2010

FAMILARISATION WITH RAVVA

OILFIELD OPERATIONS

SOHAM PUNJABI
6 WEEK IN-PLANT TRAINEE
(PRODUCTION)
7/12/2010
Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity with much pleasure to thank all the people who have helped me through
the course of my journey in CIL as an intern. I would first like to thank Mr. Sudeep De Chief
Engineer – Instrumentation, ONGC and the Installation Managers Mr. Jacob Mathew and Mr.
Thomas Christopher for all the help and valuable guidance provided to me. I sincerely thank my
guides Mr. Mani and Mr. Natarajan, for their guidance, help and motivation. I would like to
express my gratitude to the other members of my internship advisory committee Mr Dhinakaran
and Mr. Saravanan for their assistance.

I would like to thank Mr. Samuel, Mr. Nithiyanandham, Mr. Manikvasagar, Mr. Annamalai, and
all the other seniors for their assistance and useful comments. I would like to thank Mr. Alex and
Mr. Sharma. I would like to thank Mr. Vimal Raja, Mr. Sanish Kumar, Mr. Gangadhar, Mr.
Rajesh and all the other members of production team for their supportive attitude.

I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my guides and friends Phani
Venkata Surendra, C.H. Ramakrishna and Mr. Harish. My sincere gratitude also goes to all others
who instructed and taught me throughout the internship program especially Ms. Prachi Jawale
for her support and help throughout the course of the programme.

I am very grateful to Mr. Philip, Mr. Mayilvagnan for giving me an insight into the offshore
production facilities.

A special thanks goes to the HSE Engineers Mr. Rigil Krishnan and Mr Jabir who have not only
been a guide in my journey but also very good friends.

I would like to thank CIL for this opportunity to work with them and giving me a firsthand
experience of oil and gas exploration and production.

Soham Punjabi

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Table of Content
Petroleum…………………………………………………………………… 4
Origin………………………………………………………………….. 4
Organic Theory………………………………………………… 5
Inorganic Theory……………………………………………… 5
Oil Traps……………………………………………………………… 6
Exploration of Oil and Gas………………………………………………… 8
Geological and Geophysical Surveys…………………………………. 8
Drilling…………………………………………………………………. 9
Recovery of Oil from Well…………………………………………… 10
Crude Oil Processing……………………………………………………… 12
Ravva Oil Field……………………………………………………………… 14
Brief History…………………………………………………………… 15
Offshore Terminal…………………………………………………....... 15
Onshore Terminal…………………………………………………….... 17
Terminal Area………………………………………………….... 18
Multiphase Pump……………………………………………....... 20
FWKOD & Flow Splitter……………………………………...... 24
Crude Stabilisation Unit................................................................ 25
Gas Processing Plant..................................................................... 33
Associated Gas Plant........................................................... 33
RSGDP................................................................................ 36
Oil & Gas Storage, Metering & Export......................................... 38
PWRI Plant.................................................................................... 42
Water Injection Plant..................................................................... 44
Flare & Atmospheric Ventilation.................................................. 46
Chemical Injection System........................................................... 48
API & ETP................................................................................... 49
Utility Systems.............................................................................. 51
Miscellaneous................................................................................ 54
Process Flow Diagrams........................................................................... 56
Glossary............................................................................................................. 61
List of Abbreviations......................................................................................... 63
Bibliography...................................................................................................... 64

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Petroleum
Petroleum is the foundation of this Industrial Civilization. It is from petroleum that the world
obtains its chemicals, its fuel for automobiles, engines, airplanes, etc. and its energy supply for
its power stations. Empires have risen and fallen due to the annexation or loss of oilfields.
Hence, the origin of petroleum and the assurance of future energy supplies is of the utmost
importance if this world is to continue as it is.

Petroleum is a word derived from the Latin words Petra meaning “rock” and Oleum meaning
“oil”. Petroleum is a naturally occurring, toxic, flammable fluid consisting of a complex mixture
of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, that are found in
geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface in porous rocks. These hydrocarbons can be in
gaseous, liquid or solid form depending on the type and size of hydrocarbon molecule:

1. It can be gaseous form as natural gas, which can be associated with oil in an oil field or
found free of oil in a gas field.

2. It can be in a liquid form as crude oil(dark and viscous) or condensate(clear and volatile
like motor gasoline)

3. The solid and semi-solid forms of petroleum are called asphalt and tar.

Name Formula Phase

Methane CH4 Gas
Hexane C6H14 Liquid
Octane C8H18 Liquid
Wax C20H42 Solid

Origin
Petroleum has been in use for centuries and dates back to more than three thousand years BC.
After the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century, oil became the most important material
for existence. But still after so many years the origin of petroleum, despite the immense amount
of research devoted to it, has more uncertainties concerning it than any other common natural
substance.

There are two basic frameworks for the origin of crude:

1. The standard organic theory

2. The nonorganic theory.

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The Organic Theory
The organic theory holds that the first stage of the genesis of petroleum involves plankton
(single-celled organisms that float on the oceans). These die and gradually accumulate on the
ocean floor. Other sediments start accumulating too, and after a few million years the planktons
are buried under several km of sediment. The plankton, which has remained un-oxidised under
the increased values of pressure and temperature, are now transformed into kerogen. Under
favourable conditions of time and temperature this kerogen, after further burial and heating
decays into a waxy residuum called “adipocere” rich in fatty acids. This is then transformed,
either by bacteria or via cracking, into petroleum and natural gas. These then migrate towards the
surface and end up either reaching it (and drying up to yield bitumen or tar) or being arrested on
the way in traps (where, millions of years later, drillers of the present industrial age make their
big strikes)

According to this theory oil reserves are very limited in the world and will exhaust within a
few decades if not judiciously consumed.

Inorganic Theory
The theory suggests that most of the hydrocarbons on earth are in fact primordial. Carbonaceous
chondrites appear to have been the most abundant source rock during the formation of the earth.
This type of meteorite contains a significant amount of hydrocarbons. As the earth formed, it
would have acquired these hydrocarbons via accretion (bodies of roughly equal size clumping
together through collisions), and later through meteorite impacts (including hydrocarbons formed
by the reaction of meteoritic carbon with H2 at high pressures and temperatures on impact). Then
as the earth gradually cooled, a solid crust developed, while the interior remained liquid or
semisolid. The volatile substances would be expelled from the interior. It is such gases that
yielded, after biological modification, the present atmosphere. That hydrocarbons are being
evolved from the inner parts of the earth is evident from the presence of mud volcanoes, flames
seen during earthquakes, etc. On the way up, it is supposed, the oil (dissolved in methane) would
be trapped in suitable formations creating the world's oil and gas, tar sands, oil shales, bitumen,
mud volcanoes, etc .Kropotkin and Valyaev pointed out that the hydrocarbons, carried upwards
by streams of compressed gases, would have two possible destinies:

1. In volcanic regions, they would be oxidised to carbon dioxide and water

2. In `cool' regions the hydrocarbons would form oil and gas reservoirs after condensation
from the rising stream at levels possessing the requisite values of temperature and
pressure.

On the basis of this theory, oil resources would be much larger than those predicted by the
biogenic theory.

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Till now the organic theory is more widely accepted than the inorganic theory and hence we have
to accept as predicted by it- the oil reserves would diminish in a few more decades and hence the
need of the hour is to find other sources.

Oil Traps
According to the organic theory, oil and gas were originated from huge masses of organisms,
animals and vegetation that got buried under the earth and were covered by the sedimentary
rocks. Layers of rock formed over it and the formation and trapping of the hydrocarbons took
place in the following stages over millions of years:

• Formation of Hydrocarbons: The hydrocarbon formation took place by decomposition

in various layers of rock called source rock.

• Migration of Hydrocarbon: Due to lighter gravity of hydrocarbon formed compared to

water which is always present below the earth’s surface and due to high pressures below
the earth, oil and gas migrated slowly through the gaps in the subsurface of rocks with
high permeability. During the migration, the oil and gas got into densely packed
sedimentary rocks of very high porosity known as reservoir rocks. Sandstone and
limestone are common reservoir rocks. The oil is trapped inside the rock's porosity.

• Formation of Traps: Migration of the oil and gas continued until they reached the traps
which were formed due to the various reasons like sedimentation and convulsions that
took place on earth’s strata. A typical trap is covered with a non-permeable layer or
barriers which stops the oil from migrating any further. These rocks are called “trap”
rocks or “cap” rocks.

They may be Anticline, a Fault or a permeability barrier caused by the sandstone (SST)
grading into silt or clayey impermeable rock. The oil and gas with the formation of water
below them are called “Entrapped” and form an oil pool.

There are two basic types of traps:

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 Structural traps: These hold oil and gas because the earth has been bent and deformed
in some way. The trap may be a simple dome (Anticline), just a "crease" in the rocks
(Fault).

.Stratigraphic traps: These are depositional in nature. This means they are formed in
place, usually by a porous sandstone or limestone
becoming enclosed in shale. The shale keeps the oil
and gas from escaping the trap, as it is generally very
difficult for fluids (either oil or gas) to migrate
through shale.

Here are four traps. The anticline is a structural type of trap,

as is the fault trap and the salt dome trap.

Fig: Oil traps

The stratigraphic trap shown was formed when rock layers at the bottom were tilted, then eroded
flat. Then more layers were formed horizontally on top of the tilted ones. The oil moved up
through the tilted porous rock and was trapped underneath the horizontal, nonporous rocks.

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Exploration of Oil and Gas
Oil field discoveries date back to more than three thousand years BC. These oil fields were
discovered through seepages which occurred on the earth’s surface. The first effort for
production of petroleum by digging wells were reported in China in the year 600 BC. Crude is
reported to have been produced during digging of brine wells. The first oil field in India was
identified at Digboi after oil was seen on the mud carried with footsteps of elephants in the
jungles of Assam. With such easily locatable and shallow oilfields having been exhausted and
the demand for energy gone up leaps and bounds, the search for oil is more complicated today. It
is very technologically oriented, yet uncertainties and risks are heavy.

