Oil and Gas Surface Production Operations Facilities Training

Course Overview

This comprehensive professional development program is designed for Reservoir engineers, Production operators, Process engineers, Planning engineers, Asset managers, Production engineers, and Field production personnel responsible for implementing oil and gas surface production operations facilities excellence across deep deterministic policy gradient reinforcement learning controller optimization for a three-phase separator at the Basra refinery connected to a gas turbine, capital cost optimization of three-phase gravity separators using systematic vessel dimensions and retention time and settling constraints, and produced water treatment conventional and advanced technology selection for offshore disposal and reuse standards compliance in multi-organizational contexts. The program addresses proven practices in RL-based DDPG controller CFD-integrated three-phase separator optimization, Tariq Ahmed and Paul Russell and Nura Makwashi systematic capital cost optimization model for horizontal three-phase gravity separators, and state-of-the-art produced water conventional treatment train gravity separation and hydrocyclone and gas flotation and sand filtration for offshore discharge compliance where a 2024 ScienceDirect study presenting the first application of a deep deterministic policy gradient DDPG reinforcement learning controller within a CFD simulation of a three-phase separator at the Basra refinery integrating exhaust gas from an on-site gas turbine as the separation energy source with the RL controller managing baffle positions and flow levels to achieve over 36 percent improvement in separation efficiency and significantly smoother oil-water-gas flow patterns compared to conventional control, Ahmed and Russell and Makwashi publishing in Heliyon a capital cost optimization model for sizing three-phase separators describing the development of a capital cost optimization model incorporating gas capacity constraints and liquid retention time constraints and water droplet settling equations and vessel pressure specifications to determine the minimum-cost combination of vessel diameter and length and operating conditions with the model showing that conventional rule-of-thumb sizing routinely oversizes separators, and a state-of-the-art ScienceDirect review of produced water treatment confirming that offshore discharge regulations generally require oil-and-grease content below 40 mg/L and that a well-designed conventional treatment train of gravity separation and hydrocyclones and dissolved air flotation and sand filtration can achieve compliance while polishing treatments including membrane filtration and advanced oxidation and coagulation and flocculation are needed for reuse applications.

The curriculum integrates Mechanical Design of Pressure Equipment, System Configuration, Principles in Oil and Gas Surface Production, Three-Phase Oil and Water Separation, Separator Design, Surface Production Operations, Crude Oil Stabilization, Produced Water Treatment, Injection System, and Integrated Production to provide comprehensive coverage of surface production operations facility principles, separator design optimization and three-phase separation methodologies, and produced water treatment and injection system and integrated production planning integration domains for achieving oil and gas surface production operations facilities excellence.

Why This Course Is Required?

RL-based DDPG controller CFD-integrated three-phase separator optimization represents a critical competency where the 2024 ScienceDirect study confirmed that this research explores the application of a new reinforcement learning controller for a three-phase separator connected to a gas turbine and that the DDPG controller managed baffle positions and flow levels to achieve over 36 percent improvement in separation efficiency and significantly smoother oil-water-gas flow patterns compared to conventional control, with the study providing a concrete state-of-the-art example of how digital tools and advanced control concepts taught in the course’s operations integration and metering and system configuration modules are actively reshaping surface production operations. Systematic capital cost optimization of three-phase gravity separators demands specialized knowledge where Ahmed et al. confirmed that the first step of the optimization model involves the input of initial guesses for the length and diameter of the separator and normal operating level and normal interface level with the inputted values used to calculate the vessel mean diameter and the length required for gravity settling then calculated for gas and oil and water with the maximum length for gravity settling then selected from the three and this length used to calculate the total vessel length and the vessel thickness and vessel cost calculated next with the constraints then calculated and once valid the objective function minimized and the process repeated until the minimum vessel cost is obtained that satisfies all the constraints. State-of-the-art produced water treatment for offshore discharge compliance requires professionals with water treatment expertise where the PubMed and ScienceDirect reviews confirmed that since the development of the offshore petroleum and gas industry the produced water treatment process has been classified into pretreatment and standard-reaching treatment and advanced purification treatment based on the characteristics of produced water and has been coupled with the environmental and economic and regulatory considerations with the mechanism and design principle and application and development of conventional technologies for produced water treatment including gravity and enhanced gravity sedimentation and hydrocyclone and gas flotation and medium filtration summarized and with offshore discharge regulations requiring oil-and-grease content below 40 mg/L.

