Production ExPRESS™ rapid production response solutions quickly enabled production with a customized solution that kept the waxy oil at a constant 60 degC until it was ready for transport.
A major energy company in India encountered heavy paraffin-laden oil at a remote location more than 100 km from the nearest processing facility. The operator needed a way to create early cash flow while measuring the well’s potential production to determine whether building processing and export facilities was economically feasible. A common way to do this is to install an early production facility (EPF).
To ensure even faster deployment, the operator turned to SLB for its express EPF offering, a key part of the Production ExPRESS solutions portfolio. An express EPF is a fully mobile solution that lets operators start up production faster than a conventional EPF and can be trailer mounted and deployed rapidly for early cash flow while a dedicated facility is being built.
Besides the absence of infrastructure, one major issue was the paraffin content of the oil produced by the well. Because of its waxy content, the produced crude oil had to be heated and maintained at 60 degC until it could be transferred to a tanker truck to avoid wax buildup caused by low ambient temperature (below 7 degC).
An express EPF package designed specifically for the operator was used to process and treat the crude oil to the necessary standard prior to being pumped into a specialized tanker. The package was used to separate the well fluid into phases, sending the waxy crude oil for processing while the gas was flared.
Maintaining a proper temperature during the flow was crucial not only to keep a good separation but also to avoid plugging caused by wax deposition in the piping and storage tank. Because the express EPF package is built using standard well test equipment, an added benefit of the express EPF package is that the data acquired helps the operator assess the economics of building dedicated facilities to handle the production from each new set of wells.
The Production ExPRESS solutions package helped meet the operator's early cash flow objectives and deliver the required data for further decision making. The project was successfully completed after achieving an outstanding record of zero HSE incidents and zero NPT.
