Improvement of the Management System for the Maintenance of Onshore Installations - Essay Example

Literature Review In this project literature review deals with the of maintenance management system improvement onshore plants. The areasof potential improvement are identified and some improvement methods are proposed. The review of the proposed methods is done to find out the developments possible. Orientation & Identification of the Plant Facilities: According to author S. Kokal and A. Al-Ghamdi the onshore and offshore plants are required to be preserved for many years in the oceanic atmosphere. When the demand of the oil and gas has increased all over the world the companies increased the production in order to meet the need of the customers. To improve the production of oil companies has implemented new techniques and practices in their production process. In order to modify the onshore plant the companies introduced onshore gas-oil separation plant (GOSP). The GOSP is usually used for the production of light crude moreover for the thirty percentage of water cut. Its activity is that before the crude oil sends through the pipelines to any place or produced into commodities the crude oil is separated from the gas. This enables to increase the production of the crude oil in high quantity. One of the main benefits of this activity is that it permits the fields to maintain the production of crude oil for many years in constant manner. Crude oil, water and gas are produced by the onshore separation plant project. “The incoming oil and water can form an emulsion and may be difficult to separate. When emulsions are tight, they can create a number of operational challenges such as tripping of equipment in a GOSP, plant instability, increased demulsifier consumption, production of off-spec crude, and high pressure drops in flow lines” (Kokal, Al-Ghamdi & Aramco 2005). The emulsion is done to lessen the occurrence of decay and toxic during the process moreover for the transfer and storage of the crude oil. The crude which is placed in the wells in the offshore is transported to the onshore GOSP through the trunk lines. There consist of separator otherwise high pressure production trap (HPPT), intermediate pressure production traps (IPPT) and dehydrator train in the onshore GOSP. The dehydrated oil should contain 0.2 percentage of water and some amount of salt which is nearly around ten pounds per thousand containers. In water oil separator the alienated water is again processed and then through the disposal well it is inserted in to the tank. Normally the water from the water oil separator contains less than hundred ppm oil. This process increases the water cuts moreover this water cuts is greater than the capability of the GOSP. Translation of the two phase high pressure production trap into three phases can progress the effectiveness of the GOSP for the separation of oil and water. (Kokal, Al-Ghamdi & Aramco 2005). Maintenance management system: According to Prof O.P Gandhi the maintenance management system is used to maintain the equipments of any industry in a condition which helps it in performing its operations. It helps to improve the availability of a safe and cost effective production system. The management system will include a strategy for maintenance, observing the conditions, planning of jobs, controlling the equipments, recording of data etc. In a plant the performance of maintenance can be evaluated by assessing its consistency, maintainability and accessibility. The implementation of maintenance management system has been made easier with the help of computers and some softwares. According to Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan Mahmood, Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman, maintenance is the mixture of every managerial act and technological direction which is required during the production and maintenance of an item. In an organization maintenance is the main provider of prosperity and performance. Therefore maintenance management plays an important role in the success of a business. Efficient maintenance management results in progress of quality and quantity of products, less guide time and less process time moreover cost effective. Improvement of the maintenance management system in a petroleum plant industry helps high availability of production at reduced cost. The main reason for the low production in a petroleum plant industry is environment and machine failure. These failures may stoppage the overall activities in the industry. The maintenance system avoids the breakdown of the machine and other factors which affect the functional activities in the industry. (Gandhi n.d.). Methods have been used in some companies for improvements: The oil companies could use several methods to improve its maintenance management system which will help to improve is performance. The costs that are predicted for upgrading the systems in the future years should be controlled. The works should be planned in a way that will suit the plant operations. The safety of the plant operations should be enhanced. A cost effective method for improving the maintenance management system should be set up. Expert advice could be taken for the improvement of onshore plants. .According to M.S. Al-Blehed and G.M. Hamada, horizontal well technology is a good method for the oil industries. It has several applications in the oil fields such as improving the rate of production, increasing the effectiveness of water flooding program, reducing the development costs etc. (Kokal, Al-Ghamdi & Aramco 2005). According to the authors Adrian J Finn, Grant L Johnson and Terry R Tomlinson, mid-scale LNG plants could be applied for the onshore fields. The plants having capacity up to 1.5 million tons per annum would be achievable in the biggest gas turbine drivers present. Efficiencies of single expander cycle is to amend it. Further, pre-cooling of gas helps in reducing pre-cooling of the natural