Surface production operations professionals must master mechanical design of pressure equipment fundamentals including design main considerations and determining vessel wall thickness and design temperature and corrosion considerations and design pressure and allowable stress and pressure equipment specifications and pressure relief equipment and shop drawings and nozzles and corrosion protection, understand comprehensive system configuration and principles in oil and gas surface production and three-phase separation and separator design frameworks including separation and field with varying flowing tubing pressures and two-phase separators and three-phase separators and operating pressure and selection of stages and wellhead and manifolds and gas dehydration and pumps and oil treating and storage and compressors and process flowsheet and offshore platforms and equipment configurations and modular construction and physical properties and molecular weight calculations and gas specific gravity and density and basic oil-field chemistry and phase behavior and multicomponent systems and retrograde systems and horizontal separators and liquid boot horizontal separators and free-water knockout and vertical separators and coalescing plates and turbulent coalescers flow and design theory and oil-water settling and gas separation and retention time and water droplet size in oil and half-full sizing in horizontal separators and gas capacity constraints and retention time constraints and oil droplet separation from water and seam-to-seam length, and apply proper surface production operations and crude oil stabilization and produced water treatment and injection system and integrated production methods including operations integration and tools supporting operations management and metering systems and deferment coding and measurements and principles of production allocation and reconciliation and principles of crude oil stabilization and flash calculations and stabilizer with reflux and oil heater-treaters and trays and packing and disposal standards and requirements and onshore and offshore disposal and scale removal and characteristics of produced water and dissolved solids and calcium carbonate and iron sulfide and barium and strontium sulfate and dispersion and gravity separation and flotation and filtration and skimmer sizing and solid removal techniques and suspended solids removal and gravity settling and flotation units and filtration and diffusional interception and filter types and coagulants and flocculation and integrated production workflow and business objectives and strategy in generating robust plan linked to the business to ensure organizations achieve superior RL-based three-phase separator separation efficiency improvement and enhanced capital cost optimization systematic vessel sizing and improved conventional produced water treatment offshore discharge compliance and competitive advantage through continuous operations integration and deferment administration and production allocation governance protocols.

Research demonstrates training is crucial for success, with the Basra refinery reinforcement learning study demonstrating that production engineers and operations analysts who understand three-phase separator flow physics and baffle design and the role of gas turbine integration can engage with advanced digital and AI-based control tools to achieve step-change improvements in separation efficiency with the course’s modules on three-phase separation and separator design and operations integration building the process foundation needed to work alongside and evaluate or commission these technologies, while the capital cost optimization study showing that engineers who can apply systematic sizing methods rather than rule-of-thumb approaches to determine vessel wall thickness and retention times and gas capacity constraints and seam-to-seam lengths deliver more cost-effective facility designs without sacrificing safety or performance, and the produced water review confirming that professionals who understand the full treatment chain from gravity separation and flotation through filtration and advanced polishing and can match treatment technology to water composition and disposal or reuse requirements are indispensable to both operational compliance and field water management strategy.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion, participants will have demonstrated mastery of:

• Reviewing different parts of surface flowing well scenarios with the main aim of optimizing the production process
• Promoting safe and hazard-free production processes
• Understanding and describing the basic layout of any existing upstream producing facility and the main aim of its major equipment
• Describing a detailed facility design by clearly stating the general outline requirements for treating and separating produced oil
• Planning, designing, and running an overseen routine operations maintenance work
• Carefully controlling site activities while maintaining safe operations by using good work practices
• Recognizing and understanding what to watch for in production operations practice including RL-based digital control tools for three-phase separator optimization​
• Applying systematic capital cost optimization model sizing methods rather than rule-of-thumb approaches for separator vessel diameter and length and operating conditions to reduce capital expenditure while maintaining full process performance​
• Designing produced water treatment trains to achieve offshore discharge limits below 40 mg/L oil-and-grease and selecting advanced polishing treatments for reuse in injection or irrigation applications​

Master oil and gas surface production operations facilities excellence and drive three-phase separator optimization and produced water compliance success. Enroll today to become a Certified Oil and Gas Surface Production Operations Facilities Professional!

