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Emirates International University

Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology
Department of Oil & Gas Engineering

PETROLEUM PRODUCTION ENGINEERING II

(P
PPE II)

Dr. Yasin Saleh

2018

CONTENTS

1. References;
2. Introduction to Surface Production Operations;
3. Production Gathering System;
4. Separation of Oil, Gas and Water;
5. Produced Crude Oil Treatment;
6. Produced Water Treatment ;
7. Crude Oil Storage;
8. Crude Oil Pumping.

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REFERENCES
1. H. K. Abdel-Aal; Mohamed Aggour; M. A. Fahim: “Petroleum
and Gas Field Processing”; 2003.
2. B. Guo; W. C. Lyons; A. Ghalambor: “Petroleum Production
Engineering”, A Computer Assisted Approach; 2007.
3. L. W. Lake: “Petroleum Engineering Handbook”, Volume-4;
2010.
4. Francis S. Manning; Richard E. Thomson: “Oilfield
Processing”, Volume-2: Crude Oil; 1995.
5. Ken Arnold; Maurice Stewart: “Surface Production
Operation”, Volume-1; 1999.

PETROLEUM PRODUCTION ENGINEERING II

LECTURE: 1

INTRODUCTION TO SURFACE
PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

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1.1 INTRODUCTION
•Surface Production Operations
熠Deal with the field surface facilities for gathering, processing
and treatment the produced fluid.
熠This is an important aspect in the overall planning and
development of the field and must be considered and
integrated into the early stages of planning, economic
evaluation, and development of the field.
•Surface Facilities – are located between the production
wellheads (e excluded) and storage facilities (iincluded) and
consist of: Gathering System and Processing Plant.
熠Gathering System – consists of flowlines and other
accessory equipment necessary to transport produced fluid
from the wells areas to the Processing Plant.

熠P
Processing Plant – used to separate the produced fluid into
crude oil, gas and water phases , and ensure sufficient
treatment each phase to render it transportable to storage or
disposal facilities.
•Production fluid: Except in some unusual cases, the fluid
produced by an oil field reaches the production wellhead as a
combined result of two or three phases:
熠The main liquid phase is the crude oil, saturated in dissolved
light hydrocarbons under wellhead conditions (delivery
pressure and temperature).
熠The second phase is associated gas, which is in
thermodynamic equilibrium with the liquid phase.
Consequently, the gas phase associated with the crude oil is
saturated in heavy hydrocarbons at the delivery pressure and
temperature.
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熠T
The third phase is free water, During the production of a field,
the wellhead fluid also frequently consists of a free water. This
phase, as well, is in equilibrium with the two phases described
above, and the associated gas is therefore saturated in water.
1.2 FREE WATER PHASE
•Free water phase may consist of: Formation Water and
Oversaturation Water.
•Formation Water
熠Come directly from the productive formation as a free phase;
熠The main property of formation water is its high salt content
(salinity), in some cases up to 340 g/LL due to present of
chlorides, carbonates, bicarbonates and sulphates in
quantities close to their saturation levels.
熠Given these properties, formation water represents one of
the main contaminants of crude oil production.
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熠Since its presence as a dispersed phase within the oil gives

to it a salinity that must be reduced with suitable treatments
to ensure that the crude oil can be transported and
commercialized.
Oversaturation Water
•O
熠The free water phase may also be devoid of salinity, this
occurs when, free water forms due to the oversaturation of
either the liquid hydrocarbon phase or the associated gas
phase or both.
熠Oversaturation is caused by the cooling that the fluid
delivered by the reservoir undergoes along the well string.
The solubility of water, both in the oil phase and in the
associated gas phase, drops markedly as temperature
decreases,, then the water separated from the hydrocarbon
phases and it is called devoid of salinity water.
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•In general, when an oil field comes into production, free water
is not present, except in unusual cases. In later years, the
percentage of water (w water cut) may become extremely high.
•Both formation water and oversaturation water contain
suspended solids. Where present, the free water phase tends
to stratify, since it is heavier than the crude oil phase; as a
result, most of the solid impurities dragged from the reservoir
or produced due to corrosion in the pipelines tend to
accumulate in the water phase.
•When referring to a crude oil, it is common practice to
consider residual water content and sediments as a single
parameter: BS&W (B Basic Sediments and Water)..
1.3 HYDROCARBON PHASES (CRUDE OIL AND GAS)
•The hydrocarbon phases enter the production facilities as a
mixture.
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•Frequently, these hydrocarbons are found in a single phase

