LINE PRESSURE SURVEILLANCE OF A LP MIDSTREAM GAS GATHERING SYSTEM

摘要

The DJ Basin complex is a Gathering, Processing, and Treating asset operating in Colorado’srnDenver-Julesburg Basin. This asset is part of Western Gas Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) holdingsrnmanaged and operated by the General Partner Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC). Encompassingrnmore than 3,200 pipeline miles and 196,000 horsepower, the asset delivers high pressure gas tornmultiple gas processing facilities, both internal and external, capable of over 1.1 Bcfd1 of processrnability. In 2014, 68% of the DJ Basin complex throughput was from Anadarko, and the remainingrnthroughput was from various third-party customers, with the largest providing 21% of thernthroughput2.rnThe Wattenberg gathering system, a gas gathering subset of the DJ complex, is an important partrnof the successful operation of Anadarko’s 125,000 barrel-per-day oil gathering system. The oilrngathering system is converting to a state of the art tankless battery design in which the oil gatheredrnwill be gathered at a higher Reed Vapor Pressure than the previous stable oil of traditional tankrnbattery design. Maintaining a uniform gas gathering operating pressure is of paramount concernrnas it enables the oil gathering to operate with identifiable single phase operating targets.rnAs a result, a need for a near-real time surveillance tool to monitor gas gathering pipeline linernpressures was identified and created to support Anadarko’s daily operations and provide a runningrnreport card for system performance.rnThe goal of the tool is to support:rn1.Commercial: Meeting best in class target operating pressures for all gathered producersrn2.Operations: Evaluate line pressure trends identifying liquid accumulation/pigging needs,rnhydrate formations, with support defining debottlenecking projectsrn3.Production: Identify line pressure trends for optimal well pad set up and operationrnThe paper will discuss the efforts to:rn1.Improve workflow for Anadarko’s Integrated Operations Center (IOC) by providing arndynamic bubble map of line pressures.rn2.Optimize the gas gathering system to maintain/increase production and reduce downtimernby providing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and reports to assist with the decisionrnmaking process.rn3.Increase utilization of compressor facilities with the analysis of field data by recognizingrnpatterns of the gathering system with time.rnThe paper will recount:rn1.Workflow definition based on engineering and operations requirementsrn2.Determination of system surveillance variables and reporting mechanismsrn3.Construction and deployment of the surveillance systemrn4. Gas gathering system problem detection and communication of results by using the linernpressure surveillance toolrnThe surveillance tool was deployed in April 2014 and has been in use since by the Wattenbergrnoperating personnel on a daily basis. During this time period asset throughput has increased 36%.