Maximization of Condensate Production in Gas-Oil Separation Plant in Gulf of Suez: Case Study

It is well established that the cost of natural gas liquids (NGLs) is higher than that of characteristic gas from which it is determined. Egypt suffers from the shortage of natural gas liquids and liquefied natural gas production. So the change of a characteristic gas plant to deliver valuable condensate with economic production rate rather than lighter hydrocarbon gasses is more profitable. This study aims to solve this issue by the retrofitting of gas processing train of gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) located in Gulf of Suez in Egypt to produce the NGL. This can be accomplished by the addition of low temperature separation train (compression unit, refrigeration unit and three phase separators) that recovers condensates (C3+) from the produced gas about 70 MMscf. The increase in condensate recovery attained by proposing four revamping schemes that may tackles the NGL deficiency issue in Egypt. Another issue is the condensate export Reid vapor pressure (RVP) of the GOSP is off-specification (RVP = 14.5 psia) which makes the storage in floating roof tanks is a great risk. The solution of this problem is proposed in this study by addition of stabilizer unit achieving RVP according to export specs (below RVP = 12 psia). The four schemes are studied technically and economically by considering the percentage of increase in condensate recovery, total investment cost and its payback time. It is concluded that revamp two is the recommended scheme for this GOSP as it lead to highest increase in recovery (7125 bbl/day) which resembles 6.3% increase and reasonable payback period (3.3 years) but not least compared to the other schemes. The solution of the problem considered in the case study achieves one of the SDGs (#12: Responsible Consumption and Production).