within the reservoir from which they are produced, when the
pressure of the productive formation is either equal to or
higher than the bubble point pressure of the mixture at
formation temperature. This circumstance occurs very
frequently in oil reservoirs under original conditions.
•Often, during the depletion of the reservoir, pressure tends to
drop rapidly; this leads to the creation of two separated
phases within the productive formation itself.
•The facts outlined above are intended to highlight the common
origin of the two phases, mixture of hydrocarbons with a
variable light and heavy hydrocarbon content.
•Crude petroleum is complex mixtures of a vast number of
hydrocarbon compounds. Properties of crude petroleum vary
appreciably and depend mainly on the origin (ttable 1.1&1 1.2).
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Table 1.1: Types of Hydrocarbons

Boiling Melting Specific

N Name Symbol Case
point, °F
F Point, °F
F Gravity 60 °F
F
1 Methane CH4 - 258.7 - 296.5
2 Ethane C2H6 - 127.5 - 297.9
3 Propane C3H8 - 43.1 - 305.8 0.508 Gases
4 Butane C4H10 31.1 - 217.0 0.584
5 Pentane C5H12 96.9 -201.5 0.631
6 Hexane C6H14 155.7 -139.6 0.664
7 Heptanes C7H16 209.2 -131.1 0.688
8 Octane C8H18 258.2 -70.2 0.707 Liquids
9 Nonane C9H20 303.4 -64.3 0.722
10 Decane C10H22 345.5 -21.4 0.734
11 Undecane C11H24 384.6 -15 0.740
12 Dodecane C12H26 421.3 14 0.749
15 Pentadecane C15H32 519.1 50 0.769
20 Eicosane C20H42 648.9 99 Solids
30 Triacontane C30H62 835.5 151
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Table 1.2: Classification of Hydrocarbons and Their Main Properties

1. Black oils (low - shrinkage oils)

GOR < 2000 SCF / STB, and increase with time
oAPI < 45 , and decrease with production
Color Very dark (green or brown)
βo ≤ 2.0 res. BBL / STB
C7+ > 30 % mole percent
2. Volatile oils (high - shrinkage oils)
GOR 2000 – 3500 SCF / STB (increase with time)
oAPI > 40
Color Dark (brown or orange)
βo > 2.0 res. BBL / STB
C7+ 12.5 - 30 % mole percent
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3. Retrograde Gas (Gas Condensate)

GOR 3,500 – 50,000 SCF / STB
oAPI 50 – 60 and increase with production
Color Slightly colored (Light brown or water white).
C7+ ≤ 12.5 % mole percent
4. Wet Gas
GOR 60,000 – 100,000 SCF / STB
oAPI > 60
Color water white
5. Dry Gas
GOR >100,000 SCF / STB
oAPI > 60
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1.4 CRUDE PETROLEUM COMPOSITION

•The raw material that we deal with referred to as crude
petroleum, which the naturally occurring , unrefined
petroleum product composed of hydrocarbon deposits and
other nonorganic materials.
•In general, composition of crude petroleum may be studied by
two methods:
1. Chemical Approach;
2. Physical Methods.
•Chemical Composition describes and identifies the individual
chemical compounds isolated from crude oils over the years.
•Physical Representation involves considering the crude oil and
its products as mixtures of hydrocarbons and describing
physical laboratory tests or methods for characterizing their
quality.
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1.5 CHEMICAL APPROACH
•Nearly all petroleum deposits are made up of a mixture of
chemical compounds that consist of Hydrogen and Carbon,
known as hydrocarbons, with varying amounts of
nonhydrocarbons containing S, N2, O2, and other some metals.
•The composition of crude oil by elements is approximated as
shown in Table 1.3.
•It could be further stated that these hydrocarbon compounds
making up oils are grouped chemically into different series of
compounds described by the following characteristics:
熠Each series consists of compounds similar in their molecular
structure and properties.
熠Within a given series, there exists a wide spectrum of
compounds that range from extremely light or simple
hydrocarbon to a heavy or complex one.
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Table 1.3: Composition of Petroleum Crude

N Element Weight, %
1 Carbon 83 – 87
2 Hydrogen 11 – 14
3 Sulfur 0.05 – 2.5
4 Nitrogen 0.1 – 2
5 Oxygen 0–2
6 Metals < 0.1

1.6 HYDROCARBON SERIES

•The major constituents of most crude oils and its products are
hydrocarbon compounds, which are made up of Hydrogen
and Carbon only.

