The well testing vessel ``Crystal Sea:`` Cost effective alternative to flaring hydrocarbon into the atmosphere

Conference · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:100730

Ashwell, C ^[1]; Bringsli, S; Bullock, R; Taylor, R W ^[2]

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1. Brown and Root, London (United Kingdom)
2. Halliburton Oilfields Service Norway, Inc., Tanager (Norway)

One of the problems that surfaces during offshore well test operations, stimulations, and routine workovers has been the discharges that are made into the air and sea, and the possible formation of dioxins during the combustion phenomenon. Since these operations and tests have normally been performed by mobile drilling rigs that do not have storage capacity, oil and gas sequestered during performance of the procedures are burned off from the rig flarebooms. Another major problem during well testing has been the incapability of the flare to operate at high flow rates. Also, since the burning process slows down the pace of a test and does not allow the well to be tested under full flow, valuable information about the well that would otherwise have been available cannot be determined. In addition to the possible environmental dangers and losses of important data resulting from the decreased flow rates during testing, the flaring of hydrocarbons represents an economic loss. On oil rigs, the flaring process not only emits CO{sub 2} into the atmosphere but also burns off oil that could be sold or used. In light of the economic and regulatory needs, the need for development of a cost-effective, environmentally-safe alternative to flaring hydrocarbons was certainly indicated. This paper will discuss the well test vessel ``Crystal Sea,`` which offers an alternative to flaring that reduces the degree of pollutants discharged from oil rigs, and at the same time, salvages usable oil. The sale of the crude oil that would normally be lost during the flaring process often provides sufficient economic return to pay for the vessel. In addition, ``Crystal Sea`` is capable of receiving products at approximately twice the flow rate as the flare. This increased flow rate not only improves the accuracy of the technical information obtained from the well test but also reduces operational time, thus providing an additional economic advantage.

• OSTI ID: 100730
• Report Number(s): CONF-950116--; ISBN 0-7918-1291-X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
FLARING
MATERIALS RECOVERY
NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS WELLS
NORTH SEA
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION