Industrial Pumps Blog

Crude oil transportation is a serious issue with oil fields located in remote locations, and as resources become harder to find, this will be an increasingly challenging factor in effective upstream operations. The distance and widely varied environments which require extensive design work for increasingly complex pipe networks. Monitoring and managing oil and gas pipeline networks requires sophisticated techniques and highly specialized expertise to ensure uptime and performance meet operational requirements and maintain company performance.

The single most important factor which has pushed to the fore of upstream operations and crude oil transportation issues is the consumption of energy.

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Oil fields that were ignored several years ago are now considered a viable proposition. Oil reserves are falling, but the need for oil is increasing, despite many attempts to try and move away from using it. Smaller oil fields are often located in extremely remote locations and once the oil has been discovered it needs to be transported many thousands miles. The only way get crude oil from remote place to the oil refinery is through oil pipes and to move the oil on its journey pumping systems have to be installed along the way.

The process of pumping crude oil between oil field and refinery is complex and consumes excessive amounts of energy and energy is highly expensive.

Cost margins have never been tighter, but the process of transporting crude oil is a major area of cost. It’s necessary for oil producers to look at efficiencies for transporting crude oil. Old pumping systems are inefficient: they use more energy and require substantial maintenance. Additionally, environmental controls in all areas are increasing fast and this is particularly the case for oil producers who are specifically targeted to reduce their carbon footprint.

Oil producers need to find ways of improving crude oil transportation, reduce costs, become more efficient and recognize their responsibility to the environment. This can be achieved in a number of ways and many oil producers have now partnered with companies that specifically analyze the pumping and transportation systems and produce solutions to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Improving efficiency generally means that the rate that crude oil is transported increases and results in higher production and less cost. The result is good for the environment and those invested in the oil industry.

It’s important that oil producers continuing to adopt technological changes both now and in the future.

Crude oil is likely to have traveled several thousand miles and undergone various processes and treatments before it is suitable for delivery to a customer. Oil fields are often in remote places and crude oil has to pass through highly complex pipeline networks on its journey. It can be transported by oil tankers by land and sea. All these methods consume substantial energy and increase costs considerably by the time the crude oil is refined.

There are several challenges facing the oil industry:

• Reducing the cost of energy consumption between oil field and oil-refinery
• Reducing the cost of overall maintenance and operating procedures
• Reducing the environmental impact.

These challenges have to be dealt with effectively with while ensuring that improvements are made to the process. Improvements have taken place, helped by increasing competition amongst oil producers, but cost reductions must take place and the industry needs to look at ways to streamline its operation an increase its efficiency.

One of the major cost areas is the crude oil pumping systems. They are essential for moving oil across land and under water, but many are outdated, inefficient and often fail. This results in it being an area that could vastly be improved therefore producing a reduction in energy consumption and associated costs.

If pumping systems are improved profitability increases. Efficient pumping systems use far less energy and this automatically makes the process more environmentally friendly. Additional benefits from using efficient pumping systems include reduced breakdowns and fewer maintenance requirements resulting in more oil getting from the oil fields to the oil-refineries.

Upgrading highly expensive pumping systems involves substantial initial investment, but the future returns to oil producers will more than pay-back the investment. Building new pumping systems takes time and cannot be achieved overnight. Forethought and planning are required then ultimately oil transportation costs can fall.

Multiphase or tri-phase pumping solutions are commonly found in oil and gas fields and their application is increasing as a direct consequence of increases in drilling operations.  Multiphase pumping solutions allow for simplification of the upstream drilling operation and also provide for smaller and less costly pumping installations.

Typically, a multiphase solution will deal with all of the fluid stream characteristics using an integrated piece of machinery instead of using different, discrete equipment units.  It is usual to find twin-multiphase units in operation rather than a single, larger installation and it is not uncommon to find three-multiphase units installed in series.

Multiphase solutions also find application in midstream and upstream operations, both onshore and offshore and may be serve single or multiple wellheads.

Multiphase solutions are used to transfer crude oil and gas from the wellhead to the downstream facilities, either for further processing or in the storage farm.  The multiphase solution is capable of managing anything from 100% gas through to 100% fluid and intermediate mixtures, which may also incidentally contain abrasive detritus, such as sand from the operation as well as managing varying flow and pressure rates.  However, a major environmental attraction is that multiphase solutions substantially reduce the emission of pollutants, particularly greenhouse gases by reducing the requirement for tank venting and flaring of excess gases.