Geological and Geophysical Surveys

In the first stage of the search for hydrocarbon-bearing rock formations, geological maps are
reviewed in desk studies to identify major sedimentary basins. Aerial photography may then be
used to identify promising landscape formations such as faults or anticlines. More detailed
information is assembled using a field geological assessment, followed by one of three main
survey methods

1. Magnetic survey: to determine the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field at a specific
location and measure the changes which might be due to flowing oil.

2. Gravimetric survey: to determine the strength of the earth’s gravity at a location and
measure the small changes in the gravitational field which may indicate flowing oil.

3. Seismic Survey: to draw subsurface maps using sound waves.

The Seismic Method is used for

identifying geological structures
and relies on the differing
reflective properties of sound

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waves to various rock strata, beneath terrestrial or oceanic surfaces. An energy source transmits a
pulse of acoustic energy into the ground which travels as a wave into the earth. At each point
where different geological strata exist, a part of the energy is transmitted down to deeper layers
within the earth, while the remainder is reflected back to the surface. Here it is picked up by a
series of sensitive receivers called geophones or seismometers on land, or hydrophones
submerged in water.

Drilling
Once a promising geological structure has been identified, the only way to confirm the presence
of hydrocarbons and the thickness and internal pressure of a reservoir is to drill exploratory
boreholes.

1. Exploratory well: All wells that are drilled to discover hydrocarbons are called
‘exploration’ wells, commonly known by drillers as ‘wildcats’. The location of a drill site
depends on the characteristics of the underlying geological formations. The first
successful well showing hydrocarbon presence during wildcat is called discovery well.

a. It may or may not produce oil and is abandoned if it does not produce oil. The
well is call dry hole.

b. A lot of information is gathered by logging some of the properties of the well and
analysing the fluids and the rocks that come out during the drilling. This is called
a well log,

2. Delineation: Drilling of additional wells after discovery to define size of the reservoir is
called delineation. Wells drilled to quantify the hydrocarbon reserves found are called
‘out step’ or ‘appraisal’ wells.
3. Development Wells: These are drilled into a known reservoir to increase production.

Oil wells are being drilled all over the world in diverse geographical areas. Very often they are in
remote areas like deserts, forests (onshore) or oceans (offshore). Depending upon the location of
the reserve drilling is prepared.

The crew sets up the rig and starts the drilling operations. Once drilling commences, drilling
fluid or mud is continuously circulated down the drill pipe and back to the surface equipment. Its
purpose is to balance underground hydrostatic pressure, cool the bit and flush out rock cuttings.
New sections (joints) of drill pipes are added as the hole gets deeper.

When the pre-set depth is reached, the drill equipments are removed and the casing is cemented
to prevent leakage of oil and gas as it is brought up and from collapsing in on itself. It also keeps
other fluids or gases from seeping into the formation through the well.

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Drilling continues in stages: They drill, then run and cement new casings, then drill again until
the rock cuttings from the mud reveal the oil sand from the reservoir rock. At this stage several
tests are performed to confirm this finding like well logging, drill-stem testing and core sample
testing.

Once they have reached the final depth, the

crew completes the well by perforating the
casing with perforating guns and inserting
tubing to allow oil to flow into the casing in a
controlled manner. A packer is used between
casing and tubing at the bottom of the well.

A wellhead valve assembly is installed if a

profitable quantity is discovered. If the well
does not contain commercial quantities of
hydrocarbon, the site is decommissioned to a
safe and stable condition and restored to its original state or an agreed after use.

Recovery of Oil from the Well

Most of the commercial oil and gas wells are initially free flowing: the underground pressures
drive the liquid and gas up the well bore to the surface. The rate of flow depends on a number of
factors such as the properties of the reservoir rock, the underground pressures, the viscosity of
the oil, and the oil/gas ratio.

These factors, however, are not constant during the commercial life of a well, and when the oil
cannot reach the surface unaided, some form of additional lift is required, such as a pumping
mechanism or the injection of gas or water to maintain reservoir pressures. Either new wells are

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drilled into the reservoir for the purpose of injection know as injection wells or exhausted wells
are utilised. This process is known as Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Fig: Enhanced Oil Recovery systems/Artificial Lift (a) Rod Pump or Donkey Pump (b)
Electrical Sub-merged Pumps (c) Gas Lift system (d) Water Injection

Once the hydrocarbon reaches the surface, it is routed to the central production facility which
gathers and separates the produced fluids (oil, gas and water). The oil must usually be free of
dissolved gases and water before export. Similarly, the gas is stabilized unwanted components
such as Natural Gas Liquids, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. Any water produced is
treated before disposal.

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Crude Oil Processing

Main Process Sections

The main process sections in an oil field are:

1. Wellhead: It regulates and monitors the flow of the crude from the well to the production
facility. It also prevents leaking of oil or natural gas out of the well, and prevents
blowouts due to high pressure formations

2. Manifolds/gathering: Onshore, the individual well streams are brought into the main
production facilities over a network of gathering pipelines and manifold systems.
3. Separation: Some wells have pure gas production which can be taken directly to gas
treatment and/or compression. More often, the well gives a combination of gas, oil and
water and various contaminants which must be separated and processed.
4. Gas Compression and processing: Gas from a pure natural gas wellhead might have
sufficient pressure to feed directly into a pipeline transport system. Gas from separators
has generally lost so much pressure that it must be recompressed to be transported. Major
transportation pipelines usually impose restrictions on the makeup of the natural gas that
is allowed into the pipeline. Natural gas processing consists of separating all of the
various hydrocarbons and fluids from the pure natural gas, to produce what is known as
'pipeline quality' dry natural gas.
5. Metering, storage and export:
a. Most plants do not allow local gas storage, but oil is often stored before loading
on a vessel, such as a shuttle tanker taking the oil to a larger tanker terminal, or
direct to crude carrier.
b. Metering stations allow operators to monitor and manage the natural gas and oil
exported from the production installation. This metered volume represents a
transfer of ownership from a producer to a customer (or another division within
the company) and is therefore called Custody Transfer Metering.
c. Loading on tankers involve loading systems, ranging from tanker jetties to
sophisticated single point mooring and loading systems that allow the tanker to
dock and load product even in bad weather.
6. Utility systems: Utility systems are systems which do not handle the hydrocarbon
process flow, but provides some utility to the main process safety or residents. Depending
on the location of the installation, many such functions may be available from nearby
infrastructure (e.g. electricity). But many remote installations must be fully self
sustainable and thus must generate their own power, water etc.

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 RAVVA
OIL FIELD

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Ravva Oil field
Brief History
The Ravva oil & gas field lays in the Bay of Bengal 10 to 15 kms off the east coast of India in 10 to 15
meters of water. It is approximately 400 kms north of Madras and 200 kms south of Vishakhapatnam. The
field was discovered in 1988 by the Oil and natural gas Limited (ONGC) of India. Cairn energy (India)
pty Ltd is the operator of a Joint Venture which has entered into a Production sharing Contract with the
Government of India to develop the Ravva Field. The other partners of the Joint Venture are:

ONGC

Videocon Petroleum Ltd.

Ravva Oil (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Offshore Terminal
The offshore terminal consist of

Six platforms with 20 wells producing oil and associated gas

Two platforms with 5 wells producing Non-associated gas.
Eight water injection wells distributed over the 6 oil producing platforms

A typical offshore platform consists of the following components:

• Heli Deck
• Main Deck: This comprises of the test separator, the instrument gas drum and vent
system.
• Cellar Deck: This comprises of the well head, production header, water injection lines,
the gas lift lines and the well head control panel.
• CDD Deck: This comprises of the Closed Drain Drum.
• Spider Deck
• Boat Landing
• Sub-sea pipelines

Well Head and Production Header

The well produces through a tubing to the wellhead /christmas tree . Pressure & flow of wells are
adjusted by the wellhead varialble choke valve to the desired operating pressure. Production
from the wells is routed to the production header and then transferred to to Ravva Onshore
Facilities by subsea pipelines.

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Test Separator:
To monitor the production and evaluate the performance of each well, a Test Separator is
provided on every platform. The Test Separator is a horizontal vessel designed for 3-phase
separation of gas, oil and water by gravity. The well fluid to be tested is routed to the test
separator through the test header. The flow of oil, gas and water are measured and routed back to
the production header.

Instrument Gas Drum:

The Instrument and Utility gas system is provided on the Ravva well platforms to supply gas to
the following equipment and facilities. The primary source of instrument/utility gas will be dry
lift gas with gas from the Production Header and test seperator acting as a back up source.

Vent System:
A vent system is provided on each well platform for safe disposal of normal vents and exhaust,
vapors released during emergency relief and vapors released during routine maintenance.
The gas is collected from various sources in the vent header and flows to the Vent Knock Out
Drum (VKOD) a vertical vessel that removes the liquids by gravity settlement and sends it to the
CDD.

Water Injection system

Facilities for water injection have been provided in oil platforms. Injection water is supplied
from the onshore facilities to RE /RD /RC platforms and then distributed to the other platforms.
Water injection system consits of a Wellhead Water Filter and a Injection Water Manifold.

Gas Lift system

Facilities for gas lift have been provided for oil producing platforms. Lift gas is supplied from
the onshore facilities to RE platform and then distributed to the other oil platforms.

Pipelines and Launchers/Receivers

Under normal operation, the launchers and receivers are bypassed and fluids flow directly
to/from submarine pipelines. The launchers and receivers are used periodically for cleaning the
pipelines and for inspection of the pipelines with an inspection pig.

The platforms are all operated through renewable sources of energy – Solar Energy and Wind
Energy. A back up diesel generator is provided on each platform.

