Paper: Fundamentals of Oil Production Processing

Crude oil as typically produced from petroleum bearing formations consists not only of oil or liquid hydrocarbons but associated with it will be hydrocarbon gas, salt water, and possibly some solids. The amount of produced water may vary from small natural occurring amounts to large amounts where water has been injected in secondary recovery operations. In some of the newer tertiary recovery systems carbon dioxide is injected into the formations to stimulate production, and therefore, some of it is returned with the oil production. It too must be processed with the crude oil stream. There are several items of production equipment that are used in various combinations to make what is termed the "production facility" or "production battery." The term "tank battery" is normally associated with the group of oil production tanks that are connected in parallel to receive the oil and/or water production from the producing wells. The term "production battery" or "production facility" is used to include not only the tank battery but the other pieces of equipment associated with it to process, treat, and separate the liquid and gas streams. First, this paper will discuss individually the various pieces of equipment that are used in oil production processing. Interconnection and system design using the various pieces of equipment will then be illustrated.