Training Methodology

This Oil and Gas Surface Production Operations Facilities Training comprises the following training methods:

The training framework includes:

• Expert-led lectures delivered by industry best and renowned professionals who are the voice of authority in their relevant fields using a combination of videos and audios
• Individual and team exercises developing practical skills in separator design sizing calculations and produced water treatment train design and deferment coding and production allocation and reconciliation
• Case studies including Basra refinery DDPG reinforcement learning controller CFD-integrated three-phase separator optimization and Heliyon capital cost optimization of three-phase gravity separators and state-of-the-art produced water treatment offshore discharge compliance
• Participative sessions encouraging all participants to engage with metering systems and deferment administration and integrated production workflow real-world scenarios

This immersive approach fosters practical skill development and real-world application of surface production operations facilities principles through comprehensive coverage of mechanical design and system configuration and oil and gas production principles and three-phase separation and separator design and surface production operations and crude oil stabilization and produced water treatment and injection systems and integrated production domains with emphasis on measurable separation efficiency improvement and capital cost reduction and environmental discharge compliance enhancement.

This program follows the Learn-Apply-Review model, creating a structured learning journey that transforms traditional surface production operations approaches into professional oil and gas surface production operations facilities excellence.

Who Should Attend?

This Oil and Gas Surface Production Operations Facilities Training is designed for:

• Reservoir engineers and production operators and process engineers
• Planning engineers and asset managers and production engineers
• Field production personnel

Organizational Benefits

Organizations implementing oil and gas surface production operations facilities training will benefit through:

• Significantly enhanced RL-based DDPG controller CFD-integrated three-phase separator optimization capability through comprehensive training delivering measurable separation efficiency returns where the 2024 ScienceDirect study confirmed that this research explores the application of a new reinforcement learning controller for a three-phase separator connected to a gas turbine at the Basra refinery with the RL controller managing baffle positions and flow levels to achieve over 36 percent improvement in separation efficiency and significantly smoother oil-water-gas flow patterns compared to conventional control, demonstrating how advanced control tools applied to three-phase separation equipment deliver measurable operational gains directly reflecting the course’s modules on three-phase oil and water separation and system configuration and separator design and tools supporting operations management​
• Better systematic capital cost optimization of three-phase gravity separators through Ahmed et al. confirming that the optimization model takes into consideration that the separator has to be designed and sized taking into account the gas capacity constraints and the liquid retention time constraints and the settling equation constraints and the vessel pressure specifications with the model ensuring the length of gravity settling is sufficient for the phases to separate with the gravity settling section constraints set to ensure the length of gravity settling is sufficient for the phases to separate and the minimum length required for gravity settling calculated by setting the phase retention time in the vessel equal to the bubble or droplet rising or falling settling time and that conventional sizing methods based on rule-of-thumb retention times consistently produce oversized vessels while systematic optimization reduces capital cost substantially while satisfying all process performance criteria​
• Improved produced water treatment train design and offshore discharge regulatory compliance through the produced water review confirming that offshore discharge regulations generally require oil-and-grease content below 40 mg/L and that a well-designed conventional treatment train of gravity separation and hydrocyclones and dissolved air flotation and sand filtration can achieve compliance while polishing treatments including membrane filtration and advanced oxidation and coagulation and flocculation are needed for reuse applications such as injection water with produced water composition varying widely by field in terms of dissolved solids and calcium carbonate and iron sulfide and barium and strontium sulfate scaling potential reinforcing the importance of site-specific water characterization before system design​
• Strengthened competitive advantage through reduced operational cost with well-managed surface production facilities and safety and regulation and legislation adherence and detailed knowledge of oil and gas surface production operations and increased productivity through proper planning and application of advanced tools and technology to enhance production operations and regular training of other employees on industry best practices and detailed risk assessment of the facilities

