Gathering Center There were were originally 26 26 Gathering Centers Centers in KOC KOC operating oilfelds oilfelds prior to invasion o the country. The frst center ‘GC-! was co""issioned on #th $une% &'6 at (urgan Oilfeld and the last center ‘GC-26! on )epte"*er &+,% at the ata oilfeld. /resently twenty-one 021 )K has ' Gathering Centres in operation. The overall e3ective production capacity o the )K area ro" these ' GCs is around 6,, 4(O/5. The K area has three GC7s that handle a*out 68, 4(O/5. 9n the :est region% with the recent co""issioning co""issioning o GCs 2# ; 2+% the output capacity o this area has *uilt up to near '', 4(O/5 ro" the previous output o 6, 4(O/5. 4ost o the crude oil produced ro" *oth these areas o orth% :est ; )K%
it% or lectrical )u*"ersi*le /u"ps1 to assist the production.
Introduction? Kuwait Oil Co"pany "anages the production and e@port o oil and gas with the associated acilities acilities ro" "ore than twelve developed oil felds in the state o Kuwait. The oilfelds spread over the )tate and split o3 into our "ain parts o orth Aield% :est Aield% )outh and ast Aield that are locally ad"inistered at the site headuarters. Bppro@i"ate distance ro" Bh"adi? orth Aield is #, "iles 02 K"1% :est Aield is + "iles 06, K"1 and )outh ast Aield is 2 "iles 02, K"1. The Co"pany handles handles and "aintain "aintain a co"prehensive co"prehensive and ully integrated integrated co"ple@ o production and e@port acilities that *asically consist o the ollowing? Oil :ellheads Oil Alowlines Gathering Centres Gas (ooster )tations /ipeline Transit )yste"s :ater Treat"ent and 9nDection /lants The Co"pany also also handles Brtifcial Brtifcial >it operations and and :ater :ater 9nDection /lants which which *oth "aintain KOC7s oil wells productivity.
Oil Wellheads 4ost o the wellheads in the oilfelds are dual co"pleted with parallel strings. There are appro@i"ately fteen 081 di3erent types o wellhead structures 0E!"as-Trees1
installed in the oil felds with pressure ratings o 2,,,F to 8,,,F. 9n )K% "ost o the hoo-ups are rated at 2,,,F while typical hoo-ups in K have higher pressure rating o 8,,,F and those o :K oilfelds vary ro" ,,,F to 8,,,F. The 4arrat wells in all felds have pressure ratings o 8,,,F. 9n the recent past horiHontal test wells have also *een drilled in )K and K areas to increase productivity o lower producing reservoirs.
Oil Flowlines & Corridors Alowlines are "ulti-phase pipelines and trans"it the well production 0oil% gas and water1 to the Gathering Centres where the three phases are separated. The
Gathering Center Facilities Gathering Centres are operational and receive crude ro" various wellheads located in the producing oilfelds.The GCs sta*iliHe the crude *y "ulti-stage sta*iliHation process and separate gas and water ro" the crude to "eet its uality reuired or downstrea" operations. The wet crude is processed through "ulti-electro desalting acilities. 4aDor "echanical euip"ent that handle all these processing activities in a Gathering Centre include? Gas Tur*ines% /u"ps% Co"pressors% Generators% large ; s"all volu"e Tans and various types o Oil% :ater ; Gas =essels. B Gathering Center 0GC1 is an Oil /roduction acility having the ollowing unctions? )erves as a central collection 0Gathering1 location o the Crude Oil /roduced *y several wellsJ igh /ressure 0/1 and >ow /ressure 0>/1 via
Main Components of a Gathering Center 9nco"er eaders )eparators 5esalters 5esalter :aste :ater andling )yste" Crude )torage Tans Crude Trans"ission /u"ps Gas andling )yste"s :ell Testing Aacilities 9nstru"ents and Controls
Incomers Headers The unprocessed crude oil ro" the oil-wells enters the OilLGas )eparation /lant via the /roduction eaders. The /roduction eaders "i@ crude oil ro" di3erent oil wells% sta*iliHe
Seperators The )eparators are pressure vessels with internals 0*aMes% de"isters% oa"Lwave *reaers% water weir ; draw-o3 *oot% etc.1 designed to separate the hydrocar*on gases ro" the Crude Oil. The separation taes place in two stages% igh /ressure )eparators 0st )tage1 which is ept at ,, /sig% and >ow /ressure )eparators 02nd )tage1 which is ept at 6, /sig. Oil ro" low pressure wells
the phases 0ie. gas and water ro" the crude1.
