Page 307 - Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Second Edition

294 Facilities

Beam pumping and ESPs require a source of power. On land it may be
convenient to tap into the local electricity network, or in the case of the beam
pump to use a diesel powered engine. Offshore (ESP only) provision for power
generation must be made to drive downhole electric pumps.

11.2.2. Land-based production facilities

We have so far discussed process design and processing equipment rather than the
layout of 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) and also by the surface environment.
However, regardless of the surface location, a number of issues will always have to
be addressed. These include

how to gather well fluids
how and where to treat produced fluids
how to evacuate or store products.
Providing the land surface 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
locations, 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 cases
constraints will be placed 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 close as possible to the surface location of
the reservoir.
Figure 11.25 shows a typical arrangement of land-based facilities in a situation
where there are some constraints on the location of wellsites and processing plant.

well paths

reservoir

Figure 11.25 Impact of surface constraints on drilling.