There are five main categories of multiphase pumps:

• Twin Screw – Positive Displacement (PD) – comprises twin, intermeshed screws which find common pumping application for high-gas content product or where there are fluctuating input rates;
• Helio-Axial Pumps – Centrifugal – sometimes referred to as the Poseidon Pump, this uses one rotodynamic pump operating along a single shaft;
• Progressive Cavity – PD – used in shallow or surface wells where fluids may have a high solid content (typically sand or earth);
• Buffer Tank – this is usually found upstream and eradicates variable input flow rates and also reduces the level of solid detritus in the fluid stream; and
• Electric Submersible – Centrifugal – typically used when the liquids are being pumped and are used to provide artificial lift.

Crude oil is a heavy, viscous liquid which is required to be transported from some of the most extreme and harshest environments on the planet.  Not only must crude oil transfer pumps and components be reliable and capable of withstanding environmental considerations, but the application of technology must also be appropriate to ensure smooth functioning of the pumping solution.

To achieve effective and safe operation, both the industrial pump supplier and oil operator must work closely together.

Industrial pump suppliers must be capable of delivering a broad range of pumping solutions backed by in-depth application experience.  Oil operations typically tend to be conducted in remote locations, and this aspect of oil exploration and acquisition is only likely to continue to intensify.  Oil operation isolation demands that all aspects of the technology used are robust and capable of high-availability and short maintenance cycles in order to minimize plant downtime and costs.

Oil operators are increasingly turning to suppliers who can offer a collaborative approach beyond simply delivering lower TCO’s or high reliability.  Transfer of expert and specialist knowledge from the supplier to the operator’s team is increasingly viewed as essential in order to maximize in-house utility of resources (which avoids the need to engage external, highly paid consultants and specialist third-parties for maintenance operations).  In addition, by pursuing a collaborative approach to delivering robust pumping solutions, a well of experience is built up within the client operator for use in future projects which in turn reduces overall company costs even further.

There are discrete project benefits from engaging in a collaborative approach for both partners; not oil fields are equal, and the product’s physical properties can vary significantly from field to field.  By working together on the unique crude oil product from the field in question, a unique optimal solution is more likely to be identified and implemented.  This can, and does result in significant increases in overall profitability and productivity of the field.

The last Presidential election encompassed the debate over whether to commence offshore drilling operations in our territorial waters in order to reduce our reliance on overseas oil producers.  Whatever the eco-political debate on drilling off our shores, it is a reality that the Gulf of Mexico presents significant engineering challenges and is a prime oil production region for the United States and the world.

The Gulf has seen a rapid expansion in the number of drilling platforms which is set to continue given the increased efforts at uncovering hidden reserves.  The spate of hurricanes over the last few years did create a block on oil and gas production, however this has been reversed and production now exceeds the 2006 production numbers (470 million barrels of oil).

The principal challenge facing operators is the effective operation of deeper wells in the shallow water zone, typically operated by chemical injection.  Shallow water projects are those which take place within 1,000 feet of water while deep-water projects are in excess of this.  Gas drilling operations further split shallow water operations using the TVD (true vertical depth) of the production field and the water depth.

The main problem is the formation of hydrates which will result in costly platform shutdowns.  The increased pressure due to deeper wells, low sea temperatures and extremely lengthy tie-backs all mitigate in favor of extensive hydrate formation.

Another issue is the environmental implications of drilling operations in such as sensitive area.  Oil and gas production utilize equipment and raw materials which will result in severe environmental impact should there be an accidental discharge.  Handling harsh and toxic raw materials requires robust and reliable storage and pumping solutions together with secure redundancy and fail-safe systems.

Finally, there is the harsh environment posed by the salt water sea.  This is highly corrosive, however there is another issue posed by the salt-water environment.  Methanol use produces very hard, abrasive rust particles which will cause severe damage to pumping mechanisms.  Countering this are the pumping systems transferring the range of chemicals to counteract the impact of the environment upon the drilling infrastructure.

