Page 232 - Petroleum and Gas Field Processing

distant pipelines. Figure 8 presents a block diagram for the different
functions of piping in an oil field.
As far as the design of a gathering system in an oil field is concerned,
four different schemes are presented:
1. Individual (gathering) flow lines through which oil wells are
connected to a central GOSP.
2. Trunklines and short flow lines. Well effluents, in this scheme, are
directed into a large trunkline via short flow lines. Crude oil is
directed to the GOSP by a trunkline.
3. Trunkline and branckes, where major trunklines are 30–50 miles
long and 24–30 in. in diameter, gather crude oil from branch
trunklines, which, in turn, collect oil from short flow lines
connected to the wells. The branch trunklines are smaller in
diameter than the main trunklines (16–20 in.) and much shorter.
4. Wellhead separation, in which case the oil exiting different wells is
delivered to the GOSP through very short gathering lines. The
separated crude oil is then transferred from GOSP using
trunklines.
The function of the four schemes described are diagrammatically
sketched in Figure 9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abdel-Aal, H. K., Surface Petroleum Operations, Saudi Publishing & Distributing
House, Jeddah, 1998.
Abdel-Aal, H. K., Bakr, A., and Al-Sahlawi, M. A. (eds.), Petroleum Economics &
Engineering, 2nd ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1992.
Abdel-Aal, H. K. and R. Schmelzlee, Petroleum Economics and Engineering, An
Introduction, Marcel Dekker, Inc, NY, 1976.
Chilingar, G. V., and Carrol M. Beeson, ‘‘Surface Operations in Petroleum
Production,’’ Elsevier Publishing Inc., 1969.
Perry, R. H. and Green, D., Perry’s Chemical Engineer’s Handbook, 50th ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 1984.
Yocum, B. T., Proceedings of the Second AIME Regional Technical Symposium,
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, March 1968.

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