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Onshore Terminal
The major facilities provided as part of the Ravva Onshore terminal are below:

Manifold and Gathering

o Pig receiver and Inlet manifold for oil pipelines.
Separator: Oil processing to dehydrate and stabilize the incoming oil well fluid to
produce stabilized crude.
Gas Compression and Processing
o Compression system for recovery of associated gas.
o Gas separation and treatment to condition the gases (both associated and Non-
associated Gas.)
Metering, storage and export:
o Measurement of gas and transportation to consumers and to offshore oil platforms
for gas lift.
o Crude Oil Storage system.
o Crude oil export pumping system (including pig receiver) for an offshore tanker
through PLEM mooring/loading facility.
Utility Systems
o Produced water treatment and re-injection facilities.
o Water treatment and pumping system for supply of injection water to the offshore
oil platforms.
o Fuel gas system.
o Flare system.
o Electrical power generation and distribution system.
o Fire and Gas Detection system.
o instrument air system,
o Hot Oil System,
o Chemical Injection system
o Firewater System, service water
o portable water system
o open & close drain system
o Strom water system.
Central control room for the entire Ravva Field operations (both Onshore and Offshore}
for controls, measurements and Data Acquisition System (DAS).

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Terminal Area
The terminal area is the link between the offshore terminal and offshore terminal. The lines
connecting the offshore to the onshore and vice versa are routed from the terminal area at the
onshore field. The lines are:

1. Oil Line:
a. From Ravva A & C
b. From Ravva B & F
c. From Ravva D
d. From Ravva E
2. Gas Line
a. From Ravva G
b. From Ravva H
3. Water Injection Line
a. To Ravva D
b. To Ravva E
c. To Ravva A & C
4. Gas Lift Line To Ravva E
5. Sea Fall Line
6. Oil Export Line to SPM
The other facilities available at the terminal are:
1. Pig Receiver
a. Ravva B & F-Ravva Terminal
b. Ravva D- Ravva Terminal
c. Ravva E- Ravva Terminal
d. Ravva G- Ravva Terminal
e. Ravva H- Ravva Terminal
f. Export Line
2. Pig Launcher
a. Ravva Terminal-Ravva A & C Water Injection Line
b. Ravva Terminal- Ravva D Water Injection line
c. Ravva Terminal- Ravva E Water injection line
d. Export Line

All lines in the terminal are attached with SDVs (Shut down Valves). If ever there is an
emergency, process trip or whole plant trip then these SDVs close to avoid any kind of disaster
or crude wastage. The oil lines are linked to header of the FWKOD.
There are two lines to the FWKOD- a 14” line and 16” line. The 14”line is a RD-FWKOD line.
The oil from the RA&C, RE, RB&F is routed to the FWKOD by the 16” line. The 14” and the
16” line are then joined before leaving the terminal area.

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Multiphase Pumps
Introduction
Since the very early days of oil and gas production, the transport of untreated well fluids
(multiphase) using reservoir energy over a short distance had been in practice. There was no
device available to directly pressure boost the stream in case reservoir energy was insufficient.
The only feasible approach was separating the liquid and gas phases and transporting them
separately.

Multiphase pumps provide an effective solution to drawdown the flowing wellhead pressure and
compensate for increased static or frictional flow-line inlet pressure and therefore considerably
reduce the reservoir risk related to most oilfield developments.

While the use of long pipelines and flow lines allows for better economics, it imposes higher
backpressures on wells and hampers production. Gravitational losses can become significant for
higher density fluids in ultra deepwater developments. While these energy losses are significant,
some form of energy input to transport the fluids will improve the ultimate recovery and reduce
wastage of non-renewable natural resources in deepwater. Multiphase pumping is one such
energy input.

Maintaining a high backpressure is a production practice that wastes reservoir energy. Energy
that could be used to move reservoir fluids to the wellbore and out of the well is instead lost to
flow through a choke or long flowline.

There are two main families of multiphase pumps:

1. Roto-dynamic pumps

2. Positive displacement pumps.

Roto-dynamic Pumps
Roto-dynamic pumps comprise a number of impeller and stator stages on a single shaft that
rotates at a high speed. The impellers generate kinetic energy in the enclosed fluid which forms a
pressure boost.

Positive Displacement Pumps

The positive displacement multiphase pumps are generally of twin-screw type, in which a pair of
shafts with machined helical profiles are meshed together and rotated together and rotated in
opposite directions to form sealed ‘locks’ of fluid. These locks transfer the fluid-stream
longitudinally through the pump, producing a pressure rise against the pump discharge. The
working principle of twin-screw pump is like a piston pump with an infinite length of stroke
which leads to uninterrupted transport of fluid10. The twin-screw pumps operate at lower speeds
than roto-dynamic pumps, require constant torque drives and can pump higher viscosity fluids.

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Ravva Multiphase Pump

The pumps installed in the Ravva Plant are that of the pump manufacturing company
Bornemann. Bornemann’s multi phase pump are rotary positive displacement pump and are
capable of handling liquid of low and high viscosity including liquid containing 100 % gas.

Working
Multi phase pump is the Twin screw multi phase type pump. It contains the two screws which
are rotating opposite to the each other. One screw is connected to the shaft driving system and
the other screw rotating by power transmission through gear arrangement. These screw contain
some clearance between the thread, this clearance is depend upon the type of the process fluid
which we used here. The shaft of pump is connected to the Variable Frequency Drive (VFD)
inside a temperature control settler. The VFD provides optimum control and operational
flexibility to adjust a pump output to suit the change in production condition and requirement.
Each pump contains four seals around two casing in the pumps. These seals are pressurized by
the Seal Oil Balancing System against the process fluid.

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 MPP

Pump Skid Piping Skid

Seal Oil
Pump
Drive System Balancing
System
System

Pump Skid:

• Drive System
Driven skid contain a motor with VFD variable frequency Drive inside a temperature
control settler. The VFD provides optimum control and operational flexibility to adjust a
pump output to suit the change in production condition and requirement such as: For high
Waxy crude required Less Speed and high Clearance between threads while low viscous
fluid High speed and Low Clearance for high capacity.

• Pump System
Pump is the main part of the MPP system. It contains two screws rotating in opposite
direction with some clearance. The screw always contains some clearance between the
threads. It has one inlet line and one outlet line .The process fluid is sucked by suction
and discharged at high pressure.

• Seal Oil Balancing System

Seal Oil from the storage tank is pumped through the seals. A pressure control valves
controls the pressure and the back flow from the seal is cooled before going back into the
storage tank. Under normal operating conditions the system works on an open loop
process. If the Seal Oil Balance system shuts down then the operation is converted into an
open loop. At the time of a pump shutdown a small pump provides the seal oil pressure
according to the fluid pressure.

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Piping Skid
MPP pump contains a suction pipe which is connected to RA-RC line and a discharge line
connected to the header to FWKOD/flow splitter. Each of Inlet and outlet discharge line contains
SDVs (Shut Down Valve) which is programmed fail-to-Close at the time of an Air Failure (All
SDVs are actuated valves with energy source as air).One discharge line contains a PSV which
has a set point of 56 bars.

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FWKOD & Flow Splitter
The oil coming from the wells has a huge amount of free water in it. This water needs to be
separated from the crude before export. The water in the crude is knocked out in the Free Water
Knock Out Drum before it enters the Crude Stabilisation Unit. The FWKOD reduces the load on
the CSU.

The internals of FWKOD are designed to maximize oil and water separation and efficient
emulsion handling. Well fluid enters the inlet compartment through a top entry with a half-cut
pipe as inlet device. A calming baffle (perforated plate) is installed between inlet and settling
compartment of the vessel.

The crude oil and gas separated in FWKOD is commingled and then routed to flow splitter
where well fluid is split into three trains namely Train – 1, Train – 2 and Old CSU. Each train
consists of HP, MP and LP separators connected in series. The signals from oil flow transmitter
(FT) at the outlet of the first stage separator are transmitted to the control valves of the flow
splitter for dividing the inlet flow between the three trains.

FWKOD operates at 950 kPag. FWKOD is provided primarily to remove free water from HC
liquid; FWKOD separates HC liquid and water using their density difference from the well fluid.
Normal interface level is maintained above separator BTL (bottom tangent line) at settling
chamber where oil-water interface is maintained by level control valve under interface level
indicating controller.

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Crude Stabilisation Unit

Introduction
The well gives a combination of gas, oil and water and various contaminants which must be
separated and processed. The production separators come in many forms and designs, with the
classical variant being the gravity separator. In gravity separation the well flow is fed into a
horizontal vessel. The retention period is typically 5 minutes, allowing the gas to bubble out,
water to settle at the bottom and oil to be taken out in the middle. The pressure is often reduced
in several stages (high pressure separator, low pressure separator etc.) to allow controlled
separation of volatile components. A sudden pressure reduction might allow flash vaporization
leading to instabilities and safety hazards.

Separators
A separator is a vessel in which mixtures of fluids that are not soluble in each other are
segregated from one another. In the oil field, separators are used to segregate gas from liquids or
one liquid, such as condensate, from another liquid, such as water. There are more separators in
oil and gas facilities than any other type of process equipment. For example scrubbers,
accumulators, flash tanks etc.
Separators are classified in two ways: first on the basis of the position or shape of the vessel and
second the number of fluids to be segregated.
On the basis of the shape of the vessel:
1. Horizontal
2. Vertical
On the basis of the number of fluids to be separated the separator is usually:
1. Two Phase separator (gas-liquid)
2. Three phase separator (oil, gas, water)
The number of phases referred to are the number of streams that leave the vessel and not the
number of phases that are in the inlet stream.
In an oil industry the separators are horizontal gravity three phase separators where the well
fluid, which is a mixture of gas, oil, water, enters the separator and the gas flows from the top
and liquid settles to the bottom. Oil floats on the water and spills over the weir and is withdrawn
with a level controller. The water remains on the left side of the weir and is withdrawn with a
level controller.

