CASE-HISTORY - DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, AND RESULTS OF SEPARATOR RETROFITS

Dubai Petroleum Co. (DPC) performed two in-situ offshore separator ret rofit projects during 1989-91. Significant cost savings were achieved over the alternatives of separator replacement, addition, or modificat ion onshore. The retrofits were accomplished without production loss o r compromised operating safety. DPC's experience demonstrates that in- situ offshore facility modifications can be done successfully and simu ltaneously with normal operations. Improved performance after the retr ofits strongly supports the need for properly designed internals to re alize the full potential of a separator. Although the two retrofits sh are a common objective, they differ significantly in design, planning, and execution. First, a three-phase separator critical for uninterrup ted production was modified during a 6-day scheduled fieldwide shutdow n using only ''cold work.'' This was followed by the conversion of a t wo-phase, double-barrel separator to three-phase ser-vice without a fi eld shutdown. The work took place during 6 months with the use of ''ho t work.'' The success of both field modifications was attributed to in novative engineering and careful planning.