gas. The onshore plant can be made cost effective if the extra tool cost is balanced by the decrease in size and expenditure of the equipments. Another method that can be used other than precooling is to use two expanders at dissimilar temperature. The liquefaction of some gases like oxygen and nitrogen has been done by this method earlier. The power utilization of double expanded cycle is similar to single expander cycle. The difference is that the double expander cycle does not require a different system for refrigeration. Numerical tests will help to know about the properties if the fluid in the separator. The results produced after simulation could be applied in designing of the separator (Finn, Johnson & Tomlinson n.d.). According to some authors like Dominique R. Guerrilla, SPE, Ihsan Al-Taie and Vincent Pauchard, Research & Development projects helped to increase the expectations of the production services. It aims to provide new solutions to attend the real and expected issues that occur during the operation of the plant. The R&D centre developed a model for recognition of the need of business, the value that is created, competencies internally and the partners. The R&D program includes several projects. What were the advantages that are generated from those Improvements: According to Rajora, Abhishek in order to increase the oil recoveries from various tanks the horizontal well technology is utilized. It provides larger reserves of oil. Large amount of oil can be produced using lesser number of horizontal wells. So the cost for operation and finding is less. Therefore there is fewer requirements of locations, surface pipelines etc. When compared to vertical wells this well is more creative. Moreover the operation cost is less than that of vertical wells. As the horizontal well is combined with the EOR techniques it offers more effectiveness to increase the production rate. According to E. Ertugrul Karsak the R&D projects help the organizations to withstand the severe competition in the international market. It is a significant indicator of prospects of the organization. The R&D facilitates in the sustainable development of the business and its long lasting existence. What were the limitations for the methods used in those companies? According to the authors Joshi, S.D., Phillips Petroleum Co. There are some disadvantages of using the horizontal well technology. The Horizontal wells are not effective or operationalised during gin thick, tanks with numerous oil sectors and so on. Horizontal wells require the spending of more cost than the vertical wells that is the drilling price is more. It is difficult to drain the layers of well having multiple zones. Risks in the technology are well documented. There is a lot of risk involved in this technology. Only some of the horizontal wells are found to be successful in making profits. According to authors Crama, P, De Reyck, B, Degraeve, Z and Leus, Roel, one of the disadvantages of R&D projects is its technical uncertainty. This may cause the failure of the R&D projects. This may cause the wastage of resources and time. Why this method is used: According to M.S. Al-Blehed and G.M. Hamada the horizontal method is widely used in oil used industries because it increases the quantity of production, raise the efficiency of water flooding program, decrease the costs of production etc. So that the company does not require more cost to implement this technology and also helps to reduce the risk in their business.There is very little check on outgoings to ;promise thehe\ According to E. Ertugrul Karsak R&D projects are used because it plays an important role in the development of the business. It helps to withstand the competition in the global market. Recommendations to improve the maintenance management system: According to M.S. Al-Blehed and G.M. Hamada, improvement of the production of the onshore plant there needs some modification in their current production activities. To increase the quantity of production implementation of the latest techniques should be adopted. The modification process like translation of the phases of the separator facilitates to handle additional quantity of water. Implementation of the horizontal well increases the rate of production and reduces the cost required for the production process. The maintenance manager should apply cost effective methods while taking the strategies to improve the production and to maintain the efficiency of the machine. Provide training to the employees to handle new techniques for developing the maintenance system and to preserve infrastructure. Implement standard methods and tools to raise security and to avoid risk in the application of new techniques. Introduce computerised maintenance management system to promote the efficiency of planning and preparation policies of this petroleum plant industry. It helps in developing the performance in the field of production. (Kokal, Al-Ghamdi & Aramco 2005). Reference List Finn, J.A., Johnson, L.G., & Tomlinson, T.R., n.d. Offshore and mid- scale plants. [Online] Costain Oil, Gas & process Limited. pp. 1-22. Available at: http://www.costain-floating-lng.com/editorimages/downloads/GPA2000Atlanta.pdf [Accessed 1 March 2010]. Gandhi, O.P., n.d. Maintenance management. [Online] ITMMEC, IIT Delhi. Available at: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:Jm_3_see1QQJ:www.iitr.ac.in/outreach/web/CIRCIS/sps2007/Maintenance%2520Management.doc+According+to+Prof+O.P+Gandhi+the+maintenance+management+system+is+used+to+maintain+the+equipments+of+any+industry+in+a+condition&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in [Accessed 1 March 2010]. Kokal, S., Al-Ghamdi, A. & Aramco, S., 2005. Oil water separation experience from a large oil field. [Online] Society of Petroleum Engineers. Available at: http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/servlet/onepetropreview?id=SPE-93386-MS&soc=SPE [Accessed 16 February 2010]. Read More

