Dynamic simulation of offshore gas processing plant for normal and abnormal operations

Abstract

Offshore oil and gas production is contributing to almost 30% of the total global oil and gas production. Since access to the offshore facilities is difficult, there is interest in monitoring the production facilities remotely. Multivariate statistical methods can be effectively used to monitor the offshore gas production plant. In this research work, monitoring of an offshore production plant is described. To demonstrate the monitoring cycle, a benchmark model for the offshore facilities is required. Mathematical modeling and simulations are useful tools for designing and predicting the accurate behavior of a production plant. As the first phase, we simulate an offshore oil and gas production plant using the process modeling tool, Aspen HYSYS. The model is based on the process specifications of a gas processing plant at the North Sea platform reported by Voldsund et al. (2013). Several common faults from different fault categories, such as actuator faults and disturbances, are introduced and simulated in the dynamic system. A total of seven dynamic scenarios are investigated, and their impacts on the overall hydrocarbon production are analyzed. According to the results, the dynamic simulation can accurately generate the system response, including responses during faulty conditions. The simulations files, normal, and abnormal data are made available electronically. The developed model can be used as a benchmark system to test monitoring algorithms for offshore production facilities. In the second phase, we will describe the monitoring scheme for the plant.