Subsea well production facility
AssigneeABB Offshore Systems Limited
InventorsClay F. Anderson, John Allen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for separating and treating water produced from a subsea well includes separating the water subsea, and then separating the water from residual hydrocarbons on a surface vessel. The water treated at the surface, can be dumped to sea or injected into other subsea wells. The residual hydrocarbons separated on the vessel can be conveyed subsea for transportation to a processing facility along with hydrocarbons from the subsea separator. Also, the residual hydrocarbons from the surface separator can be used to fuel gas powered equipment in order to drive other equipment or to generate electricity for the vessel.
Claims19
A method for producing a subsea well, comprising:
- conveying well fluid from a subsea well to a subsea separator;
- separating water from the well fluid with the subsea separator to produce water with residual hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon liquids;
- conveying the hydrocarbon liquids directly to a subsea collector for transportation to a remote processing facility;
- pumping the water with the residual hydrocarbons to a vessel at the surface;
- and then
- separating the water from the residual hydrocarbons with a separator at the vessel.
A method for producing a subsea well, comprising:
- separating water from well fluid produced by a subsea well with a subsea separator;
- then
- pumping the water with residual hydrocarbons to a vessel at the surface, and conveying hydrocarbons remaining after the separation of the water with the subsea separator to a subsea collector;
- separating the water from the residual hydrocarbons with a surface separator located at the vessel;
- separating liquid residual hydrocarbons from gaseous residual hydrocarbons of the residual hydrocarbons;
- and
- pumping the liquid residual hydrocarbon to the subsea collector.
A well fluid treatment system, comprising:
- a vessel;
- a subsea separator adapted to be located adjacent a subsea well for separating water from well fluid from a subsea well;
- a riser extending from a water outlet of the subsea separator to the vessel;
- a subsea collector which receives the hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon outlet of the subsea separator and conveys them to a facility for process;
- and
- a surface separator on the vessel for receiving the water from the riser and for separating residual hydrocarbons from the water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.