Oil production plant

An oil production plant is a facility which processes production fluids from oil wells in order to separate out key components and prepare them for export. Typical oil well production fluids are a mixture of oil, gas and produced water. An oil production plant is distinct from an oil depot, which does not have processing facilities. Oil production plant may be associated with onshore or offshore oil fields. Many permanent offshore installations have full oil production facilities. Smaller platforms and subsea wells export production fluids to the nearest production facility, which may be on a nearby offshore processing installation or an onshore terminal. The produced oil may sometimes be stabilised (a form of distillation) which reduces vapour pressure and sweetens "sour" crude oil by removing hydrogen sulphide, thereby making the crude oil suitable for storage and transport. offshore installations deliver oil and gas to onshore terminals which may further process the fluids prior to sale or delivery to oil refineries. The configuration of onshore oil production facilities depends on the size of the oil field. For simple fields comprising a single well or a few wells, an oil storage tank may be sufficient. The tank is emptied periodically by road tanker and transferred to an oil refinery. For larger production rates a rail tanker transfer facility may be appropriate. For larger fields a full three-phase processing facility is required. Three-phase separators separate the well fluids into its three constituent phases: oil, gas and produced water. Oil may be transferred by road or rail tanker or by pipeline to an oil refinery. Gas may be used on the site to run gas engines to produce electricity or can be piped to local users. Excess gas is burned in a ground flare. Produced water may be re-injected into the reservoir. See for example: Wytch Farm There is a wide variety of options for the processing of produced oil.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (6)

Downstream (petroleum industry)

The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major sectors: upstream, midstream, and downstream. The downstream sector is the refining of petroleum crude oil and the processing and purifying of raw natural gas, as well as the marketing and distribution of products derived from crude oil and natural gas. The downstream sector reaches consumers through products such as gasoline or petrol, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel oil, heating oil, fuel oils, lubricants, waxes, asphalt, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as well as naphtha and hundreds of petrochemicals.

Oil production plant

Midstream

The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, barge, oil tanker or truck), storage, and wholesale marketing of crude or refined petroleum products. Pipelines and other transport systems can be used to move crude oil from production sites to refineries and deliver the various refined products to downstream distributors.