Abstract
Condensate production is an essential aspect for typical offshore field development and facility optimization. This work intends to analyze the primary impact factors that relate with condensate optimization and how they are controlled using digital technology, resulting in more effective hydrocarbon monetization, reliable operation, and better outcomes. The project focuses on heat exchanger design and optimization, Reid vapor pressure (RVP) prediction and optimization, middle chain hydrocarbon allocation, and digital tools for operation and troubleshooting.
Process simulation runs have been completed and the results are compared with anticipated operating windows. The investigation reveals some areas of improvement: 1) heat exchangers design improvement to help with frequent fouling, 2) more reliable data model to supplement RVP online analyzer data, 3) better optimization of intermediate chain hydrocarbon (C4 – C5), and 4) the implementation of real time optimization tools. Several alternatives were investigated in depth for each difficulty, and digital tools are developed to overcome these problems. These include data science model deployment, heat exchanger performance monitoring, and real-time optimization dashboards.
It is anticipated that the solution provides offshore operation with monetary benefits and ease of operation when utilizing the tool. These include 1) heat exchanger redesign from parallel to series operation to reduce fouling effects, 2) fancy tube installation on tube bundle to improve its efficiency, 3) dashboard to track heat exchanger performance, monitor it in real-time, and forecast the next cleaning cycle, 4) data science model evaluation and deployment for the RVP model, 5) an alert mechanism if the model's accuracy is unacceptable and requires retraining, 6) a dashboard to monitor the allocation of middle-chain hydrocarbons, and 7) a central dashboard covering all key impacts to advise operation engineers on how to best capture the hydrocarbon values with condensate production. After implementation, numerous benefits are observed. These include increased operational efficiency, enhanced RVP prediction and control, reduced burden from manual investigation, and increased condensate yield as a result of optimization efforts.
Condensate optimization issues have a long history in offshore operations, but the affecting factors are generally unknown or have not been thoroughly investigated. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of digital tools for troubleshooting and optimization. The expanding demand for empowered digital tools, as well as the offshore operation team's positive experience with the technology, demonstrate the practicality, value, and potential of modern digital tools for continuous monitoring of platform assets and processes.
