Land based production facilities

In Section 10.0, we have discussed process design and processing equipment rather than the layout oi production facilities. Once a process scheme has been defined, the fashion in which equipment and plant is located is determined partly by transportation considerations (e.g. pipeline specifications) but also by the surface environment. 

However, regardless of the surface location, a number of issues will always have to be addressed. These inolude  

Providing the land surfaoe above a reservoir is relatively flat, it is generally cheaper to drill and maintain a vertical well than to access a reservoir from a location that requires a deviated borehole. In unpopulated areas such as desert or jungle looations It is common to find that the pattern of wellheads at surface closely reflects the pattern In which wells penetrate the reservoir. However, in many eases constraints will be planed on drill site availability as a result of housing, environmental concerns or topography. In such conditions wells may be drilled in clusters from one or a number of sites as elose as possible to the surface location of the reservoir. 

The diagram below shows a typleal arrangement of land based facilities in a situation where there are some eonstraints on the location of wellsites and processing plant. 

The first function of a wellsite is to accommodate drilling operations. However, a wellsite must be designed to allow access for future operations and maintenance activity, and in many cases provide containment in the event of accidental emission. Production from a single wellhead or wellhead cluster is routed by pipeline to a gathering station, often without any treatment. In such a case the pipeline effectively becomes an extension of the production tubing. If a well is producing naturally or with assistance from a down 

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In this section we describe hydrocarbon processing in preparation for evacuation, either from a production platform or land based facilities. In simple terms this means splitting the hydrocarbon well stream into liquid and vapour phases and treating each phase so... 

In land-based mammals of India most of the works were carried out in the animals which are normally used as food by humans. For example Seth and Kaphalia (1983) found low levels of DDTs and high levels of HCHs in the slaughter house samples. Another Indian study (Nigam et al., 1998) found 10-33 pg kg-1 DDT and 10-295 pg kg-1 HCH in food animals. Some of these have been reviewed by the Global Environmental Facility under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP Chemicals, 2002). There are many other data available on the mammalian food animals and their products from India and we will give a brief account under Section 9.7 of this chapter. 

The committee analyzed several implications relative to domestic resource use. For biomass production, it examined the amount of land that would be required to grow the crops used as feedstocks. For coal-based hydrogen production, it examined the amount of coal that would be used over time. For technologies involving sequestration, it examined the amount of C02 that would be sequestered on a year-by-year basis and the cumulative quantity sequestered. The committee did not try to quantify several other resource use impacts it did not examine the amount of land that would be required for wind farms, production facilities, or distribution infrastructure it did not examine the impacts on water use for steam reforming processes or for biomass production it did not attempt to examine any labor force issues nor did it examine the needs for metals or other materials for fuel cells, electrolyzers, or production facilities, or the number of pipelines, or other infrastructure. 

All estimates (mid-1995 US ) are based on a grassroots production facility in a developing or transition economy country with an existir industrial infrastructure where the investment cost is assumed to be similar to that of a U.S. Gulf Coast location. Conveniait access to an ocean or inland port is assumed and the cost of land is not included. All raw materials are assumed to be purchased from international sources at the indicated free-on-board (f.o.b.) prices which, of course, can vary quite widely. The f.o.b. raw material prices were increased by US 30/tonne for solid materials and US 40/tonne for liquid materials to arrive at an assumed delivered cost at the plant site. Storage facilities (capacity) for dry and liquid raw materials are based on the receipt of raw materials in 3,000- to 5,000-tonne lots and an apj>rcKimate.2 rnonth inventory at the plant ate. 

In this clause, the focus will be on drilling, that is, upstream production including FPSO. Productivity from traditional land-based installations has declined, and naturally more attention is now given to other unconventional sources, such as heavy crude oil, oil sands, oil shale, and offshore operations. When compared with onshore, offshore operations are quite complex. The complexity of any production facility increases exponentially with production capacity in limited spaces, weight capacity, and harsh environments along with a few other factors. FPSO could be considered as an example of offshore facilities for broader coverage. FPSO could also be used for deep sea explorations ( 2000 m). A typical FPSO has three main parts ... 

Land purchases and many of the costs associated with facility development can be accomplished with long-term loans of 15 to 30 years. Equipment such as pumps and trucks are usually depreciated over a few years and are funded with shorter-term loans. Operating expenses for such items as feed, chemicals, fuel, utilities, salaries, taxes, and insurance may require periodic short-term loans to keep the business solvent. The projected income should be based on a realistic estimate of farmgate value of the product and an accurate assessment of anticipated production. Each business plan should project income and expenses projected over the term of all loans in order to demonstrate to the lending agency or venture capitalist that there is a high probability the investment will be repaid. 

Coastal utilities have been major consumers of products derived from imported crudes. East coast utility fuels have been based on Venezuelan and Middle East crudes while the West coast has obtained much of its fuel from Indonesia. There are a number of reasons why it would be difficult to convert these plants to coal firing. Auxiliary facilities such as storage areas, rail sidings, and unloading and conveying equipment are no longer in place to handle coal. It is even more significant that the land on which these facilities were located has been sold or used for other utility purposes. As a result, scrubbers could not be installed at these sites to allow for sulfur dioxide control. 

Though PAC is relatively non-toxic and environmentally benign, it is not biodegradable. This causes a disposal problem in waste water treatment facilities, where the PAC must be removed and land filled. The problem for it s disposal has been solved by Donlar Corporation, which has developed a method for the production of TPA (thermal polyaspartate), a biodegerable alternative to. PAC. The Donlar s synthesis consists of heating the aspartic acid followed by hydrolysing the formed succinimide polymer with aqueous base (Scheme 114). 

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