitation in liquid handling capacity of separator was higher elevation of new oil and gas separator installed under project. This piping configuration was creating higher backpressure on exiting wet crude header due to the fact that both these piping were joined together in a common header feeding downstream wet/dual crude oil tanks. So, it was decided to install a new 20″ piping directly from new separator to dual crude oil tank reducing liquid handling load on existing header feeding tank and thereby reducing backpressure on new & old oil and gas separators. This has increased overall capacity of oil processing facility by around 30 MBLPD. Novel/Additive Information This paper explains in detail a lesson learned, which is vital for any brown field project, where such upgradation by major projects may lead to adverse impact on operation of existing facility. It also explains systematic approach to eliminate such bottlenecks, which possibly arise from inappropriate integration of new equipment with existing equipment during project implementation.
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