Maximizing Oil Recovery by Separator Pressure Optimization

Stage separation is a process in which gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons are flashed (separated) into vapor and liquid phases by two or more separators. The purpose of the stage separation then is to reduce the pressure on the produced oil in steps so that more stock–tank oil recovery will result. If the separator pressure is high, large amounts of light components will remain in the liquid phase at the separator and will be lost along with other valuable components to the gas phase at the stock–tank. On the other hand if the pressure is too low, large amounts of light components will be separated from the liquid and they will attract substantial quantities of intermediates and heavier components. Considerable gain is obtained using this optimization process. An intermediate pressure, called optimum separator pressure, was selected to maximize the oil volume accumulation in the stock – tank, production unit. Considerable gains could be realized by implementing of recommendations.