24 | P a g e
 Fig: Horizontal three phase separator

Basic Components of a three phase separator:

• Slug Catcher: At the entrance there is Baffle Slug catcher or an inlet divider. This
reduces the effect of slug (large gas bubbles or liquid plugs).
• Vortex Breakers: The liquid outlets from the separator are usually equipped with vortex
breakers to reduce disturbance on the liquid table inside. This is basically a flange trap to
break any vortex formation and ensure that only separated liquid is tapped off and not
mixed with oil or water drawn in though these vortices.
• Demisters: The gas outlets are equipped with demisters that filter and remove liquid
droplets in the gas. These are also known as Mist Pads.
• Coalesce plates: It is possible to use various plate or pipe coalesce designs to aid in the
coalescing of oil droplets in the water and water droplets in the oil.
• Horizontal baffles: These are used in gas- liquid separators to prevent waves in the
liquid phase. They are usually located near the liquid level in the vessel.
• Float shield: These are used when an internal float is used to control the liquid level. It
prevents the float from flopping around from the wave action in the liquid.
• Water jets: In horizontal three-phase separators, one major problem is the accumulation
of sand and solids at the bottom of the vessel. Generally the solids settle to the bottom
and become well packed. If these solids are allowed to build up, they will disrupt
efficient separator operation by taking up vessel volume.

25 | P a g e
 Water jets are sometimes called sand jets. Their purpose is to spray the sides and bottom
of the vessel with high pressure stream of water or other liquid to fluidize sand or other
solid particles so they can be drained from the bottom.
• Sand cones: These are used in vessels that have a continual flow of sand or other
particles. The solids collect in the cone, and are periodically flushed out.
At the end there are barriers up to a certain level to keep back the separated oil and water. The
main control loops are the oil level control loop controlling the oil flow out of the separator on
the right, and the gas pressure loop at the top. These loops are operated by the Control System.
An important function is also to prevent gas blow-by which happens when low level causes gas
to exit via the oil output causing high pressure downstream.

Principles of separation:
Two factors are necessary for separators to function:
1. The fluids to be segregated must be insoluble to each other.
2. One fluid must be lighter than the other.
The physical separation of gas and liquids (oil and water) is based on the following principles.
• Momentum change: Fluid phases with different densities will have different momentum.
If a multiphase stream changes direction sharply, heavier phase will not turn as rapidly as
lighter one, resulting in separation. The separator inlet nozzle (diverter) is designed
suitably to have major portion of the liquid separated from the gas stream.
• Gravity settling: A separator depends upon the effect of gravity to segregate the fluids.
Maximum removal of oil droplets from the gas stream after the velocity has been
substantially reduced occurs due to gravity settling. The primary factor that affects the
separation is that of the difference in the weights of the fluids.
• Coalescing: Very small droplets such as fog or mist remaining in the gas stream cannot
be separated by gravity. Gas is made to pass through a series of baffles (coalescing
device) involving several changes of direction. The momentum of the droplets causes
them to collide with each other and the coalescing device, forming large droplets and
settles down.
Separators may employ one or more of these principles, but the underlying factor is the phases
must be immiscible or have different densities for separation to happen.

26 | P a g e
The Plant
The crude stabilisation unit in the Ravva field is a three stage separation and stabilisation system.
The cruse stabilisation Unit is divided into three parts – Train I, Train II and Old CSU. As
mentioned before, the Ravva CSU is a 3 stage process with the pressure getting reduced at every
stage. Three stages are used, to allow controlled separation of volatile components. The purpose
is to achieve maximum liquid recovery and stabilized oil and gas, and separate water. A large
pressure reduction in a single separator will cause flash vaporization leading to instabilities and
safety hazards.

Working
The crude from the FWKOD passes to the flow splitter. At the flow splitter the crude gets
divided into three parts- first going to the Train I; second going to the Train II and the third going
to Old CSU. Train- I and Train- II both are identical Crude stabilization units in operation and
design wise. The inlet FCVs of the both trains will share the inlet flow from the flow splitter.

TRAIN CAPACITY

Train-1 30000 bbls per day

Train-II 30000 bbls per day

Old CSU 15000 bbls per day

Each train consists of the following equipments.

• First stage Production Separator (HP Separator)

• Second Stage Production Separator (MP separator)

• Third Stage Production Separator (LP separator)

• Stabilised crude pumps

• Crude Cooler

First Stage Production Separator/HP separator:

The first stage separator is horizontal cylindrical vessel with an internal vertical weir type baffle
plate. The baffle plate separates the vessel into two compartments, the inlet or water
compartment and the oil compartment. As the well fluid travels inside the separator, gravity
separation starts taking place. Oil being lighter floats up and the water sinks down. As the level
increase oil overflows the baffle into the oil compartment leaving behind water. A heating coil

27 | P a g e
with hot oil is provided at the inlet side of the vessel for heating the well fluid if required (to
decrease viscosity). A 2’’ sand jetting connection is provided from the inlet end and is extended
inside the separator along the length of the water compartment. This will be used during the
shutdown of the separator whenever needed.

The first stage separator is a spill over weir type three phase separators. The operating pressure is
maintained at about 900kpa and the operating temperature is maintained at 65oC. The liquid will
flash when it entered the first stage separator because of pressure difference between flow splitter
(1030kpa) and the separator (900kpa).

Separated Gas from the first stage separator, flows out to the suction manifold of the associated
gas compressor. Here it combines with the gas from the other separation units and the discharge
of the LP gas compressor/ Third Stage gas compressor.

The produced water flows out to the produced water header under level control by LC and
control valve LCV. The produced water flows to the produced water re-injection for further
processing.

Separated oil from the first stage separator, flows out under level control of the oil compartment
LIC into the Second Stage separator for further separation. The signals from oil flow transmitter
(FT) and water flow transmitter are transmitted to the control valves of the flow splitter for
dividing the inlet flow between the three trains.

Three drain lines from the bottom of the oil compartment and two from water compartments are
provided with isolation valves for draining the vessel into the closed drain system during
shutdown and maintenance of the vessel.

Second Stage Separator/MP separator :

The second stage separator is also a spill over weir type three phase separators similar to first
stage separator. Second stage separator (RT-V-102)

Earlier the oil from 1st stage separator used to be heated in the crude heater to 66oc by using hot
oil as heating media, before it entered the 2nd stage separator. However, due to the increase in the
water cut and consequent rise in temperature of the incoming fluids, these heaters are now
bypassed.

28 | P a g e
The second stage separator is also a horizontal vessel like the 1st stage separator with an internal
weir type baffle separating the water and oil compartments. The internals of the MP separator are
similar to the HP separator internals.

The operating pressure of second stage separator is [Link] crude oil from the 2nd stage
separator flows under level control to the 3rd stage separator. The oil level is controlled by the
LIC and LCV. The separated gas combines with the gas from the other separators and either
flows to the suction of the low pressure gas compressor or TSGR.

Third Stage separator/LP separator:

By the third stage the water in the produced oil is very less and cannot be further separated.
Hence the LP separator is a two phase separator. The 3rd stage separator works at about 40 KPa
pressure maintained by the PIC and PCV respectively. Gas flows to the suction of the low
pressure gas compressor or TSGR. PSV also releases gas into LP flare and protects the vessel
from excessive pressure. And level control valve is provided to control the liquid level in the
separator. LT measures the level in the separator and LIC provides the feed for the LCV.

The oil outlet stream is pumped by the crude oil transfer pumps through the crude oil cooler to
the crude oil wash tank (T-102C), where the final degassing and separation of water from oil
takes place. The stabilized crude oil is sent for storage in one of the four floating roof storage
tanks.

Stabilised Crude Pump:

The stabilized crude from the LP separator is transferred to wash tank by using Stab. Crude
pumps. The pumps are centrifugal type and electrical motor driven type. And the pumps are
designed for a rate of 134.5 scm / hr.

One orifice flow meter on the discharge line of the pumps and a Flow controller measures the
crude flow. One Flow Control Valve on the recycle line of the pumps is connected from
discharge to LP separator inlet line and is set at 27 kL/hr.

Crude Coolers
The trains are provided with a crude cooler, downstream of the 3rd stage separator (LP separator).
Crude coolers are provided to cool the crude from 64oc to 46oc before reaching the storage tanks.
The crude coolers are connected in series mode with respect to tube side fluid i.e. cooling water.
Stabilised Crude pumps discharge i.e. Crude from the LP separator flows through the shell side
of the coolers. And shell side outlet goes to the crude wash tank. LP separator LCV has been

29 | P a g e
provided on the downstream of the crude cooler i.e. shell side outlet line. Cooling water from
cooling tower as a cooling media at 540 Cu.m/ hr rate is used as the cooling fluid. Cooling water
from the cooling tower flows through the tube side of the E-115 and goes to E-105 tube side.
And from E-105 flows to the cooling tower inlet header.

Crude Wash Tank:

Due to less residence time after breaking the emulsion, water in the crude does not get
completely separated in the processing plant and thus gets carried over to the crude storage tank.
This improper separation and entry of produced water in the tanks is the foremost reason for the
internal failure and pipeline corrosion. Also a substantial volume in the main crude storage tank
gets occupied by produced water. The unwanted water presence in the crude storage tanks results
in the need for manual draining and also corrosion of tanks and pipelines. Thus, an intermediate
tank i.e. Crude Wash tank is installed to remove the unsettled water from the crude, prior to the
main tank.

The crude from CSU is the inlet for this tank. The water is separated from oil by gravity settling.
The separated oil is pumped to the oil storage tanks by using Oil Transfer Pumps. Separated
water is drained off or pumped to the Produced water Reinjection plant by using Water Transfer
Pumps for further processing. Crude wash tank aims for the complete separation of produced
water from the crude oil before the storage tanks. Thus not only corrosion of storage tanks and
pipelines is averted, but also problems related to emulsion and other subsequent problems can be
avoided. Addition of crude wash tank also results in operational flexibility.

