THUNDER HORSE LIQUID CARRYOVER, PART II

摘要

The Thunder Horse Production Drilling Quarters (PDQ) is an oil and gas floating production facility located 150 southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, th6 paper "Thunder Horse TEG Dehydration Challenges, It Couldn't be Foaming, Right?" described how Thunder Horse team members identified inadequate liquid droplet coalescing internals on vapor outlets of two phase separation vessels as the cause for excessive liquid carryover into the TEG contactor column resulting in foaming operational issues. In 2016, TEG contactor foaming recurred. Excessive liquid carryover was identified as the source once again. This time, liquid carryover was caused by incorrect design documentation resulting in operating above the separator's gas hydraulic limit. This paper reminds readers of common TEG contactor foaming troubleshooting techniques (checking operating variables, analyzing glycol samples, checking filter performance, gas white rag testing, etc). It also introduces methodology determining separation equipment gas capacity limits (process safety limits, mechanical limits, and operational limits).