"BORNEMANN" MULTIPHASE TECHNOLOGY CUSTOMER INTERESTS IS OUR PRIORITY
Capian Enegry (CE): Mr. Latifov, which technology is offered by Texas Nafta, what are areas of its application and how widely is it applied within the petroleum industry?
Yashar Latifov, Vice President, Texas Nafta Industries, Inc.: On behalf of the Manufacturer we are responsible to represent Multiphase Boosting Technology of "Bornemann". This technology is proposed as a technically reliable and efficient option of collecting well-head production as it is produced, i.e. in its unstable condition, and transporting it to required distances. Well-head production, under this scenario, does not require initial treatment or initial separation, in other words - oil, free gas and produced water can be transported as a single mixture through a single pipeline.
CE: Which industry problems can be addressed by application of this technology? What is it based upon?
Yashar Latifov: The technology is based on process efficiency, technical reliability, economic attractiveness and environmental sensitivity.
Specifically I would highlight the following aspects associated with development plans of new and redevelopment of mature oil-gas-condensate fields which can benefit from application of the proposed technology:
Reduction of capital investments during development of new fields or redevelopment of existing fields especially those located in remote or environmentally sensitive areas, e.g. offshore fields, where construction activities are met with obvious problems from the view point of technical challenges and extended schedule requirements. Multiphase technology enables transportation of production from well-head sites through one single pipeline to existing oil & gas separation and treatment facilities. Alternatively on can boost well-head production to the shore where construction of process facilities can be done in more favorable conditions;
Reduction of operating expenditures and automatic control of the production process - operating companies get opportunity for centralized operation by tying several production assets under automatic control, without continuous presence of operating personnel, to one central process facility;
Maximum utilization of the associated gas and enhanced safety of operations due to the fact that operating companies are no longer required to separate associated gas at each producing asset site. Technology enables full collection and transport of production together with associated gas under fully closed hermetic scheme;
Extension of economic life cycle of the fields and enhancement of the ultimate oil recovery. On those fields which have been operated for a while or mature fields often the formation pressure is not sufficient enough to enable the produced flow to be transported through pipelines for long distances or cover back-pressures which are formed in collecting manifolds. Therefore operating companies have no other option than to take such production assets and producing wells out of operation. Application of "Bornemann" multiphase technology makes it possible to bring many of such assets back to life.
To make it easier to understand for people who are not directly related to oil&gas production, I would figuratively compare "Bornemann" multiphase system application with transplantation of artificial heart to human body, which in certain cases extends life of both a young but weak, or ill, and old ailing body. Having said this, by combining multiphase technology with current systems of automatic control and frequency conversion, we literally bring the "reservoir - producing well - above ground infrastructure" system into self-regulating condition. Again for comparison, human heart works automatically by reacting to the human body condition - for example, when body is asleep it beats with frequency of 60 beats per minute, when human body is heavily active, say when running or fast breathing, it beats with frequency of 130 beats per minute. Equally the "Bornemann" multiphase boosting technology when implemented together with integrated automatic control systems, adequately reacts to unstable reservoir condition, in other words "reservoir breathing", and brings the whole production cycle into a certain "reasonable" balance, which in its turn brings the benefit in the form of extension of the overall design and service time of the production asset. Judge it for yourself - how long you think a human could live and what restrictions it would experience if his heart was beating at a set constant pace, not being able to adjust its frequency and therefore not reacting to physical or emotional condition of the human body.... Same thing here.
CE: To what extent can application of this technology enable to reduce the losses of the associated gas?
Yashar Latifov: To maximum extent. Technology enables full collection, i.e. 100%, of the associated gas.
CE: To what extent can it reduce negative effect on environment?
Yashar Latifov: This is a comparative question and here I would highlight two fundamental aspects - first is related to the basics of project management, planning/scheduling and execution; the second one is more related to the process issues embedded in the development plans of fields.
I would start with the second as it has more depth in it. We already spoke about capability of this technology to ensure full utilization of the associated gas, and also about extension of the economically efficient life cycle of the fields, hence enhanced oil recovery. In comparison with traditional methods, this means no discharge of the associated gas into air, as well as making current production process more intensive compared with traditional method when bigger part of the hydrocarbon reserves irrecoverably stays trapped within the reservoir. The second aspect lays on surface - for example, with traditional method of development, say offshore or in a remote onshore location, you have to build separation facilities in order to stabilize liquid, make associated gas dry, build gas compressor station, build two pipelines, for oil and gas, and so on - how much time and effort would be required to handle construction activities and environmental challenges, land allocation etc? All this gets significantly less complicated with application of the multiphase technology.
CE: On which fields in Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is this technology utilized?
Yashar Latifov: Beginning from the middle of the 1990's around 300 facility sites all over the world have been developed with "Bornemann" technology. There is a number of fields in Russia, and perhaps most relevant of them is offshore platform D-6 on the Kravtsovskoye field, built and operated by the Russian company "LUKoil" offshore Baltic Sea under extremely sensitive environmental conditions. Well-head production from this platform is delivered by means of the multiphase boosting system supplied by our company, through fully closed piping system with no gas flare on the platform, to a shore site in the vicinities of Kaliningrad where spec oil and gas are processed under onshore conditions.
Speaking in terms of the practical experience it is worth mentioning that for the last two-three years "Bornemann" technology made significant step ahead and proved its viability under seabed completion scenarios - "Lyell" field in the North Sea operated by Eni-Agip, and "King" field in the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico in the water depth of more than 1000 meters operated by BP.
On the territory of Azerbaijan this technology has not yet found practical application although is being considered. One should keep in mind that application of such "high" technology requires very careful, serious, all round evaluation. It is worth acting with its application when you are confident that you can get "10 out of 10" result. "9 out 10" is equal to failure under our circumstances. This is exactly where the efforts and competency of our company rest - strategically correct, properly engineered selection of facility sites and rigorous execution of the multiphase systems in the interest of the tasks which these systems are selected to fulfil.
Given that we have our conversation on the Azerbaijan land, I wish to repeat an acknowledged fact that Azerbaijan is known in the history of the oil industry as country number one which drilled the first producing well and introduced the first artificial lift. The first offshore well was drilled here in 1949 in open sea conditions in the Oil Rocks field. Azerbaijan in its right has become industry legislator in many other initiatives. Let's us wish success to the industry leadership and all those specialists who, with development and introduction of modern enhanced technologies in all spheres, be it geology, drilling, production, refining, financing, management etc, work relentlessly to ensure that the oil industry of the country returns the status it deserves.