30 | P a g e
Gas Processing Plant
The Ravva plant has two types of gas processing plants- one for the associated gas (the gas
associated with the oil field) and the other for the Non Associated gas from the gas platforms RG
& RH. The associated gas is separated from the oil in the crude stabilisation unit and is passed is
routed to the Associated Gas Plant.

Associated Gas Plant

Today gas has become a very important asset in the energy security of the world. The gas
produced is sold to a buyer who distributes it to the consumers after processing. But the gas sold
has to be of a particular quality and composition which depends on the specifications given by
the buyer. Hence the gas produced is processed before custody transfer.

The basic steps usually involved in gas processing are:

1. Scrubbers

2. Compression

3. Heat exchange

4. NGL Separation

Scrubbers
The separated gas may contain mist and other liquid droplets. If liquid droplets enter the
compressor they will erode the fast rotating blades. A scrubber is designed to remove small
fractions of liquid from the gas.

Compression
There is usually a fall in pressure from the well to the onshore field and the gas needs to be re-
pressurised to maintain gas flow. Thus is compressed. Several types of compressors are used for
gas compression, each with different characteristics such as operating power, speed, pressure and
volume:

31 | P a g e
Heat Exchanger
As stated before, before custody transfer, the gas needs to be processed. Usually the highest
priority is to remove the condensable components. For this the gas is cooled below the dew point
temperature and the condensable liquids are removed. This liquid is known as Natural Gas
Liquid. Heat exchangers are of many types:

• Shell and tube heat exchanger • Plate heat exchanger

• Adiabatic wheel heat exchanger • Plate fin heat exchanger
• Fluid heat exchangers • Waste heat recovery units
• Dynamic scraped surface heat • Phase-change heat exchangers
exchanger

NGL separator
To remove the NGL from the gas stream, the chilled gas is sent to a Low Temperature Separator.
This is again a gravity separator.

Ravva Gas Plant

Associated Gas Compressors
Gas from the first stage separators of both trains and old CSU together with TSGR discharge gas
is compressed by the associated gas compressors.

The Ravva AGC system consists of three identical double stage reciprocating compressors
working in parallel. These compressors are double acting compressors i.e. in both side movement
of piston the gas get compressed and the work is done on the gas. These compressors are gas
engine driven compressors. The fuel for these gas engines are the same gas which is produced. A
separate fuel gas line is taken from produced gas.
1. The gas from the HP separators of both trains and CSU first passes through the first
stage suction scrubber and then it enters the first stage of compressor at 120-150 psi.
2. The discharge gas from first stage compressor at 420 psi passes through the first stage air
cooler where it gets cooled up to 49 0C.
3. Then this gas passes through the intermediate scrubber and then gets compressed in
second stage compressor up to 1100 psi.
4. After second stage compression it is cooled in the air cooler up to 45 0C and passes
through the discharge scrubber.
5. Then this gas goes to the gas treatment plant for further treatment i.e. to remove
condensate.

Gas Treatment
The gases from the three AGCs recombine before entering the gas treatment plant. The gas
treatment plant consists of the following:

32 | P a g e
 • E- 308 Gas- Cooling Water Heat exchanger

• E-305 Gas-Gas Heat Exchanger

• E-307 Gas-NGL Heat Exchanger

• E-306 Propane Gas Chiller

• Propane Refrigeration System.

• Glycol Regenerator System

All the heat exchangers in the gas plant are double pipe shell and tube heat exchangers and
functions in a counter current flow method.

The gas from the compressors combines with a small amount of gas from the jump over line of
the RSGDP enters the E-308 gas cooling water exchanger. Here the temperature of the gas is
brought down from around 48-50oC to around 43oC. It helps lower the pressure on the other
exchangers.

The gas from E-308 is then split into two parts: one which goes to the Gas-Gas exchanger and
the other to the NGL-Gas exchanger. It is divided in the ratio of 4:1. Both the exchangers are
Double pipe hair pin exchangers connected in series with equal number of shell and tube passes.
The gas from the E 308 is first injected with glycol to remove moisture from the gas and prevent
any corrosion. The gas then enters the tube side of the exchanger. This gas is usually known as
the wet gas because of the presence of NGL. In E 305 the shell side cold gas is the processed gas
from the NGL separator and in E 307 the shell side cold gas is the NGL from the NGL separator.

The wet gas from both the exchangers is cooled to around 15oC and recombines and enters the
gas chiller. The gas chiller is kettle type re-boiler. Here propane is vaporised and in this process
the gas chills to around 0-1oC.

The gas is then sent to the NGL Separator which is a Low temperature gravity separator. Here
the gas gets separated out and flows from the top to gas-gas exchanger and the NGL flows to the
Gas- NGL exchanger. Glycol- moisture mixture (rich glycol) is sent to the glycol regeneration
unit.

Glycol Regeneration Unit

The glycol-moisture mixture (rich glycol) from the NGL Separator is sent to the Glycol-Glycol
heat exchanger. The mixture is the sent to reflux condenser. The condensates are then sent to the
E-317 hot glycol exchanger. It is then routed to the condensate skimmer after which the rich
glycol is sent to the E-318 cold glycol exchanger. After E 318 the glycol is sent to the still
column. The glycol then passes down to the re-boiler where the moisture is evaporated at a
temperature of 131oC. The heat is provided by the hot oil system. The moisture free glycol (lean

33 | P a g e
glycol) then passes through the shell side of both E 318 and E 317 and then passes to the glycol-
glycol heat exchangers. The lean glycol is then re-circulated to the gas processing plant.

Treated gas is exported to GAIL by 8” pipeline which is connected to GAIL pipeline. The sales
gas line is provided with two custody transfer meter (1+1). A pressure Control, valve PCV
downstream of the metering skid has been installed to maintain gas pressure.

RSGDP: Ravva Satellite Gas Development Project

The RSGDP facility processes gas from the gas wellheads on RD, RH and RF platforms, and RG
platform. The RSGDP facility has been installed in a dedicated area within the RT Plant. The
facility includes;

• Slug Catcher (not in the RSGDP area)

• Gas Compression

• Dew Point Control

• MEG Regeneration

• Custody Transfer facilities

Incoming gas from RH platform is tied with the gas from the RG platform into the Slug Catcher
RT-V-301. Liquid from the Slug Catcher flows to the Crude Stabilisation System. Gas from the
Slug Catcher either flows to the compression trains or bypasses them. Three x 60%,
reciprocating, gas-engine driven compression trains are provided. Each compressor consists of:

• Suction Scrubber

• Compressor / Engine

• Discharge (Air) Cooler

• Discharge Scrubber

Gas from compression (or its bypass) flows to the Dew Point Control Package. The Dew Point
Control Package comprises Gas/Gas Exchanger and Propane Refrigeration Unit. Gas is pre-
cooled by exchanging heat with the cold, dew-pointed gas in the Gas/Gas Exchanger. The gas-
gas exchanger is a double pipe hair pin heat exchanger. It is then further cooled to -5°C in the
Propane Chiller. Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) is injected into the tube sheets of Gas/Gas
Exchanger and Propane Chiller to prevent hydrate formation and corrosion in these exchangers.

Dew pointed gas from the Propane Chiller flows to the Low Temperature Separator where gas,
Rich MEG and condensate (if any) are separated. Gas from the Low Temperature Separator is

34 | P a g e
routed to the Gas/Gas Exchanger where it exchanges heat with the warm, untreated gas. Rich
MEG is sent to the MEG Regeneration Package and condensate is directed to the Crude
Stabilisation system.

MEG Regeneration Unit

MEG regeneration package consists of:

• Glycol flash drum

• Glycol filters

• Lean/Rich glycol exchanger

• Glycol Re-boiler/Still columns

• Reflux condenser

• MEG injection pumps

• Lean glycol filters

Rich glycol from the low temperature separator flows to the reflux condenser on top of the still
column to provide necessary cooling for reflux condensation in this column. Rich glycol then
flows to the glycol flash drum where hydrocarbons are flashed off or separated. Flash gases are
sent to the HP flare system and any liquid hydrocarbon is sent to the existing 3rd Stage
Production Separator. Solids and dissolved hydrocarbons are then removed from the rich glycol
stream from the flash drum by the rich glycol and activated carbon filters respectively. Filtered
rich glycol is then preheated in the lean/rich glycol exchanger (plate type heat exchanger) before
entering the glycol re-boiler. Heat is supplied from the hot oil system. Water vapour from the re-
boiler is vented to atmosphere and lean glycol from the re-boiler is sent to MEG injection pumps
after heat exchange in Lean/Rich Glycol exchanger. A lean Glycol filter is provided downstream
of MEG injection pumps to protect MEG injection nozzles against blockage.

35 | P a g e
Oil and Gas Storage, Metering and Export

Oil Storage
On most production sites, the oil and gas is piped directly to a refinery or tanker terminal. Gas is
difficult to store locally, but occasionally underground mines, caverns or salt deposits can be
used to store gas. On platforms without pipeline, oil is stored in onboard storage tanks to be
transported by shuttle tanker. The oil is stored in storage cells around the shafts on concrete
platforms, and in tanks on floating platforms. On some floaters, a separate storage tanker is used.
In both cases ballast handling is important to balance the buoyancy when the oil volume varies.
For onshore fixed roof or floating roof tanks are used for crude. Also rock caverns are used.

Tanks can be of two types

1. Fixed Roof Tanks
2. Floating Roof Tanks
Fixed Roof Tanks: Fixed roof tanks are meant for liquids with very high flash points, (eg. fuel
oil, water, bitumen etc.) Cone roofs, dome roofs and umbrella roofs are usual. These are
insulated to prevent the clogging of certain materials, wherein the heat is provided by steam coils
within the tanks. Dome roof tanks are meant for tanks having slightly higher storage pressure
than that of atmosphere (eg. slop oil).

Floating Roof Tanks: Floating roof tanks are broadly divided into external floating roof tanks
(usually called as floating roof tanks: FR Tanks) and internal floating roof types (IFR Tanks).