Desalters ach GC has a 5esalter /lant 055/1 to treat the wet crude to reuire specifcations o , /T( )alt and ,.N ();:. The :ater carried in the crude is nor"ally salty and this salt water is "ostly in the or" o e"ulsion 0droplets o water dispersed throughout the crude oil1. The 5esalter plants de"ulsiy and re"ove this salt water in two stages 0dehydration ; desalting stages1% frst *y providing settling ti"e in a :et Tan to allow the separation o the ree water% then with the *asic principles the process is urther enhanced *y washing with water% addition o che"icals and heat to *rea the e"ulsion and allow the water to settle "ore rapidly. The use o electric grid 0electro-static1 to coalesce the droplets is a fnal polish to the oil. The :et Tans are designed to reduce crude water cut ro" 28N to ,N at the outlet. The desalter plants are designed at "a@i"u" o ,N :C at the inlet.
Desalter Waste Water Handling System The separated water ro" the 5esalter /lant is treated to re"ove residual oil *eore it is discharged into a :aste :ater 5isposal )yste". The treat"ent consists o re"oval o oil *y "eans o si"ple gravity separation in a separator vessel paced with si"ple separation "echanis"% ollowed *y an air
Crude Storage an!s The Crude )torage Tan acts as a third stage OilLGas )eparator and is operating at a pressure slightly a*ove the at"ospheric. The gas vapour ro" the tans is sent to the Tans =apour Co"pressors 0T=C1. 9n the event o T=C shutdown the gas is sent to the >/ Alare. The oil ro" the tan is pu"ped to Bh"adi Tan Aar".
Crude ransmission "umps Crude oil ro" the 5ry Tans is e@ported to Bh"adi Tan Aar"s via a networ o transit pipelines and "i@ing "aniolds. The crude is nor"ally pu"ped ro" each GC *y two sets o "ain pu"ps operating in parallel. The crude
The frst ‘uston! Gas Tur*ine was installed at GC- in &8#. This tur*ine got da"aged during the invasion and had to *e taen out o service. /rior the invasion the tur*ine had co"pleted a record peror"ance with a credit o 6+%,'2 running hours. This Tur*ine has *een reur*ished and now on display at KOC Bl-Ta"eer (uilding in Bh"adi% to co""e"orate its acco"plish"ent
Gas Handling Systems
Two si"ilar *ut separate Gas andling syste"s are provided in every Gathering Center. These are? igh /ressure )yste"? to handle the high pressure gas ro" the st )tage )eparator. >ow /ressure )yste"? to handle the low pressure gas ro" the 2nd )tage )eparator. The gas in each syste" is separately pressure regulated% "etered 0
Well esting Facilities The testing acilities are used or? /roduction Tests o well Hones 0ie. casing% tu*ing1Gas Oil atio 0GO1 Test o well Hones 0ie. casing% tu*ing1 5eilling a Hone in case o ailure to
oneywell T5C-,,, )yste" B(( )yste" )ignals ro" pri"ary "easuring devices and ‘s"art-trans"itters! in the feld are relayed directly to re"ote indicating L recording L controlling operator consoles in the control roo". The control outputs ro" this operator station are relayed to the fnal control ele"ent in the feld via ter"inals% "arshalling panels and Dunction *o@es. >iewise% signals generated in the Aield are relayed *ac to the control roo" via the sa"e route. Bll these signals are electronic type in the or" o discreet inputs and outputs. Aire and Gas "onitoring is also provided ro" the control roo". Bny signals generated ro" devices within the GC /lant are sent to this central acility to generate alar"s. 9n the event o a Aire or Gas detection% auto"atic shutdown o the euip"ent or process acility is i"ple"ented. The setches overpage show the ey eatures o the typical 5C) )yste"s installed at so"e o the GCs. The setch also illustrates the process varia*le path route ro" the Control oo" 5C) to the /rocess /lant in the Aield and vice versa.
Functions of #ooster Stations B (ooster )tation is part o an oilfeld acility installed to ully utiliHe the separated gas ro" the Gathering Centers which was previously wasted to /G />ant% where the trans"itted gas and liuid is processed to recover Gasoline and >iuefed /etroleu" Gases 0>/G1 and e@ported. Bter /rocessing at the >/G /lant% eMuent gas 0nown as lean gas1 is distri*uted as uel gas to industrial users in Kuwait 0ie. /ower )tations and efneries1 and the e@cess is utiliHed or ueling the oilfelds GCs andLor
(ooster )tation /rocess Alow )che"e