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•The hydrocarbon series present in crude petroleum are:
熠Paraffins: The paraffin series of hydrocarbons is
characterized by the rule that the carbon atoms are connected
by a single bond and the other bonds are saturated with
hydrogen atoms. The general formula for paraffins is CnH2n+2;
熠Olefins: The olefins do not naturally occur in crude oils but are
formed during the processing. They are very similar in
structure to paraffins but at least two of the carbon atoms are
joined by double bonds, with general formula CnH2n;
熠Naphthenes (Cycloparaffins): Cycloparaffin hydrocarbons in
which all of the available bonds of the carbon atoms are
saturated with hydrogen are called naphthenes;
熠Aromatics: The aromatic series of hydrocarbons are those
that contain a benzene ring, which is unsaturated but very
stable.
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1.7 NONHYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS

•Most important nonhydrocarbon compounds occur in crude oil
are the following:
熠Sulfur compounds;
熠Nitrogen compounds;
熠Oxygen compounds;
熠Metallic compounds.
•Sulfur Compounds: In addition to the gaseous sulfur
compounds in crude oil, many sulfur compounds have been
found in the liquid phase in the form of organo-sulfur. These
compounds are generally not acidic.
•Sour crude oils are those containing a high percentage of
hydrogen sulfide. However, many of the organic sulfur
compounds are not thermally stable, thus producing hydrogen
sulfide during crude processing.
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•High-sulfur crude oils are in less demand by refineries
because of the extra cost incurred for treating refinery
products.
•The following sulfur compounds are typical:
1. Mercaptans;
2. Sulfides;
3. Polysulfides.
Nitrogen Compounds: Nitrogen compounds in crude oil are
•N
usually low in content (0
0.1– 0.9%) and are usually more stable
than sulfur compounds.
•Nitrogen in petroleum is in the form of heterocyclic compounds
and may be classified as basic and nonbasic.
熠Basic nitrogen compounds are mainly composed of pyridine
homologs and have the tendency to exist in the high-boiling
fractions and residues.
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熠N
Nonbasic nitrogen compounds, which are usually of the
pyrrole and indole, occur in high-boiling fractions and
residues.
•Oxygen Compounds: Oxygen compounds in crude oil are more
complex than sulfur compounds. However, oxygen compounds
are not poisonous to processing catalysts. Most oxygen
compounds are weakly acidic, such as phenol, cresylic acid
and naphthenic acids. The oxygen content of petroleum is
usually less than 2%.
•Metallic Compounds: Many metals are found in crude oil; some
of the more abundant are sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron,
copper, vanadium, and nickel.
•These normally occur in the form of inorganic salts soluble in
water as in the case of sodium chloride or in the form of
organo-metallic compounds as in the case of iron, vanadium,
and nickel. 20

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1.8 PHYSICAL METHODS
•Crude oil from different locations may vary in appearance and
viscosity and also vary in their usefulness as producers for
final products. It is possible by the use of certain basic tests to
identify the quality of crude oil stocks. The tests included in
the following list are primarily physical (except sulfur
determination):
熠API Gravity: It is considered the preferred property. A higher
API gravity indicates a lighter crude or oil product, whereas a
low API gravity implies a heavy crude or product.
熠Carbon Residue: It is the percentage of carbon by weight for
coke, asphalt, and heavy fuels found by evaporating oil to
dryness under standard laboratory conditions. Carbon residue
is generally referred to as CCR (Conradson Carbon Residue).

