Surface Production Operations
Facilities, Equipment & Optimization

Duration: 5 Days
Target Audience: Production Engineers, Facilities Engineers, Field Supervisors, Operations Personnel, Process Engineers
Delivery Mode: Classroom / Virtual with Practical Exercises, Calculations, and Case Studies
Level: Intermediate

Course Overview

This course provides participants with a comprehensive understanding of oil and gas surface production systems, including separation, treatment, storage, measurement, and transportation of produced fluids. Emphasis is placed on process design, operational optimization, troubleshooting, and safety considerations.

Day-by-Day Outline

Day 1 – Introduction to Surface Production Facilities

- Overview of oil and gas production operations
- Field processing sequence: from wellhead to export
- Typical production facility layout and components
- Health, safety, and environmental considerations
- Exercise: Identify production facility components on a process flow diagram

Day 2 – Oil & Gas Separation and Treatment

- Two-phase and three-phase separators
- Heater-treaters, free water knockouts, and electrostatic treaters
- Gas dehydration systems: glycol and solid desiccant units
- Emulsion treatment principles and challenges
- Workshop: Design a separation and dehydration train for a new field

Day 3 – Crude Oil Processing & Measurement

- Crude stabilization processes
- Storage tanks: design, safety, and vapor recovery
- Custody transfer measurement systems and metering technologies
- Tank gauging and API standards
- Exercise: Calculate stabilized crude vapor pressure and select storage requirements

Day 4 – Produced Water Handling & Gas Processing

- Produced water separation and treatment options
- Water injection systems for disposal or secondary recovery
- Gas compression, dehydration, sweetening, and conditioning
- Flaring and venting regulations and technologies
- Workshop: Troubleshoot high water cut issues in production systems

Day 5 – Optimization, Maintenance & Case Studies

- Production system performance monitoring
- Debottlenecking and process optimization strategies
- Common operational problems and solutions
- Case studies of successful and failed surface facility operations
- Capstone Project: Design a surface production facility flow diagram for a hypothetical field

Expected Learning Outcomes

Understand the full scope of oil and gas surface production facilities
Design and evaluate separation, treatment, and measurement systems
Identify and solve common operational problems
Apply safety and environmental best practices in production operations
Develop integrated solutions for optimizing surface production systems

Training Methods

- Classroom instruction and interactive discussions
- Case studies and exercises with real-world data
- Excel-based economic models and production forecasts
- Software demonstrations

Customization for Regional Needs

- Examples from regional onshore/offshore fields
- English delivery option available
- Integration with national regulatory framework

Trainer Profile

- Multidisciplinary instructors (reservoir, production, drilling)
- Regional NOC/IOC engineering advisors
- Guest speakers from petroleum economics and HSE backgrounds

Certification

Certificate of Completion and individual assessment report provided.