The problems associated with oil production are assuming unprecedented proportion and complexity. As a field matures, with high water cut from wells, water breakthrough from water flood operations or other artificial pressure maintenance programs, water production and consequently, the produced fluid water cut and gas-oil ratio would be changing. As these fluids flow from the reservoir to surface facilities, the fluid is subjected to agitation and changes in temperature and pressure, which result in the precipitation of originally soluble substances in the crude to form emulsions, scales, hydrates, etc along the flowline. Although, the water content in the crude oil is reduced in the separators, a considerable amount enough to cause havoc is left behind in the crude and this could cause high transportation cost, as valuable transportation capacities will be occupied by valueless water. In many other instances, the separator fluid loading may exceed the original design capacity of the vessel resulting in poor oil and water effluent standards. This paper develops a procedure that describes the impact of crude oil emulsion on the efficiency of horizontal separators. The procedure can be used to monitor and optimize the operating conditions of horizontal separators to achieve good effluent qualities, thus providing a diagnostic tool to identify areas in the separation train that may be experiencing problems.

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