What's the Best Way to Stabilize Oil in the Permian? An Examination of Different Facilities Layouts

Abstract

Operators in the unconventional shale oil space are becoming increasingly focused on methods to reduce emissions, mitigate issues due to NGL production, increase sales oil production, and increase safety. Moreover, for facilities to operate unmanned facility designs are required to be simple and robust. Each facility configuration optimizes for a different utility: some allow more flexibility for the economic investment, while others offer familiarity of operation. The option that adds the most flexibility per dollar invested focuses on low-pressure separation with simultaneous heat introduction with minimum necessary storage tanks. Three different facilities are compared utilizing hydrocarbon recovery, NGL production, gas production, compression power, and Reid Vapor Pressure as key metrics. The three layouts include: a heater treater, a vapor recovery tower, and a novel elevated heated separation design that combines the utility of a heater treater and vapor recovery tower. The novel low-pressure stabilization system allows for stabilized oil to be pumped either to storage tanks or directly to the custody transfer point. Emissions stemming from tank vapor and tank vapor management systems are avoided as the oil is stabilized before entering the storage tanks or being transported directly to custody transfer. The novel system can be scaled for higher production rates seen at central processing facilities where traditional equipment such as heater treaters would require operating several parallel production trains. The novel design avoids known operational safety and maintenance issues regarding direct fired heaters and tanks; thus, improving safety and operational cost. Existing facilities designs include equipment such as direct fired heater treaters, inline heat exchangers, vapor recovery towers and tanks. The results from all process simulations and operational data is summarized in an overview comparing the performance of the various facility designs.