IFR tanks are used for liquids with low flash-points (e.g. ATF, ethanol). These tanks are nothing
but cone roof tanks with a floating roof inside which travels up and down along with the liquid
level. This floating roof traps the vapour from low flash-point fuels. Floating roofs are supported
with legs on which they rest. FR tanks do not have a fixed roof (it is open in the top) and has a
floating roof only. Medium flash point liquids such as naphtha, kerosene, diesel, crude oil etc are
stored in these tanks.

External Floating Roof Tank:

Floating roof design generally varies with the material used for construction. External floating
roofs which are exposed to the elements use carbon steel construction.

• Pontoons: These are large compartments mainly for buoyancy. Large perimeter pontoons
are used to not only support environmental live loads (rain, snow) but also their own
mass, which varies from about 12 to 16 psf.

36 | P a g e
 • Seals: To reduce emissions in the rim area external floating roofs require primary and
secondary perimeter seals to reduce emissions in the rim area (area between the pontoon
and tank shell wall).

• Steel legs: With all floating roof systems, the floating roof has to remain floating and not
land to work effectively. Floating roofs use heavy leg supports when landed Most EFR
systems use an adjustable leg with support collar penetration sleeves to allow the
operators to increase or decrease the landed height from low operating to a higher
maintenance position allowing clearance for workers underneath.

• Drainage Pipes: Floating roofs also incorporate some form of articulating pipe or flexible
hose deck drainage system to remove excess precipitation from their surface.

Internal Floating Roof Tanks

Internal floating roofs typically use aluminium as their structural material, though some use
fibreglass, thin gauge stainless steel or other composite panels. Depending on design, internal
floating roof systems can usually be cable supported from the tank fixed roof structure, due to
their low mass. Internal floating roofs do not have a n y direct exposure to environmental loads
like rain or snow, and are typically very light in mass, varying from about 1 to 2.5 psf.

• Pontoons: Internal floating roofs use either air filled aluminum or stainless steel
pontoons, air filled honeycomb panels or composite foam filled panels for buoyancy.

• Seals: Internal floating roof systems only require a single liquid mounted seal

• Aluminium Internal floating roofs can use thinner legs supports or suspended cable
supports from the tank fixed roof. Suspended cable supports are adjusted from the top of
the tank fixed roof and have no emission paths from the sealed deck connections.

Ravva Onshore tank farm consists of 5 external floating roof tanks T-401 to T-405. All tanks are
double Deck Floating Roof Tanks. In the tanks again water is separated out and the oil floats
over the water.
Tank T-404 is an ONGC storage tank. Earlier untreated oil used to be sent to the Ravva plant
from the ONGC platform and hence was called Bad Oil tank. Now treated oil is routed and it has
become another storage tank before exportation of oil.

Capacity of Tanks:

T-401 284572 Barrels

T-402 284572 Barrels
T-403 284572 Barrels
T-404 18501 Barrels
T-405 289047 Barrels

37 | P a g e
Export
After the crude oil is treated it is sent to refineries for further distillation and processing. The
targets or the refineries are fixed by the government. The oil from the storage tanks are exported
to the oil tankers through the Single Point Mooring.

Oil tankers
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil.
There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker.

• Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to
refineries.

• Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move petrochemicals from
refineries to points near consuming markets.

Oil tankers are often classified by their size as well as their occupation. The size classes range
from inland or coastal tankers of a few thousand metric tons of deadweight (DWT) to the
mammoth ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) of 550,000 DWT. Tankers move approximately
2,000,000,000 metric tons (2.2046×109 short tons) of oil every year.

Single Point Mooring

Single point mooring (SPM) is a loading buoy anchored offshore that serves as a mooring point
and interconnect for tankers loading or offloading gas or fluid products. They are capable of
handling any size ship, even very large crude carriers (VLCC) where no alternative facility is
available.

To transfer the oil from the storage tanks to the SPM, Ravva plant has the following facilities
installed:

• Export booster pumps: These are 5 stage vertical centrifugal pumps. The export pumps
are not efficient enough to pressurise the oil through the pipeline to the SPM. Hence
booster pumps have been installed to boost the flow.

• Export Pump: The export pumps are single stage 16 cylinder V type gas driven engine.
They pressurise the oil to the required flow needed.

• Export pipeline: Two 20” Export pipelines have been drawn from the onshore terminal
to the SPM.

Gas Custody Transfer

Treated gas from the Gas plants(both AGP and RSGDP) flows to the Sales Gas Metering Skid.
This skid contains 2x100% orifice meter runs and a Dew Point Analyser. A back-pressure

38 | P a g e
control valve maintains the pressure upstream of the meter runs at 7453 kPa(g). Gas from
Metering is exported to the Gail Pipeline. Both the gas plants are provided with their individual
metering skid. Gas from the AGP is transferred under the specifications of Gas Contract 1 and
gas from the RSGDP is transferred under the specifications of Gas Contract 2.

39 | P a g e
Produced Water Re-Injection

Basic Unit Components

FWKOD
As already discussed the FWKOD has been installed at the upstream of the CSU to knock out
free water. This water along with the water from the trains is directed to the degasser.

Produced Water Degasser

The water from the FWKOD and the trains is degassed primarily in the Produced Water
degasser. The degassing occurs as a result of pressure reduction from the FWKOD and trains.
The degasser also performs as the skimmer which separate hydrocarbon liquid and water using
density difference of both liquids. The levels in the settling compartment are maintained by the
interface LCV connected to Level Indicator Controller. The pressure inside the degasser is
maintained by a blanketing gas with the discharge connected to the LP flare.

A coalescing pack for better separation of HC liquid and water is provided at the HC
liquid/water separation compartment. HC liquid rich phase above interface in HC liquid/water
compartment overflows to existing bucket in degasser. The oil is then sent to the Oil Recovery
Sump (ORS).

Produced Water Surge Tank

This tank receives water from the degasser and the wash tank and allows residual degassing and
gravity settlement of the water stream due to the residence time available. The separated oil rises
to the surface where it is removed via a fixed oil skimmer. The skimmed oil is piped to ORS. A
gas blanketing system has been installed to prevent air from being drawn into the vapour space
of the tank.

The internal placed in Produced Water Surge Tank is having a conical section at the top and
vertical Stilling section bottom of which small cylindrical section. Sand and other TSS is
removed by centrifugal action in the conical device and drains to a sand-settling device. Sand is
removed from this section on periodic basis.

There is no automatic level control directly associated with the surge tank. The water flows from
the surge tank to the IGF systems under gravity via an inverted “U” tube. The inverted “U” tube
maintains the surge tank water level within a fixed range. The inverted “U” tube is provided with
a piped connection back to the top of the surge tank in order to prevent siphoning. This method
of control eliminates the need for a control valve at the tank outlet line, which otherwise shears
the oil droplets and makes the oil-water separation treatment process more difficult.

40 | P a g e
Induced Gas Floatation Unit
This system receives degassed water from the Produced Water Surge Tank and reduces the oil-
in-water concentration to less than 10 ppm.

The IGF unit uses gas bubbles to cause oil and solid particles to rise to the surface. The IGF is
available with static induced system (ISF) as well as rotor induced system (IGF).

In the ISF unit, bubbles are created through hydraulic methods. The IGF unit is equipped with
motor driven rotors which forces water through a disperser, creating vacuum in the standpipe.
Gas is pulled into the vacuum, mixed with water and forced through a disperser mesh
surrounding the rotor. This causes bubbles to form, which attach themselves to the suspended
particles. The resultant foam is continuously skimmed off the surface launders. A typical rotor
induced system has four such contact stages arranged in series. The first stage is to separate any
slugs of oil that may have passed through the upstream surge tank, and an outlet chamber
removes any gas bubbles before the water is pumped to the injection water surge tank. The froth
that forms on the surface of the water is skimmed into a recovered oil compartment within the
IGF unit. The skimmed oil will then be discharged to Recovered Oil Sump. The IGF also has a
gas blanket to maintain the pressure.

From the chamber, it is pumped to the mixing tank under level control from the clean water
chamber.

The water is pumped to the mixing tank by the IGF water transfer tank. These pumps are of
progressive screw type designed to minimise shearing of oil droplets in the water transferred to
the mixing tank.

Oil Recovery Sump

The ORS is a horizontal pressure vessel with a nominal design pressure for the gas blanket. The
oil from the produced water surge tank, degasser and the two IGF vessels is accepted in the ORS.

The oil collected in the ORS is pumped through two Recovered Oil Transfer Pumps to the wash
tank. The pumps are a vertical pump of centrifugal type with barrel. The pumps operate on an
on/off basis in response to level switches in the sump.

41 | P a g e
Water Injection Plant
Usually to increase pressure and stimulate production, water is re-injected into the wells. Water
is injected (1) to support pressure of the reservoir (also known as voidage replacement), and (2)
to sweep or displace oil from the reservoir, and push it towards a well.

Normally only 30% of the oil in a reservoir can be extracted, but water injection increases that
percentage (known as the recovery factor) and maintains the production rate of a reservoir over a
longer period of time.

Injection water
Any and every source of bulk water can be, and has been, used for injection. The following
sources of water are used for recovery of oil:

• Produced water is often used as an injection fluid. This reduces the potential of causing
formation damage due to incompatible fluids, although the risk of scaling or corrosion in
injection flow-lines or tubing remains. It can either be treated and disposed off to the sea
or treated and re-injected. The cost for both is almost the same.

As the volumes of water being produced are never sufficient to replace all the production
volumes (oil and gas, in addition to water), additional "make-up" water must be provided.
Mixing waters from different sources exacerbates the risk of scaling.

• Seawater is obviously the most convenient source for offshore production facilities, and
it may be pumped inshore for use in land fields. Where possible, the water intake is
placed at sufficient depth to reduce the concentration of algae; however, filtering,
deoxygenation and biociding is generally required.

• Aquifer water from water-bearing formations other than the oil reservoir, but in the
same structure, has the advantage of purity where available.

