Maximization of Gas-Oil Separation Plant Oil Recovery by Operation Parameter Optimization

Maximizing oil recovery of the gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) is intended to increase revenue in the oil and gas industry. The GOSP is an integral part of the petroleum industry, and it consists of multistage separators, a heater-treater, desalination, a stabilization column, and a stock tank of oil. It is conventional practice to operate the GOSP at fixed operating conditions without considering the effects of variation for different parameters such as ambient temperature, chemical composition, reboiler (60°C, 65°C, and 70°C), and stabilization (temperature and pressure). Optimizing the GOSP parameters can help to maximize the GOSP oil recovery and, as a result, increase the revenue and profit. This study aims to optimize operation parameters to maximize the oil recovery of the GOSP at which the maximum oil recovery can be obtained from the GOSP. To achieve the objective of this study, first, a GOSP model was built using Petro-SIM process simulator software for a typical Saudi Aramco GOSP. The input data for the process simulator were the data from the initial pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) analysis. Optimizer tools in Petro-SIM were used to estimate the optimal conditions of the GOSP for achieving maximum oil recovery. The results showed that the optimization of the GOSP parameters such as ambient temperature, high-pressure separator (HPS), low-pressure separator (LPS), reboiler temperature, and stabilization pressure and temperature have a significant effect on the GOSP oil recovery and lead to increased revenues. Adjusting the HPS and LPS pressures to the optimal values at each ambient temperature significantly improves the GOSP oil recovery and can generate extra revenue of more than USD 500 million for 3 months considering the typical climate condition and GOSP (50,000 B/D capacity) in Saudi Arabia.