Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University C o l l e g e o f E n g i n e e r i n g Department of Mechanical Engineering Internship Report At Saudi Aramco Company R e p o r t i n g P e r i o d [16/06/2012-27/06/2012] S u b m i t t e d b y : [ A l i M o h a m m a d A l - M a r r i ] [ 2 0 0 8 0 0 9 0 5 ] [ s u b m i s s i o n d a t e ( 2 9 / 0 6 / 2 0 1 2 ) ] Mechanical Engineering Department Summer 2012
Summary I got a chance to have my internship with Saudi Aramco Company which is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia and the largest oil company in the world. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels and largest daily oil production. Saudi Aramco owns the Ghawar Field, the world's largest oil field, and the Shayba Field, one of the world's largest oil fields. Figure 1: this figure shows all oil and gas fields handled by Saudi Aramco. As notice the largest one is the GHAWAR Field. ABGOSP-5 Assignment: Ali M, Al-Marri Page 1
Background I have joined one of the company s departments which is North Ghawar Producing Department (NGPD). It consists of five divisions; three operations divisions and two maintenance divisions. I start working on June16, 2012 with Abqaiq Producing Division (ABPD) in Abqaiq Gas Oil Separation Plant# 5 (ABGOSP-5) as assistant to Operations Engineer who is assigned to be my Mentor. His name is Mohammed A, Al-Hadrami and his contact mean as follows, Mail PO Box 45, Abqaiq 31311, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mobile +966 55 1158 10 Email Mohammed.alhadrami@saudiaramco.com.sa At the beginning he gave me a brief about Aramco business and process needed for the oil to be ready for sale. Then, he assigned me to work with Operations, as an outside operator, in order to understand the process of the GOSP very well. My first day with Operations, I met with the team which consists five persons; Foreman of the GOSP, Shift Supervisor, Console Operator and two outside operators. The work time begins from 6:30 am until 3:30 pm. However, I came 10 minutes earlier to take the turnover (what happen during last 8 hours) from night shift group. After that, I joined the outside operators to do the daily routine check for the facility. As Safety is the top priority for Saudi Aramco, we checked first the Fire System which contains of two fire water tanks and 4 pumps. 3 of those of those pumps are Electrical Pumps and one is a Diesel Pump. Then, we went through a long checklist to write actual readings for all process parameters such as vessels levels, pressures, and temperatures and communicate with the console operator by radio to make sure that those readings are matching with the Digital Control Screen (DCS) in the control room building. ABGOSP-5 Assignment: Ali M, Al-Marri Page 2
Moreover, shift supervisor introduced to me the production header area with all piping connected to the GOSP inlet. Progress After completing two weeks with the GOSP operation, Alhamdulillah I managed to understand the GOSP processes very well which is the main objective of this assignment. Below is a brief of the process. GOSP Purposes: The GOSP main purposes are - To separate the associated Gas/water from the crude oil. - To remove the salt and wash the oil before it is shipped for further process in order to meet shipped oil specifications (Salt to be 10 ppm and Base sediment & water to be 0.2%). - To dispose the salty water back to the filed in order to maintain the reservoir pressure - To test the production wells which help in monitoring and managing the reservoir. Process Overview: (refer to figure 2) Crude oil is introduced first to High Pressure Production Trap (HPPT), through the production header, where light gases will be separated at 400 psig. Then, the oil will be diverted to Intermediate Pressure Production Trap (IPPT) where gas is separated at 240 psig. After that the oil is transferred to low Pressure Production Trap (LPPT) where heavier gases will be separated at 70 psig. After LPPT, the oil will be pumped by 500 HP charge pumps (4.16 KV) to the Dehydrator, where the bulk of the water is removed from oil. The dry oil is then sent to the Desalter where the oil is mixed with Wash water (from Wasia Well) to remove the salt before it is shipped to Abqaiq Plants. The oily-water out from HPPT, Dehydrator and Desalter are ABGOSP-5 Assignment: Ali M, Al-Marri Page 3
directed to water and oil Separation vessel (WOSEP) where the oil is separated from the water. The water will be injected back to the field by 4000 HP injection pumps (4.16 KV) to maintain the reservoir pressure while the oil will be sent back to LPPT through recovery pump G-213. The HPPT gas will be directed to Shedgum Gas Plant and the gases from IPPT and LPPT to Abqaiq plants. Figure 2: This figure shows all major vessels and equipment of the GOSP. Plans The next assignment will be with Maintenance Division as advised by my Mentor. ABGOSP-5 Assignment: Ali M, Al-Marri Page 4