Posted on April 19th, 2021
Posted in Uncategorized
The oilfield continuously evolves, yet some things stay the same: emissions regulations continuously become stricter, investors want to reduce new facility cost, and the oilfield is still expected to function 24/7/365, rain or shine. When considering the rise of ESG initiatives as a decision point for investors, you might find yourself asking Why or Why Not about tankless production facilities.
One of the biggest advantages of a tankless production facility is self-evident in the name: there are no atmospheric storage tanks (or the quantity of atmospheric storage tanks is greatly reduced). Elimination of atmospheric storage tanks is a major step towards compliance with increasingly strict environmental regulations (OOOOa) and registers positively with investors thinking about ESG. Additionally, reduced equipment count and required facility footprint may reduce new facility capital cost. Yet, for all the benefits a tankless production facility offers, there are challenges that must first be addressed.
Atmospheric storage tanks have long been a staple of production facilities because they have been a traditionally lower cost solution to several challenges.
First and foremost is the challenge of a path to market. In both developing and mature fields, an individual production facility may not have access to a pipeline gathering system either because the gathering system has not been built yet or it is at capacity. In either situation, atmospheric storage tanks offer the flexibility to continue operations until a path to market is available.
Ensuring product quality is another challenge for which atmospheric storage tanks have been a common solution. Did the gathering system reject oil because of high water content? “Just divert it to a tank and recycle it back through the process until it meets specification” has usually been the answer.
To construct and operate a safe, environmentally friendly, highly reliable tankless production facility, the challenges for which atmospheric storage tanks were previously a solution must be addressed. How to address those challenges will vary depending upon the drivers and circumstances of each individual production facility. They may range from coordination of timing of production facility and gathering system construction to contract negotiation. Or the solutions may encompass implementation of ever-developing technologies. Whatever the solution, Halker Consulting is here to help.