Offshore platforms are typically remote, space and weight are limited, and the costs of maintenance and lost production are high. As distances between satellite platforms and central facilities increase, and deep water tiebacks become longer, boosting pressure and avoiding the cost of multiple submarine pipelines are also critical. Efficient and reliable Bornemann multiphase pumps can help meet these special challenges.
Key offshore oil and gas production facilities include central processing platforms (CPP) and satellite wellhead platforms (WHP), which usually are unmanned and located up to 100 km from the CPP.
In deep water, smaller discoveries may be developed with subsea completions and gathering stations that are tied back to a central platform.
As distances increase, back pressure in the submarine pipeline to the CPP can be high. Processing equipment on the platform adds more back pressure at the wellhead, lowering production.
Multiphase pumps can eliminate back pressure and increase production by efficiently transporting all three phases of a typical well stream – oil, water, and gas – without prior separation.
Application Characteristics
A well stream will flow naturally to a platform as long as the wellhead pressure is higher than the pipeline pressure losses and the required inlet pressure to the 1st stage processing unit.
As wells mature, reservoir and wellhead pressures decline. In gas fields, liquid production will increase over a well’s life and gas production will decrease. In oil wells, the opposite may occur, resulting in a well stream with an increasing gas volume fraction.
Multiphase pumps provide an efficient and reliable way to maintain the performance of declining fields by:
- Upgrading low pressure streams to system pressure;
- Reducing well head pressure to increase production;
- Boosting untreated well streams without the need for separation.