Studies show that organizations implementing comprehensive oil and gas surface production operations facilities training achieve significantly enhanced delivery outcomes as research confirms the 2024 Basra refinery study showing that applying a DDPG reinforcement learning controller within a CFD simulation of a three-phase separator integrated with gas turbine exhaust delivered over 36 percent improvement in separation efficiency with significantly smoother oil-water-gas flow patterns reinforcing the course’s emphasis on three-phase oil and water separation and separator design and system configuration and operations integration tools, better organizational outcomes through Ahmed et al. evidence demonstrating that the objective function is minimized and the process repeated until the minimum vessel cost is obtained that satisfies all the constraints and that once the separator dimension and liquid levels and capital equipment cost are obtained from the minimization function the separator fixed capital cost can then be determined confirming the organizational value of training professionals in separator design gas capacity constraints and retention time constraints and settling equation constraints and seam-to-seam length calculations, and improved competitive positioning as the produced water treatment review confirms that the treatment process is classified into pretreatment and standard-reaching treatment and advanced purification treatment with organizations benefiting from personnel who understand skimmer sizing and gravity separation and flotation and filtration and scale removal and injection system solid removal techniques and coagulants and flocculation.

Empower your organization with oil and gas surface production operations facilities expertise. Enroll your team today and see the transformation in three-phase separator optimization and capital cost reduction and produced water environmental compliance excellence!

Personal Benefits

Professionals implementing oil and gas surface production operations facilities training will benefit through:

• Deeper understanding of RL-based three-phase separator optimization mastery and separation efficiency value-addition through the Basra refinery DDPG study demonstrating that production engineers and operations analysts who understand three-phase separator flow physics and baffle design and the role of gas turbine integration can engage with advanced digital and AI-based control tools to achieve step-change improvements in separation efficiency, with the course’s modules on three-phase separation and separator design and operations integration with supporting tools building the process foundation needed to work alongside and evaluate or commission these technologies​
• Enhanced separator capital cost optimization mastery and facility design value-addition through the Ahmed et al. Heliyon study showing that engineers who can apply systematic sizing methods rather than rule-of-thumb approaches to determine vessel wall thickness and retention times and gas capacity constraints and seam-to-seam lengths deliver more cost-effective facility designs without sacrificing safety or performance, with the course’s modules on mechanical design of pressure equipment and separator design equipping professionals with exactly the quantitative framework underpinning rigorous design practice​
• Stronger produced water treatment mastery and environmental compliance value-addition through the state-of-the-art review confirming that professionals who understand the full treatment chain from gravity separation and flotation through filtration and advanced polishing and can match treatment technology to water composition and disposal or reuse requirements are indispensable to both operational compliance and field water management strategy, with the course’s modules on produced water treatment and injection systems and scale removal and gravity separation and flotation and filtration developing that end-to-end technical competence​
• Advanced expertise in surface production operations facility principles, separator design optimization and three-phase separation methodologies, and produced water treatment and injection system and integrated production planning integration domains
• Enhanced career prospects and marketability in surface production operations, separator design, produced water environmental compliance, integrated production planning, production deferment administration, and field water management sectors with professionals gaining skills in DDPG RL controller evaluation, systematic three-phase separator capital cost optimization, produced water treatment train design, deferment coding and allocation reconciliation, and crude oil stabilization
• Enhanced foresight to plan and combat all possible risks that might arise in the facilities and better understanding and exposure to the working of surface production facilities
• Improved exposure and confidence to check existing conditions of the facilities and complete and detailed understanding of oil and gas surface production operations

Course Outline

Module 1: Mechanical design of pressure equipment

• Design main considerations
  • Determining vessels wall thickness
  • Design temperature
  • Corrosion considerations
  • Design pressure
  • Allowable stress
• Pressure equipment specifications
  • Pressure relief equipment
  • Shop drawings
  • Nozzles
  • Corrosion protection
  • Case study
• Thin-walled pressure vessel formula application
• Nozzle reinforcement and pressure rating verification

Module 2: System configuration

• Separation
  • Field with varying flowing tubing pressures
  • Two-phase separators
  • Initial separation pressure
  • Three-phase separators
  • Operating pressure
  • Selection of stages
• Wellhead and manifolds
• Gas dehydration
• Pumps
• Oil treating and storage
• Compressors
• Process flowsheet
• Offshore platforms
  • Equipment configurations
  • Modular construction
• Stage separation pressure optimisation for liquid recovery
• Offshore versus onshore facility configuration differences

