Hebron: An Exercise in Separation Technology Deployment

Equipment module weight and footprint are two main cost drivers when designing and constructing offshore oil & gas installations.  Offshore installations producing heavy crude are even more cost-challenged, as traditionally, to achieve product specifications (e.g. BS&W, WIO) when treating unconventional resources, long residence times in large pressure vessels were specified.  However, in the past decade, industry has been researching, developing, and deploying new technologies aimed at producing on-spec fluids while minimizing vessel size.

ExxonMobil’s Hebron project, located offshore of Eastern Canada, will produce heavy, emulsion-prone oil.  In an effort to minimize the cost impacts associated with traditional heavy-oil treating methods, and thus improve project economics, new high-efficiency, compact separation equipment was specified for a number of oil separators and compressor suction scrubbers.  This paper will explore the challenges of qualifying, specifying, and deploying this equipment in an offshore environment.