• River water will always require filtering and biociding before injection.

The Ravva plant uses water from two sources:

1. Produced Water

2. Aquifer Water pumped out by bore well pumps.

42 | P a g e
Filters
Filtration is a mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from
fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass. The two
types of filters installed in the water injection are:

1. Coarse Filters: Three coarse filters have been installed in the plant upstream of the fixed
roof tank. The coarse filter have cartridge as the filter element and can spate out particles
of sizes up to 90 micrometre

2. Fine Filters: Six fine filters have been installed in the plant downstream of the tank with
three in line. There are three filter medias

a. Anthracite

b. Coarse granite

c. Fine granite

In the Ravva plant there are two sources of water for water injection: One the produced water
and the other the ground water. The produced water is treated in the PWRI plant and the ground
water is pumped out by the bore well pumps. These pumps are submersible centrifugal pumps
each of capacity 150 m3/hr.

Water from the bore wells is passed through the coarse filters (3 in line) and is sent to the fixed
cone roof tank. The water input to the tank is controlled by a PCV. The treated water from the
PWRI is also routed to the tank. The tank water is then pumped out with 4 water injection feed
pumps (2 in line). The water injection feed pumps are single stage centrifugal pumps each of
capacity 300 m3/hr. The water is pumped into the fine filters where particle sizes up to 5
micrometre are filtered. The water is then pumped to the well by two water injection pumps.
These pumps are multistage centrifugal pumps each of capacity 300 m3/hr. The water is sent to
water injection wells in RA, RC, RD and RE at a pressure of 1350psi.

43 | P a g e
Flare and Atmospheric Ventilation
Flare system is an important facility in any plant processing oil or gas. It is essentially a tall stack
made of steel pipe along with a flare tip (burner) at top and ancillary equipment. It burns out any
HC released during processing due to over-pressure in any of the equipment. The plant facilities
have safety valves which release the contents of equipments if the pressure rises beyond a safe
operating limit. The flare system prevents such flammable hydrocarbon releases to get into the
plant area and surroundings by burning out such releases. If there is a system failure, process
shutdown or a plant shutdown the excess gas produced is diverted to the flare to avoid any kind
of accident.

The flare sub-system includes Flare, atmospheric ventilation and blow down. The purpose of the
Flare and Vent Systems is to provide safe discharge and disposal of gases and liquids resulting
from:

• Spill-off flaring from the product stabilisation system. (Oil, Condensate etc.).

• Production testing

• Relief of excess pressure caused by process upset conditions and thermal expansion.

• Depressurisation either in response to an emergency situation or as part of a normal

procedure.

• Planned depressurisation of subsea production flow lines and export pipelines.

The systems are typically divided into a High Pressure (HP) Flare and a Low Pressure (LP) flare
system. The LP system is operated marginally above atmospheric pressure to prevent
atmospheric gases such as Oxygen to flow back into the vent and flare system and create a
combustible mixture. With low gas flow, inert gas is injected at the flare nozzle to prevent air
ingress. Traditionally, considerable amounts of hydrocarbons have been more or less
continuously flared. In these cases, a continuously burning pilot is used to ensure ignition of
hydrocarbons in the flare.

Ravva Flare System

Two types of flare header are operated to cater the needs of different pressures. Slug catcher, 1st
stage separator, gas treatment plant and associated gas compressors relief, vent and blow down
are connected with high pressure flare header and flows into the high pressure flare scrubber.
Gas outlet from the scrubber flows to the flare stack. H.P flare tip is Coanda type high velocity
sonic flare. Liquids from the flare scrubber are pumped to the 3rd stage separator for recycling.
Low pressure gas from the gas blanketing system, 2nd stage and the 3rd stage separator and
44 | P a g e
other sources flows through a separate LP flare header to a separate LP flare scrubber and flare
stack for disposal. L.P flare is assisted with external air blower. Flares are equipped with gas
pilots and igniters with purge gas.

45 | P a g e
Chemical Injection System
Chemical Injection System is required for the oil processing facilities and injection water.
Chemical treatment is required to assist the separation process for breaking oil-water emulsions,
inhibit corrosion, inhibit scale formation inside the pipes and processing equipment and prevent
hydrate formation. The chemical injection facilities for oil treatment and water injection consist
of storage tank and metering pumps for each chemical.

• Oil Stream

1. Pour Point Depressant (PPD): This is injected into the oil stream to bring down the
pour point of oil from 30oC to 18oC. Presently it is injected at the outlet of the MP
separator.

2. Demulsifier: This is injected to break the emulsion by coagulating the suspended

water droplets and allowing water to settle down. It is injected in the terminal 16’’
header (to FWKOD / Flow splitter)

3. Oil Phase Corrosion Inhibitor: this is injected to reduce the corrosion in the oil pipe
line. It is also injected in the terminal 16’’ header (to FWKOD /flow splitter)

4. Gas Phase Corrosion Inhibitor: This is injected to reduce the corrosion in the gas pipe
line. It is injected after the Slug catcher gas out let.

5. Oil Phase Scale Inhibitor (OSI): This is injected to reduce the scale formation in oil
pipe line. It is also injected in the terminal 16’’ header (to FWKOD /flow splitter).

• Water Injection Stream

1. Sodium Hypochlorite: this is injected at the borewell header to treat the chlorine in
the water.
2. Oxygen Scavenger: This is added to the water injection line at the tank outlet.
3. Scale Inhibitors: it is added at the Fine Filter outlet
4. Corrosion Inhibitor: this is also added at the fine filter outlet.
5. Biocide: boiocides are added to prevent any kind of bacterial growth. It is added to
line usually after pigging.

46 | P a g e
API and Effluent Treatment Plant
The onshore oil and gas processing operations produces associated water and about 30 m3/day of
domestic sewage. The wastewater is treated and discharged into the sea through a submerged
sub-sea pipeline and through a pipe diffuser system.

The produced waste water is collected from the various sources and routed to the API separator.
The API separator is provided with a slotted pipe type free oil collection and removal system.
Sufficient settling time for separation of oil from water and for the gravity settling of oily sludge
and inert sediments is provided. Treated water from the API separator is pumped to the
equalization tank of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP).

The effluent water from the API separator is treated in the ETP to the limits specified in the
APPCB (Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board). A host of parameters are monitored
including oil in water, total suspended solids, BOD, COD etc.

Main Components of the ETP:

ETP unit consist some specified blocks in whole process:

• Equalization tank

• Flocculation Tank

• Aeration tank

• PSF-pressure Sand Filter

• Nutrient Dosing System

• DMF-Dual Media Filter

• Secondary Clarifier

• Marine Outfall

The ETP consists of primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.

• Primary treatment: It involves free and floating oil separation and gravity settling of
heavier sediments.

• Secondary treatment: It is an aerobic biological treatment.

47 | P a g e
 • Tertiary treatment: Involves polishing the treated effluent through a dual media
filtration process.

Primary Treatment
The effluent from the API separator is pumped to an Equalisation Tank for flow equalization and
is provided with a floating type disc oil skimmer at the outlet to trap and remove any remaining
free-floating oil. The effluent is then chemically conditioned, flocculated and fed into the
floatation unit of the Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) unit. The de-oiled effluent is passed
through a Pressure Sand Filters to remove the suspended inorganic solids.

Secondary Treatment
The outlet of the filters is led to the aeration tank for biological treatment for removal of soluble
organics. It consists of a single-stage biological treatment using the activated sludge process. The
aeration tank is supplied air through a system of air diffusers and nutrient (Urea & DAP) is
dosed. Clarification of the mixed liquor is achieved in the secondary clarifier. Sludge recycling
pumps help to maintain the MLSS (Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids) concentration in the
aeration tank.

Tertiary Treatment
The tertiary treatment (polishing section) consists of Dual Media Filtration (DMF). The treated
effluent is stored in a tank and pumped through a submerged pipeline to the marine outfall.

The sludge generated in the oil removal section along with the excess sludge from the aeration
tanks shall be taken in to a sludge holding tank and then pumped to a centrifuge for dewatering.
The dewatered sludge is tested for oil and heavy metal concentration and disposed to the landfill
site.

The sewage from the plant toilets are routed to the biological section of the ETP co-mingled with
the produce water and treated.

48 | P a g e
Utility System

Instrument Air System

The SDVs, BDVs etc are pneumatic valves and controlled by air flow. An instrument air
package complete with Air compressor, cooler, pre & after filters & a Instrument Air Receiver is
provided for the terminal facilities.

System Consist:

• Motor Driven Compressor

• After Coolers

• Instrument Air receiver

• Instrument Air Dryer

• Instrument Air Pre-filter

• Instrument Air after Filter

Ravva Plant is using Screw type compressor for air intake. Air intake is from intake muffler by
electrical motor driven screw compressor. The compressed air from compressor goes through oil
separators for separating injecting lubricating oil from screw compressor. Then it goes to
instrument air receiver after cooling. The air is filtered in the Pre-filter and then enters the drying
units. One dryer is vessel is used for drying and the other vessel is kept under regeneration. The
dry air is filtered again in the instrument air after cooler and supplied to the user at the pressure
of 100psi.

The field instrument use this pressurized instrument air according to their operating range of
process. Pressure regulators are provided in field prior specific instrument for desired range of
pressure of the instrument air.

Hot Oil
The hot oil system is a closed loop using heat transfer fluid to provide heat to various exchangers
throughout the plant. The system consists of the hot oil heater, hot oil expansion tank, hot oil
circulation pumps, distribution piping, and controls. The Hot oil heater is fuel gas field
[Link]-55 is used as hot oil in the Hot oil system.

Hot oil system consists:

49 | P a g e
 • Hot oil expansion tank

• Hot oil Filter

• Hot oil Circulating Pump

• Hot oil heater

Hot oil system is closed loop system. Therminol-55 is heated in a furnace heater. The oil from
the outlet of the heater is circulated through the various heat exchangers & returned to the
expansion tank.