Transporting millions of barrels of oil thousands of miles, from remote oil fields to refining centers, is a highly energy intensive process.  From oil well to the end-refinery, the oil passes along a complex pipeline and through various processing plants and tank farms as the various separation and treatment centers until it is ultimately a finished product ready for transport to the customer.

This is a very costly process in terms of energy consumption.

The challenge is four-fold – how to reduce energy consumption costs; how to maintain and improve operation uptime; how to reduce other operating costs e.g. maintenance; and how to reduce the associated carbon footprint.

Ten years ago, the challenge was simply how to keep the process running with minimal disruption – energy costs had little if any impact, but times have changed dramatically.

In today’s operating environments, energy is very expensive.  Increased competitive pressures mean companies have to seek out further cost reductions by seeking greater efficiencies elsewhere in the operation.

The driving center of the oil pipeline network is the pumping system used to move oil across vast distances and in the harshest environments on the planet, on land and under the sea.  It is the pumping systems which are the major consumers of energy and should be the focus of cost reduction measures.

By ensuring constituent pumping systems are energy efficient, significant cost reductions can be achieved in terms of energy usage.  This helps increase profitability and carbon footprint reduction to meet environmental targets, now and in the future.  Additionally, by reducing the time-to-failure rates and increasing the length of the maintenance cycle, operators can improve pipeline network uptime and create further significant operating cost reductions.

Globally, oil production trends have mitigated towards increasing pipeline diameters and greater oil volume throughput from both onshore and offshore oil fields to downstream production facilities.  In part this trend is fuelled by a need to reduce the carbon footprint of the producer but also to reduce the cost of production using economies of scale, reduced maintenance and replacement cycles and increasing efficiency and reliability.

In addition, much of the global transportation infrastructure is in the middle of a huge reorganization and refit, so many of the previously accepted standards are being revised in the light of modern and forecasted developments.

The largest three-screw crude oil pipeline pump is capable of being fitted into 24 inch diameter pipes and can pump 85,000 barrels of oil per day under 2,000 pounds per square inch.  The oil industry needs the capacity of these new generation pumps to meet the stringent constraints being imposed upon them by the environmental lobbyists and government agencies involved, but at the same time by shareholders who have experienced a severe battering in the economic situation prevailing at present.

Centrifugal pumps no longer can be relied upon to deliver the reduced carbon footprint or the financial benefits.  It is not simply these two key factors which have stimulated the development of positive displacement pump technology; new generation pumps are capable of being retrofitted to old-style infrastructure which provides even greater scope for cost savings and carbon reduction.

Crude oil pipeline designs are increasingly calling for positive vane displacement pumps because of the cost savings and the 30 year track record of this pump type in some of the most extreme and harshest environments encountered in the world.  Screw pump operation also delivers high volume/high operating efficiency with increased maintenance and replacement cycles such that where fitted, the operator can experience up to 30% reduction in overall costs associated with the installation.

With dwindling oil reserves it has become economically feasible to tap oil fields which less than ten years ago would not have been commercially viable.  Crude oil production is now taking place in some of the most remote locations on the globe and under the harshest of conditions both on land and at sea.  Getting the crude out of the ground is a major challenge but the work is only beginning once it is brought to the surface – the raw product must then be transported over great distances via a complex network of pipeline, intermediate pumping stations, treated and refined into the various petroleum products our modern life depends upon.

This is a high energy process and energy is not cheap, especially in remote oil producing locations which are more the norm today.

Modern oil production must take account of cost with far tighter margins than the 1970’s when only reliability and high availability of the production operation were required.  Today, modern oil producers must ensure they are using energy efficient extraction and processing methods and are subject to the most stringent emissions and environmental controls that the industry has ever encountered in its history.  This economic and regulatory environment is only going to become harder for production companies with the imminent introduction of carbon control regimes on a global basis as well as targeting specific industries, the oil industry is at the top of that list!

Oil producers are relying more than ever on established and trusted partners to provide fluid handling systems that deliver real Total Savings of Ownership (TSO) and provide reliable solutions which increase production and investment returns while operating in the hardest environments, both physical and economic.  This demands a solution provider which is capable of delivering multiple fluid handling systems and ancillary support during installation and operation wherever the equipment is being used today.