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熠V
Viscosity: It is the measure of the resistance of a liquid to flow,
hence indicating the ‘‘Pumpability’’ of oil.
熠Pour Point: It is defined as the lowest temperature (5 5 oF) at
which the oil will flow. The lower the pour point, the lower the
paraffin content of the oil.
熠Ash Content: It is an indication of the contents of metal and
salts present in a sample. It is usually in the form of metal
oxides, stable salts, and silicon oxides. The crude sample is
usually burned in an atmosphere of air and the ash is the
material left unburned.
熠Reid Vapor Pressure (R RVP): It is a measure of the vapor
pressure exerted by oil or by light products at 100 oF.
熠Metals: In particular, arsenic, nickel, lead, and vanadium are
potential poisons for process catalysts. Metal contents are
reported in parts per million (pppm).
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熠N
Nitrogen: It is the weight of total nitrogen determined in a
liquid hydrocarbon sample (in ppm). Nitrogen compounds
contribute negatively to process catalysts.
熠Salt Content: It is typically expressed as pounds of salt
(sodium chloride, NaCl) per 1000 barrels of oil (PPTB). Salts in
crude oil and in heavier products may create serious corrosion
problems.
熠Sulfur: It is the percentage by weight (or ppm) of total sulfur
content determined experimentally in a sample of oil or its
product. The sulfur content of crude oils is taken into
consideration in addition to the API gravity in determining their
commercial values. It has been reported that heavier crude
oils may have a high sulfur content.
熠Hydrogen Sulfide: It is a toxic gas that dissolved in a crude oil
or its products, which is measured in parts per million (pppm).It
can evolve during storage or processing of hydrocarbons. 23

1.9 CRUDE OIL CLASSIFICATIONS

•Based on the predominant hydrocarbon series present in the
crude, crude oils are classified into:
1. Paraffinic base: paraffinic hydrocarbons with a relatively
lower percentage of aromatics and naphthenes and when
the distillation residue of oil contained more than 5% wax;;
2. Naphthenic base: cycloparaffins in a higher ratio and a
higher amount of asphalt than in paraffinic crudes;
3. Asphalt base: when the distillation residue of oil contained
less than 2% % wax;
4. Aromatic base: crude oils that have up to 80% aromatic
content;

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•On the basis API gravity, crude oils can be classified as:

N Crude Category Gravity

1 Light API > 29
2 Medium 20 < API < 29
3 Heavy 10 < API < 20
4 Extra-heavy API < 10

•Depending on the level of sulfur, which occurs either as

elemental sulfur or in compounds such as hydrogen sulfide,
crude oils can be classified as follows:
1. Sweet Crudes – have sulfur contents ≤ 0.5 %;
2. Sour Crudes – have sulfur contents > 0.5 %.

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1.10 BENCHMARK CRUDE OIL

•Benchmark crude oil is a crude oil that serves as a reference
price for buyers and sellers of crude oil.
•There are five primary benchmarks:

gravity, Sulfur
N Benchmark crude oil oAPI Content, %
1 West Texas Intermediate (W
WTI) 39.6 0.24
2 Brent blend (LCO) 38.06 0.37
3 OPEC Reference Basket (OORB) 32.7 1.77
4 Dubai and Oman 31 2
5 Western Canadian Select (W
WCS) 20.5 3.15

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1.11 PRODUCED FLUID PROCESSING OBJECTIVES

PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Separate & Treat well stream into

OIL WATER GAS

Marketable Stable crude: Acceptable for disposal: Acceptable for export to gas
Low BS&W: 0.3 – 0.5 %; Low oil content: 15 ppm plant:
Low Salt :10 - 20 PTB; oil for offshore disposal; Low H2S: 8 ppm;
RVP: 5–20 (12 ) psia. Low solid content for Low CO2 : < 3%;
H2S: 10–100 ppm. injection. Water Dew point : < - 8o C;
Hydrocarbon dew point: < - 3o C;
Suitable pressure for export.

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1.12 SURFACE PRODUCTION OPERATIONS CLASSIFICATION

Surface Production Operations

Produced Fluid Gathering Produced Fluid Processing

Produced Fluid Separation

into Oil, Gas & Water

Crude Oil Treatment

Gas Treatment Water Treatment

Dehydration Removal of water vapor (dehydration) Water De-Oiling

Desalting Removal of acidic gases H2S & CO2 (Sweetening)

Degassing
Removal of heavy hydrocarbons
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