Module 3: Principles in oil and gas surface production

• Physical properties
  • Molecular weight calculations
  • Apparent weight calculations
  • Case studies
  • Dry air molecular and apparent weight determination
  • Gas specific gravity and density
  • Getting volume of 1lb mole of the natural gas stream
• Basic oil-field chemistry
  • Elements, compounds, and mixtures
  • Atomic and molecular weights
• Hydrocarbon naming nomenclature
• Known liquid density and specific density
• Phase behaviour
• Multicomponent system
• Retrograde systems
• System components
• Lean gas systems
• Wet gas reservoir
• Dry gas reservoir
• Equation of state applications for phase behaviour prediction
• Retrograde condensate handling in surface production systems

Module 4: Three-phase oil and water separation

• Horizontal separators
• Liquid “boot” horizontal separators
• Free-water knockout
• Vertical separators
• Coalescing plates
• Turbulent coalescers flow
• Design theory
• Oil-water settling
• Gas separation
• Retention time
• Water droplet size in oil
• DDPG reinforcement learning controller for separator optimisation
• Baffle design and flow pattern effects on separation efficiency

Module 5: Separator design

• Hall-full sizing in horizontal separators
• Gas capacity constraints
• Retention time constraints
• Oil droplets separation from water
• Seam-to-seam length
• Gas capacity constraint
• Retention time constraint
• Settling equation constraint
• Systematic capital cost optimisation versus rule-of-thumb sizing
• Objective function minimisation for minimum-cost vessel dimensions

Module 6: Surface production operations

• Operations integration
• Tools supporting operations management
• Metering systems
• Introduction to surface production operations
• Overview of Well, reservoir & facility management process
• HCA applications
• Deferment coding
• Measurements
• General principles of deferment administration
• Principles of production allocation & reconciliation
• Populating and verification/validating process of data
• Deferment root cause classification and reporting
• Production allocation reconciliation workflows

Module 7: Crude oil stabilisation

• Principles of crude oil stabilisation
• Flash calculations
• Equilibrium considerations
• Stabiliser with reflux
• Cold-feed stabiliser
• Liquid hydrocarbon stabiliser
• Oil heater-treaters
• Trays and packing
  • Packing
  • Trays
  • Trays or packing
• Stabiliser reboilers
• Stabiliser feed cooler
• Stabiliser-heater
• Reid vapour pressure specification and stabiliser column control
• Flash calculation application for stabiliser feed design

Module 8: Produced water treatment

• Disposal standards and requirement
  • Onshore disposal
  • Offshore disposal
• Scale removal
• Characteristics of produced water
  • Dissolved solids
  • Calcium carbonate
  • Iron sulphide
  • Barium and strontium sulphate
• Dispersion
• Gravity separation
• Floatation
• Filtration
• Skimmer sizing
• 40 mg/L offshore discharge limit and treatment train selection
• Advanced polishing methods for produced water reuse

Module 9: Injection system

• Introduction
• Solid removal techniques
  • Suspended solids removal
  • Gravity settling
  • Flotation units
  • Filtration
  • Diffusional interception
• Filter types
  • Surface media
  • Nonfixed-pore structure media
• Removal rating
  • Beta rating system
  • Nominal ratings
  • Absolute rating
• How to choose the proper filter
  • Pressure drops
  • Void volume
  • Coagulants and flocculation
  • Temperature
  • Nature of fluid
• Diatomaceous earth filters
• Vertical cylindrical gravity settlers
• Filter selection criteria for injection water quality targets
• Coagulant dosing and flocculation optimisation

Module 10: Integrated production

• Integrated production workflow
• Business objectives for integrated production
• General and specific principles of production
• Strategy in generating robust plan linked to the business
• Production forecasting and integrated asset modelling
• KPI monitoring and performance gap identification

Real World Examples

Basra refinery – Reinforcement learning controller for three-phase separator optimization

