Oil and gas facilities

Oil and gas facilities are made as a complex of installations and devices providing oil intake, storage, handling and transportation. The facilities may be operated with petrochemicals, diesel, fuel oil, fuel and lubricant materials, bitumen and others. Among such facilities petroleum-storage depot, tank fields and transshipment terminal can be listed.

Depending on the tasks performed, oil depots and storage facilities are divided into several types:

• Transshipment terminals
  They provide oil transfer between different means of transport (marine freight, by rail, cartage) by using oil-tankers, cargo tanks, railway tanks, etc.
• Crude-oil yards
  They present a merger of oil industry raw materials bases and refinery tank farms to provide an efficient oil intake, refining, storage and handling.
• Distribution oil depots
  They are installed next to the industrial enterprise and provide it with the necessary amount of oil fuel. Such depots have limited oil-storage tank capacity, but they can perform the functions of both transshipment terminal and crude-oil yard.

If necessary, petroleum-storage depots can execute oil conditioning for transport and storage, f.e. petroleum product refining, oil degassing, oil dehydration, oil heating and temperature maintenance. Oil separation, degassing and dehydration are performed by a special effluent treatment facilities such as gas-oil separation plants, fiberglass oil catchers, separator water boots, clarifier tanks, filter units and other.

WORKS PERFORMED ON OIL AND GAS FACILITIES CONSTRUCTION

The core of facilities is vertical and horizontal tanks. The storage capacity depends upon facility location:

• total tankage capacity may not be more than 2000 m³ if petroleum-storage depots are a part of the industrial enterprises;
• independent storage plants, trunk pipelines, oil refineries etc. may have total tankage capacity over 2,000 m³.

Oil storage tanks have different design factors:

• depending on location mode - aboveground and underground tanks;
• on construction and design features - vertical or horizontal, single- or double-walled;
• on capacity-the maximum tank volume is 20,000 m³.

If tanks and vessels are operated in cold climate or with viscous oil heat insulation (blanket type thermal insulation) and heating system are used.

In addition to tanks and vessels there are other oil storage and production facilities:

Proper equipment layout allows to organize a clear and stable technological processes, which eliminate the risk of incorrect workflow. Uninterrupted operation and orchestrated actions allows to achieve maximum efficiency and avoid uncontrolled and unwanted time expenditures.

OIL AND GAS FACILITIES OPERATION

The main production goal of petroleum-storage depot, tank fields is oil intake, storage, handling, treatment and transfer.

Oil storing is carried out in steel tanks which are intended for the petroleum products with the following characteristics: density - up to 1600 kg/m³, excess pressure - up to 5 kPa, gas space discharge – up to 0,5 kPa, the maximum wall temperature - +160°C, the maximum media temperature - + 90°C, media temperature should be lower closed-cup flash point by at least 35°C.

Another goal is oil transfer, which is the process of oil transportation between several means of transport. Petroleum product via nozzle is derived from the tank and goes down the pipeline where custody transfer metering station is installed, pumping equipment and dispensing equipment. The pipelines are equipped with shut-off and relief valves that provide fluid flow regulation.

When petroleum products storing and transfer, breathing and filling loss occur. Tank breathing is the loss through the pressure vent valves resulting from temperature fluctuations and absolute pressure changes. The volume of losses depends on gas space capacity and design overpressure. Filling loss results from loading-unloading operations, which lead to gas vapour mixture driving-out. For example, when filling the tank with gasoline about 0.55 kg/m³ will be lost in the summer and about 0.35 kg/m3 in the winter. While emptying of tank, losses can be approximately 0.1 kg/m³.

Oil and gas facilities installation includes pre-construction activities and construction-assembly works. List of works depends on the equipment and facility specifics. Standard activities conducted in field are listed in the table below.

Work performance is carried out taking into account the facility earth information, climatic data, local topography and geology of the area. Fire and explosion hazard management and environment preservation are also taken into account.

REGULATIONS GOVERNING OIL AND GAS FACILITY DESIGN, INSTALLATION AND CONSTRUCTION

Equipment manufacturing, petroleum-storage depots and refinery tankage design, installation and construction works at site are executed by the SINTEZ Group specialists in accordance with the industrial standards. The main of them are as follow:

• STO SA 03-002-2009 "Rules of design, production and erection of vertical cylindrical steel tanks for petroleum products";
• GOST 31385-2016 "Vertical cylindrical steel tanks for petroleum products. General technical specifications";
• GOST 17032-2010 "Horizontal steel tanks for petroleum products. General technical specifications";
• Regulations of industrial safety for hazardous facilities using equipment working under excess pressure; etc.

Adherence to state standards guarantees safe operation of the facility and failure-free service of the equipment throughout working life.

PRICING AND PERFORMANCE TIME

Cost calculation and work schedules are made by specialists of OOO Neftegazengineering taking into account the remoteness of the facility, operating conditions, number and size of the needed tanks, equipment configuration and layout etc.