An oil production plant is a facility which processes production fluids from oil wells in order to separate out key components and prepare them for export. Typical oil well production fluids are a mixture of oil, gas and produced water. An oil production plant is distinct from an oil depot, which does not have processing facilities.
Oil production plant may be associated with onshore or offshore oil fields.
Many permanent offshore installations have full oil production facilities.[1][2] Smaller platforms and subsea wells export production fluids to the nearest production facility, which may be on a nearby offshore processing installation or an onshore terminal. The produced oil may sometimes be stabilised (a form of distillation) which reduces vapour pressure and sweetens "sour" crude oil by removing hydrogen sulphide, thereby making the crude oil suitable for storage and transport. Offshore installations deliver oil and gas to onshore terminals which may further process the fluids prior to sale or delivery to oil refineries.
- ^ Magnus Process Flow Diagrams 1983; NW Hutton Process Flow Diagrams 1987; Shearwater Process Flow Diagrams 2005
- ^ Ken Arnold and Maurice Stewart (1998). Surface Production Operations, Volume 1: Design of Oil-Handling Systems and Facilities. Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology. ISBN 9780750678537.