Implementation: The 2024 ScienceDirect study published in Thermal Science and Engineering Progress confirmed that this research explores the application of a new reinforcement learning controller for a three-phase separator connected to a gas turbine at the Basra refinery, with the study representing the first application of a deep deterministic policy gradient DDPG reinforcement learning controller within a CFD simulation of a three-phase separator integrating exhaust gas from an on-site gas turbine as the separation energy source. The DDPG controller was designed to manage baffle positions and flow levels within the three-phase separator to optimize the separation of oil and water and gas phases with the CFD framework providing high-fidelity simulation of the complex multiphase flow physics within the vessel including the effects of baffle pressure and velocity on oil-water-gas interface behavior, with the reinforcement learning approach enabling the controller to learn optimal control policies through trial-and-error interaction with the CFD environment rather than relying on conventional rule-based control strategies. The study integrated the gas turbine exhaust as the energy source for the separation process creating a combined heat and power configuration that requires careful management of flow levels within the three-phase separator to maintain stable and efficient separation performance, with the DDPG controller demonstrating superior performance compared to conventional control in managing the complex interactions between gas turbine exhaust flow and three-phase separator internal fluid dynamics.​

Results: The 2024 ScienceDirect Basra refinery study confirmed that the RL controller achieved over 36 percent improvement in separation efficiency and significantly smoother oil-water-gas flow patterns compared to conventional control, providing a concrete state-of-the-art example of how digital tools and advanced control concepts taught in the course’s operations integration and metering and system configuration modules are actively reshaping surface production operations. Results confirmed that production engineers and operations analysts who understand three-phase separator flow physics and baffle design and the role of gas turbine integration can engage with advanced digital and AI-based control tools to achieve step-change improvements in separation efficiency illustrating exactly the process foundation the course builds through its modules on three-phase oil and water separation and separator design and surface production operations to work alongside and evaluate or commission these technologies.​

Capital cost optimization of three-phase gravity separators – Systematic design model

Implementation: Tariq Ahmed and Paul Russell and Nura Makwashi published in Heliyon a capital cost optimization model for sizing three-phase separators describing the development of a capital cost optimization model incorporating gas capacity constraints and liquid retention time constraints and water droplet settling equations and vessel pressure specifications to determine the minimum-cost combination of vessel diameter and length and operating conditions, with the model’s first step involving the input of initial guesses for the length and diameter of the separator and normal operating level and normal interface level. The inputted values were used to calculate the vessel mean diameter and the length required for gravity settling was then calculated for gas and oil and water with the maximum length for gravity settling then selected from the three and this length used to calculate the total vessel length and the vessel shell thickness calculated using the thin-walled pressure vessel formula and then used to calculate the vessel cost with all the constraints then calculated and once valid the objective function minimized and the process repeated until the minimum vessel cost obtained that satisfies all the constraints. The gravity settling section constraints were set to ensure the length of gravity settling is sufficient for the phases to separate with the minimum length required for gravity settling calculated by setting the phase retention time in the vessel equal to the bubble or droplet rising or falling settling time and the model demonstrating that conventional sizing methods based on rule-of-thumb retention times consistently produce oversized vessels while systematic optimization reduces capital cost substantially while satisfying all process performance criteria.​

Results: Ahmed et al. confirmed that the model shows that conventional rule-of-thumb sizing routinely oversizes separators by significant margins and that systematic optimization can reduce capital expenditure considerably while maintaining full process performance with the model successfully determining the minimum-cost combination of vessel diameter and length and operating conditions under gas capacity and liquid retention and settling constraints, directly illustrating the separator design principles and pressure equipment specifications and gas capacity constraints and retention time constraints and settling equation constraints the course covers in its modules on mechanical design of pressure equipment and separator design. Results confirmed that engineers who can apply systematic sizing methods rather than rule-of-thumb approaches to determine vessel wall thickness and retention times and gas capacity constraints and seam-to-seam lengths deliver more cost-effective facility designs without sacrificing safety or performance, illustrating exactly the quantitative framework the course builds through its modules on mechanical design of pressure equipment and separator design to underpin rigorous and commercially competitive separator facility design practice.​

Be inspired by leading oil and gas surface production operations facilities achievements. Register now to build the skills your organization needs for three-phase separator optimization and capital cost reduction and produced water environmental compliance excellence!