Post on 07-Aug-2018
Tracerco offer world leading TRACERCO Diagnostics™ technologies to ensure your oil and gas separation system runs at maximum efficiency.
The specialist services are used on-stream to monitor performance within the separation system giving an accurate diagnosis of a
number of operational problems and ensuring optimal usage of effect chemicals.
A TRACERCO Diagnostics™ Separator study allows many production parameters to be measured. Examples include:
• Detection of mist or droplet carry over into the gas phase causing downstream mechanical problems.
• Measurement of the presence of emulsion or fluid channelling resulting in inadequate oil dehydration.
• Tests to establish the most appropriate type and quantity of anti-foaming or de-emulsifier chemical added to the system.
• Detection of solids build up leading to a reduced settle time.
In high throughput production systems even a small uncertainty in monitoring any one of the above operational aspects will result in
reduced productivity.
Please call us today to discuss how we can assist in your production operations. We can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days
a week to provide timely, effective solutions to your problems.
TRACERCO Diagnostics™ in Oil and Gas Separation
Internals integrity Carry over measurement
Oil, water and gas residence times andvessel distribution flow
Emulsion band detec-tion
Solids build-up assessment
JM_1400 Separator Studies Datasheet 22/7/09 12:29 Page 1
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XM0001/0/E
Tracerco is a trade name of Tracerco Limited.
40-42 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EE
Company No.4496566
Tracerco Limited is a subsidiary of Johnson Matthey PLC.
TRACERCO and TRACERCO Diagnostics are trademarks
of the Johnson Matthey Group of companies.
Teamwork, and some high tech detective work have combined
to enable a BP platform to increase its oil output substantially.
A central production troubleshooting team were asked to help
solve the problem of an under performing separator. With oil
production off plateau, there was increased water production
but the separators were unable to dehydrate the oil to the
required standard for export through the pipeline.
The bottleneck resulted in the platform missing production
targets. Chemicals were used to try to improve oil-water
separation but with limited success. The production
troubleshooting team analysed the chemicals to look for clues
but concluded that the answer to the problem lay elsewhere.
One of the BP engineers had previously used a TRACERCO
Diagnostics™ Separator study. He called us to carry out
scanning as well as tracer injections to establish interface and
flow properties through the system. “I had a suspicion about
what the problem might be” said the engineer, “but realized
these tests would enable us to fully understand what was
actually happening within the separator”. The results showed
that the residence time of the liquids in the separator was just
60 seconds instead of the usual three to four minutes.
“Effectively the vessel was short circuiting”, said the engineer.
The problem was traced back to a decision to remove baffle
plates in the separator to cope with the presence of asphaltenes
in the oil. A recommendation to re-insert a baffle in the lower
part of the separator was carried out.
After modifications, output was raised significantly, not only
to the target level but some 20% above. “Overall, the whole
exercise, from the first request to the carrying out of the
modifications was very rapid” said the engineer who praised
Tracerco for the speed and safe manner with which it carried
out the work. “A lot of credit for the fact that we were able to
get the job done so quickly should go to the guys from Tracerco.
They began preparation work even before the deal was signed.”
Teamwork uncorks bottleneck at BP facility
1650 30 60 90 120 150Time (minutes)
Radi
atio
n in
tens
ity
200
150
100
50
0
inlet oil water
15 45 75 105 135
10.5 21.5 2.50Distance below top of separator (m)
Radi
atio
n in
tens
ity (t
hous
ands
)
100
50
20
10
5
2
1
0.5
0.2
0.1
no antifoam4ppm antifoam 1ppm antifoam
Oil residence time measurement
Oil-gas interface scan
www.tracerco.com tracerco�tracerco.com
JM_1400 Separator Studies Datasheet 22/7/09 12:29 Page 2