Question

What happens to the produced fluids from the wells, specifically the oil, gas and water?

Answer 1

produced fluid from the well undergoes Refining, Transportation, and Distribution sector.

The general schematic diagram of this process is shown below.

step: 1 separation of produced oil and gas

The fluid that comes out of a typical oil well mainly contains a mixture of crude oil and natural gas. it is often mixed with water, non-hydrocarbon gases and other impurities like oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, halide, and some trace metals. The volume of crude oil and natural gas is different from the reservoir conditions and surface conditions.

separation of this crude oil is very important because it contains a lot of problems. Presence of sulfur produces a bad smell, oxygen, and other trace metals cause corrosion to vessels. The first step in processing this fluid is to route it to send the fluid to surface handling facilities, where carefully designed vessels are used to separate the oil, water, and gas into individual streams. The water is pumped back into the reservoir or otherwise used for various commercial and domestic purposes.

step: 2 gas handling and processing

dry or lean gas is compressed or sent directly to its point of sale through high-pressure pipelines. the other way is that it may be turned into liquefied natural gas (LNG) by cooling and compressing it to temperatures as low as -170ºC. LNG occupies only about 1/620 of the volume of dry gas so it makes it compatible to be transported to distant markets in specially designed ships.

If the gas has substantial amounts of ethane or heavier hydrocarbons, post-treatment can be done and might be to send it to a gas processing plant. There, it may be cooled to around -101ºC, causing these hydrocarbons to condense to NGL (natural gas liquids). The NGL is then sold to a refinery or petrochemical plant.

it is economical to separate NGL further into its constituent hydrocarbons. This process is known as fractionation. it takes place in a series of columns, where the NGL is sequentially heated to higher temperatures, causing the individual hydrocarbons-ethane first, then propane, then butanes-to boil off and then condense. Propane, butanes and their mixtures are referred to as liquefied petroleum gases (LPG).This leaves a residual, Natural Gasoline, which can be stored at atmospheric conditions.

step: 3 crude oil refining

Crude oil refining is used in petroleum and oil refineries to convert crude oil into its useful products such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline or petrol, kerosene, automotive jet fuel, aviation turbine fuel, diesel oil, gas oil, petrolatum and fuel oils.

step: 4 petrochemical production

Natural gas, natural gas liquids (including LPG) and the various refinery cuts may also be used as feedstock for manufacturing petrochemicals. For example, methane can be used to make ammonia for fertilizer, and ethane can be used to make ethylene, which is used in the production of many polymer products.

step: 5 transportation

Oil and gas are transported to processing facilities via different mediums, and from there to market, and end users, by pipeline, trucks, tanker/barge, and rails. Pipelines are the most economical transportation method. these are used for long distance and suitable for transporting fluid as well as gas and are most suited to movement across continents.Tankers and barges are also employed for long-distance, often international transport. Rail and truck can also be used for longer distances but are most cost-effective for shorter routes.

step: 6 marketing and distribution

Marketing is the wholesale and used for distribution of refined and petroleum products to various commercial and domestic sectors. and retail distribution of the refined product can be done to business and government. the distribution of products from various industries to our homes takes place in the form of LPG, CNG and other products.