Diseño de un separador trifásico para la planta de tratamiento de gas y recuperación de líquidos Campo Cerro Gordo – La Florida

Abstract

The operator Wattle Petroleum Company S.A.S. is a Colombian company that explores and produces hydrocarbons. It currently operates in two blocks; The first one called Valle Medio Magdalena 1, located in the department of Cesar, and the second one called Carbonera, located in Norte de Santander, the latter has three locations, two of which are in operation (the Cerro Gordo - La Florida gas treatment and liquids recovery plant and the Cerro Gordo 1 and 5 wells), while the third location called Cerro Gordo 2 and 4 is not yet in operation, To achieve this, it is necessary to subject the wells to extensive production tests, in order to carry out an evaluation over a long period of time and thus obtain, firstly, a greater degree of certainty in the description of the characteristics of the wells, the productive capacity of the formations and their respective fluids, and finally, the delimitation of the reservoir. Once this evaluation is completed, and after generating the projection of the wells, it is expected that they can start operating. The gas coming from this location under study is described as dry gas, but for integrity and operational safety purposes, the use of a three-phase separator is required for both testing and operation, in order to foresee and control liquids generated by pressure changes. These three-phase separators are very important because they are the equipment in charge of performing the first separation of the gas treatment process. In this equipment the separation of the fluids coming from the wells (gas, hydrocarbon condensates and water) is performed, after the separation process, the condensates and water will be sent to storage tanks and the gas will be sent by the transport line to the plant. To meet these requirements set forth by Wattle Petroleum Company, a three-phase separator will be designed, considering the process demanded by the Cerro Gordo 2 well, which is estimated to have a capacity of four million standard cubic feet per day (4 MMscfpd), this under the ASME Section VIII, Division 1 standard in order to provide a pressure vessel that meets the standard operating and mechanical conditions.