The furnace for heating purpose is gas fired & the expansion tank is an elevated horizontal vessel
with N2 blanketing gas.

Hot oil heater is vertical circulation radiant natural draft heater. It has four floor fired burners
equipped with spark igniters. A pilot arrangement LP fuel gas is a supply gas for burner.

The Hot oil circulation line divides into four 4’’ coils and enters the furnace. It comes out in the
connection section & forms the outlet header of hot oil.

A part of the pump discharge flow passes through a side stream hot oil filter & goes back to the
expansion tank. is a cartridge filter with Differential Pressure indicator. The flow through the
filter is fixed at about 20% of the pumps discharge by a 3” throttle Globe valve at outlet of filter
with FI.

Electric Power
Electric power is generated on-site by four gas turbine driven generators (2.5 MW each). A
diesel engine driven emergency generator (750kw) is also included in the system.

Instrument and Control

The instrument and control system includes the following. Basic mode of local process control is
pneumatic, with selected loops or measuring system electrical/electronic. The local shutdown
devices are pneumatic or electrical. The plant has a central processing system with central
control panel, programmable logic controller, and a supervisory control and data acquisition
system with few process controllers via PLC.

Fire Protection
Six firewater pumps are provided, two electric and four diesel engines driven. Firewater sources
are from RO plant and from water harvesting ponds. Firewater header loops are installed around

50 | P a g e
process and hydrocarbon storage areas, complete with monitors, hydrants, hose houses and
isolation valves. A foam generation and distribution system supplements the firewater system.

Utility and Potable Water

Water from the firewater storage tank is pumped throughout the plant for wash water service and
pressurization of the firewater main. Water from the RO Plant supplies water to the potable water
header.

51 | P a g e
Miscellaneous
Flow Measurement
Flow measurement is the quantification of bulk fluid movement and is an essential component of
an oil industry. Ravva plant uses various types of flow metres:

• Orifice plates • Pitot tubes

• Venture tubes • Rotameter
• Nozzles • Weir & Flumes
• Vortex flow Meter • Turbine Flow Meter
• Ultrasonic Type Flow meter • Differential Pressure Flow Meter
• Magnetic Type Flow meter and etc.

Level Measurement
Archimedes’s principle states that a body wholly or partially immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by
a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. If the cross-sectional area of the displacer and
the density of the liquid are constant, than a unit change in level will result in a reproducible unit
change in displacer weight.

The simplest level device of this type involves a displacer that is heavier than the process liquid
& is suspended from a spring scale. When liquid level is below the displacer, the scale shows full
weight of the displacer, as the level increases, the apparent weight of the displacer decreases;
thereby yielding a linear relationship between spring tension and level.

In level switches arrangement, as level raises the lower buoyancy, resulting from immersion of
the displacer, the downward force on the support spring and provides the small stem movement
required the switch action.

Valve Types
Although many different types of valves are used to control the flow of fluids, the basic valve
types can be divided into two general groups:

• Stop valves

• Check valves or Non Return Valve

52 | P a g e
Stop Valves

Stop valves are used to shut off or, in some cases, partially shut off the flow of fluid. Stop valves
are controlled by the movement of the valve stem. Stop valves can be divided into four general
categories:

• Globe Valves

• Gate Valves

• Butterfly Valves

• Ball valves.

• Plug valves and needle valves.

Feed

Oil +
water
+ gas
53 | P a g e
54 | P a g e
55 | P a g e
Glossary
Actuator A mechanical device for moving or controlling a mechanism or
system. It takes energy, usually transported by air, electric current,
or liquid, and converts that into some kind of motion
Adipocere A wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial
hydrolysis of fat in tissue, such as body fat in corpses. In its
formation, putrefaction is replaced by a permanent firm cast of
fatty tissues, internal organs and the face.
Anticline It’s a geological structure. It is a fold that is convex up and has its
oldest beds at its core
Back Pressure The pressure within a system caused by fluid friction or an
induced resistance to flow through the system. Most process
facilities require a minimum system pressure to operate
efficiently. The necessary back-pressure is often created and
controlled by a valve that is set to operate under the desired range
of conditions.
Baffles A separator in a shell and tube heat exchanger or a separator, used
to support the tubes and direct fluid flow
Blow Out Uncontrolled gush of gas or oil to the surface, often associated
with fire
Carbonaceous Chondrites A class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 7 known
groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the
most primitive known meteorites.
Casing Large diameter pipe that is assembled and inserted into a recently
drilled section of a borehole and typically held into place with
cement
Coalescing A process in which two phase domains of the same composition
come together and form a larger phase domain.
Condensates A low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as
gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many
natural gas fields. It condenses out of the raw gas if the
temperature is reduced to below the hydrocarbon dew point
temperature of the raw gas.
Custody Transfer The transfer of gas from the processing company to the consumer
company
Demisters A device often fitted to vapour liquid separator vessels to enhance
the removal of liquid droplets entrained in a vapour stream.
Drill collars larger diameter, heavier pipe that fits around the drill pipe and
places weight on the drill bit
Drill pipe Part of the Drill string (connected sections of about 30 ft / 10 m)
Drilling Mud mixture of water, clay, weighting material and chemicals, used to
lift rock cuttings from the drill bit to the surface
Export Transfer of oil from the storage tanks to the SPM or tankers
Flaring Flares are used to eliminate waste gas which is otherwise not
feasible to use or transport. They also act as safety systems for
non-waste gas
Gas Blow-By Gas exit via the oil output causing high pressure downstream due
to low level of oil.
Kerogen A mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion
of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks.
Lean Glycol In a glycol dehydrator, glycol that has been boiled and no longer
contains any water. When the glycol is lean, it can be pumped
back to the absorber for reuse.

Manifold A pipe fitting with several lateral outlets for connecting flow lines
from one or more wells. This connection directs flow to heater-
treaters, separators or other devices.
Oil Shale An organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains
significant amounts of kerogen (a solid mixture of organic
chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be
extracted.
Pig Mechanical device that is used to carry out a pre-determined task
at critical points or along the full length of a pipeline (cleaning,
testing).
Plankton Any drifting organisms (animals, plants, archaea, or bacteria) that
inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water.
It includes organisms covering a wide range of sizes, including
large organisms such as jellyfish.
Reservoir A subsurface body of rock having sufficient porosity and
permeability to store and transmit fluids. Sedimentary rocks are
the most common reservoir rocks because they have more
porosity than most igneous and metamorphic rocks and form
under temperature conditions at which hydrocarbons can be
preserved. A reservoir is a critical component of a complete
petroleum system.
Rich Glycol In a glycol dehydrator, glycol that contains water released by wet
gas while percolating upward in the absorber.
Rig The machine used to drill a wellbore.
Skimmer Pieces of equipment that remove oil floating on the surface of a
fluid.
Slug A small volume of fluid, often of a higher density than the main
body of fluid, within the circulating or production-fluid system
that influences the flow or production characteristics of the well.
Stratigraphy The study of the history, composition, relative ages and
distribution of strata, and the interpretation of strata to elucidate
Earth history.
Tubing a small-diameter pipe run into the hole as a conduit for oil and gas
to flow up the well
Vortex A spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid.

60 | P a g e
List of Abbreviations
BBL Barrel

BDV Blow Down Valve

BTL Bottom Tangent Line

DWT Dead Weight

ETP Effluent Treatment Plant

FCV Flow Control Valve

FT Flow Transmitter

HP High pressure

LC Level Controller

LCV Level Control Valve

LI Level Indicator

LP Low Pressure

MEG Mono Ethylene Glycol

MP Medium Pressure

NGL Natural Gas Liquid

PCV Pressure Control Valve

PIC Pressure Indicate

PSV Pressure Safety Valve

SCF Standard Cubic Feet

SCM Standard Cubic Metre

SDV Shut Down Valve

SPM Single Point Mooring

ULCC Ultra Large Crude Carrier

VFD Variable Frequency Drive

61 | P a g e
Bibliography
1. Karassik, Igor J., et al. Pump Handbook. s.l. : McGRAW-HILL.

2. Perry and Green. Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook. s.l. : McGRAW-HILL.

3. Pump Handbook (Pumps and Systems). 1999.

4. Cheremisinoff, , Nicholas P. Handbook of Chemical Processing Equipment. s.l. : Butterworth-

Heinemann, 2000.

5. Chaurette, Jacques; Fluide Design Inc. Tutorial Centrifugal Pump Systems. 2005.

6. NATCOGROUP. Horizontal Longitudinal Flow Separator (HLF). July 2002.

7. A.W. Chesterton Company. Pump Principles Manual Global Training and Development Program.

8. Petroleum Education: From the Ground Up the World of Oil. Paleontological Research Institution Web
Site. [Online] [Link]

9. Freudenrich, Craig. How Oil Drilling Works. How Stuff Works Web site. [Online]
[Link]

10. The Need Project. Petroleum. Elementary Energy Infobook. pp. 20-21.

11. Environmental Management in Oil and Gas exploration and Production. s.l. : E & P Forum/ UNEP,
1997.

12. Devold, Håvard; ABB ATPA Oil and Gas. OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION HANDBOOK. 2006.

13. [Link]. Produced Water Handling Systems Presentation.

14. Natarajan, S. CSU Operation Presentation.

15. Yeluripati, Phani Venkata Surendra. A Short Study On Produced Water Re-Injection.

16. Floating Roof Design. Sand Burn Roof Inc:Environment and Invest protection.

17. Prakash. Gas Lift Presentation.

18. Training Report on Ravva Onshore Terminal. Kumar, Samit.

19. Ramakrishna, [Link] study on the Crude Stabilisation Unit Ravva Oilfield.

20. Nikhar, Hemant G. Flow Assurance and Multiphase Pumping.

21. QHSE. DUPONT Presentaion.

22. Schlumberger. Oilfield Glossary. [Online]

62 | P a g e