Paper: Liquid Hydrocarbon Recovery At Wellhead Separators

Over the years, considerable work has been done in evaluating wellhead equipment options available to the producer which will optimize the recovery of hydrocarbon liquids from Gas-Distillate wells. The value of these have been such that reasonable payouts of the liquid recovery facilities have been generally attributed to the various types of wellhead processing schemes. As these liquids become more valuable, some options which require additional capital investment may now present satisfactory amortization which a few years ago would not have. This paper deals with information regarding the relative merit of various processing options and estimates of the amount of increased liquid recovery attributable to such options. No attempt to present actual payouts will be made herein since there are always variables in such determinations which are beyond the scope of this paper however, incremental increases in recovered liquids are illustrated which will assist the producer in making economic decisions.