A cost effective method for improving the maintenance management system should be set up. Expert advice could be taken for the improvement of onshore plants. .According to M.S. Al-Blehed and G.M. Hamada, horizontal well technology is a good method for the oil industries. It has several applications in the oil fields such as improving the rate of production, increasing the effectiveness of water flooding program, reducing the development costs etc. (Kokal, Al-Ghamdi & Aramco 2005). According to the authors Adrian J Finn, Grant L Johnson and Terry R Tomlinson, mid-scale LNG plants could be applied for the onshore fields.

The plants having capacity up to 1.5 million tons per annum would be achievable in the biggest gas turbine drivers present. Efficiencies of single expander cycle is to amend it. Further, pre-cooling of gas helps in reducing pre-cooling of the natural gas. The onshore plant can be made cost effective if the extra tool cost is balanced by the decrease in size and expenditure of the equipments. Another method that can be used other than precooling is to use two expanders at dissimilar temperature.

The liquefaction of some gases like oxygen and nitrogen has been done by this method earlier. The power utilization of double expanded cycle is similar to single expander cycle. The difference is that the double expander cycle does not require a different system for refrigeration. Numerical tests will help to know about the properties if the fluid in the separator. The results produced after simulation could be applied in designing of the separator (Finn, Johnson & Tomlinson n.d.). According to some authors like Dominique R.

Guerrilla, SPE, Ihsan Al-Taie and Vincent Pauchard, Research & Development projects helped to increase the expectations of the production services. It aims to provide new solutions to attend the real and expected issues that occur during the operation of the plant. The R&D centre developed a model for recognition of the need of business, the value that is created, competencies internally and the partners. The R&D program includes several projects. What were the advantages that are generated from those Improvements: According to Rajora, Abhishek in order to increase the oil recoveries from various tanks the horizontal well technology is utilized.

It provides larger reserves of oil. Large amount of oil can be produced using lesser number of horizontal wells. So the cost for operation and finding is less. Therefore there is fewer requirements of locations, surface pipelines etc. When compared to vertical wells this well is more creative. Moreover the operation cost is less than that of vertical wells. As the horizontal well is combined with the EOR techniques it offers more effectiveness to increase the production rate. According to E.

 Ertugrul Karsak the R&D projects help the organizations to withstand the severe competition in the international market. It is a significant indicator of prospects of the organization. The R&D facilitates in the sustainable development of the business and its long lasting existence. What were the limitations for the methods used in those companies? According to the authors Joshi, S.D., Phillips Petroleum Co. There are some disadvantages of using the horizontal well technology. The Horizontal wells are not effective or operationalised during gin thick, tanks with numerous oil sectors and so on.

Horizontal wells require the spending of more cost than the vertical wells that is the drilling price is more. It is difficult to drain the layers of well having multiple zones. Risks in the technology are well documented. There is a lot of risk involved in this technology. Only some of the horizontal wells are found to be successful in making profits. According to authors Crama, P, De Reyck, B, Degraeve, Z and Leus, Roel, one of the disadvantages of R&D projects is its technical uncertainty.

This may cause the failure of the R&D projects. This may cause the wastage of resources and time.

Read More