Showing posts with label part. Show all posts
Showing posts with label part. Show all posts
Friday, April 21, 2017
B P Introduces Low Salt Water to Enhance Oil Extraction as part of Shetlands oil boom
B P Introduces Low Salt Water to Enhance Oil Extraction as part of Shetlands oil boom
As part of an anticipated massive oil boom in the Sheltlands, along with a revamping of the Sullam Voe terminal (confirmed just last week), B.P. intends to use a desalination plant to reduce the salt content of seawater so that it can more effectively flush oil from the surfaces of the rock reservoirs that contain it. http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9044064&contentId=7077181If the process can increase the amount of oil recovered by another 4%, from a current average of 35%, this will mean a substantial increase in output across the industry. Applied to the Clair Ridge field, which is in the North Sea off the western Sheltand islands, it is thought that, over the lifetime of the well, 640 million barrels of crude oil might be recovered using untreated sea water, but that 42 million barrels, over and above this, could be made available using the low-salt water. The cost of the desalination plant is $120 million, which will add $3 to the cost of a barrel of oil.
Crude oil contains a wide range of molecules, many of which are charged or polar. In the B.P. research laboratories at Sunbury on Thames, in the south of England, it has been discovered that the oil molecules form chemical bridges with doubly charged cations, such as Ca2+ and Mg2+ that are present on the surfaces of clay particles in sandstone. At the normal salt concentrations in seawater (3,500 ppm), the oil molecules are compressed close to the mineral surface, so preventing access by free cations that are necessary to displace the Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations and thus free the oil from the surface. As the salt concentration is reduced, the thickness of the thin film of water between the oil molecules and the surface increases, through an effect known as “expansion of the electrical double layer”, and permits access of free cations from the seawater. This releases the oil molecules from the rock surface.
For the method to work, two criteria must pertain: (1) the total salinity of the water must be low enough to relax the electrical double layer compression, and (2) the dipositive cation concentration needs to be lower than that of the reservoir water. Together, these factors allow most of the oil to be released that is bound to the reservoir surface by this mechanism. B.P. uses water flooding to recover 60% of its oil, and it is predicted that the low-salt (LoSal®) method might increase production over the company’s holdings by 700 million barrels.
This latest development is part of a predicted new oil boom in the Shetland Sullom Voe oil terminal, for which £300 million ($480 million) worth of investment is expected.The manager of the terminal confirmed only last week that the following projects were going ahead:
? a complete refurbishment of the plant and pipework.
? introduction of a major gas-cleaning plant.
? construction of a temporary two-storey office building at Sella Ness.
? final work on the Project Aurora gas plant.
? overhaul, by its owners, Fortum, of the power station.
? overhaul of 16 giant oil storage tanks.
While only 9.2 million tonnes of oil were produced by the terminal last year, over its lifetime it has handled one-third of the British offshore oil production. The Clair Ridge development (where the desalinised water is to be employed) is expected to be a major producer, with two new platforms. Oil will be brought through the existing pipe to Sullom Voe from the end of 2016, which could continue for another 25 years, still being in operation in the 2040s.
This latest development is part of a predicted new oil boom in the Shetland Sullom Voe oil terminal, for which £300 million ($480 million) worth of investment is expected.The manager of the terminal confirmed only last week that the following projects were going ahead:
? a complete refurbishment of the plant and pipework.
? introduction of a major gas-cleaning plant.
? construction of a temporary two-storey office building at Sella Ness.
? final work on the Project Aurora gas plant.
? overhaul, by its owners, Fortum, of the power station.
? overhaul of 16 giant oil storage tanks.
While only 9.2 million tonnes of oil were produced by the terminal last year, over its lifetime it has handled one-third of the British offshore oil production. The Clair Ridge development (where the desalinised water is to be employed) is expected to be a major producer, with two new platforms. Oil will be brought through the existing pipe to Sullom Voe from the end of 2016, which could continue for another 25 years, still being in operation in the 2040s.
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Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Are You A Workaholic Part 2
Are You A Workaholic Part 2
In Part 1 of “Are You A Workaholic?,” which appeared in our blog last Monday, February 11, 2013, Craig T. Norback presented a set of questions to be answered either with yes or no.
If you answered “yes” to between five and ten questions, you, too, must learn to slow down and work more efficiently as you are developing symptoms of workaholism.
You probably don’t have a problem if you answered “yes” to fewer than five questions. However, Norback adds, even one affirmative answer – if the behavior is compulsively pursued – could be a danger signal that you are driving yourself too hard. So it’s time to take things easy by controlling your tendency to overwork.
How often do you get a good night’s sleep and exercise? They are the key to staying on the job and reducing stress.
Successful company executives rarely miss work due to illness, despite long work hours and high pressure positions, says a survey by New York’s Howard – Sloan Associates in their publication, Search.
How do these executives do it? More than 90% say they exercise 1-10 hours a week, and 95% get at least six hours of sleep a night. The majority makes a special effort to eat a balanced diet, and 84% are non-smokers.
As a result, only 6% suffer high blood pressure, and 61% say they are in good physical condition. That translates into coping well with the high levels of stress they encounter on the job.
Self-help groups for stress management? Why not? Such groups beat the stigma of psychotherapy and can be just as effective in training you to kick bad habits, claims Dr. Stephen Lande of Temple University School of Medicine.
Self-help groups can focus on behavior techniques tailored to your needs, so you recognize those factors inducing stress, and train yourself to reduce anxiety levels.
For example, Dr. Lande says you could set a digital alarm watch to beep at specific intervals so relaxation exercises could be practiced for 10-15 minutes to ward off cumulative stress.
(More tips on reducing work-related stress, including important pointers on time management, will appear in future postings on Health Wellness Gems. Or visit our archive for articles on stress control.)
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