Abstract

Economic conditions in the oilfield have identified many areas in which traditional operating procedures are no longer cost effective and must be replaced by alternative methods with more stringent economic parameters. In the UK, this trend has been embodied in the "Cost Reduction in the New Era (CRINE) Initiative". Although technological advances continue to provide more efficient operational practices; at times, these advances are still unable to provide the required cost objectives.

This paper will present a method used by one service company in the UK to develop an extended well test (EWT) process plant within CRINE disciplines by making modifications to existing equipment. This innovative strategy reduced the expenditure for new equipment and allowed the service company to develop a processing plant that would meet all operational requirements within the operator's cost objectives.

The case history will provide 1) a comparison of the cost to build the extended well test (EWT) processing plant using modified equipment and with new equipment, 2) methods for modifying existing resources and industry pressure vessels for other early production system (EPS) or EWT applications, and 3) how to generate long-term labor cost reductions.

The EWT process plant was supplied and operated at a reduced capital cost of $ 536,000 for the service entity and of $ 97,425 for the operator. These reductions resulted from using a system to supply that encourages selective modification of existing resources first, outsourcing suitable equipment when existing resources have been exhausted, and building new equipment only as a last resort.

Important considerations learned from this project were that time constraints must be avoided where possible to reduce extra costs that arise from the need to accelerate operations and that operating parameters must be completely defined as early in the design stage as possible and clearly understood by all parties.