Technical Resources
This is provided for the benefit of our friends and clients. In this Section, you will find some useful resources to download and use.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@gatellc.com in case you have any questions.
GATEKEEPER
Chemical Systems Engineering
Produced Water Primary Treatment Options (July 2011) - Produced water systems are typically designed in stages. These stages are primary treatment, secondary treatment, and polishing. Each stage has select equipment that specialize in the removal of oil and solids from the water. This GATEKEEPER focuses on the primary treatment equipment options... More...
Introduction to Produced Water Treatment (June 2011) - As per current regulations, Oil and Grease (O&G) content of produced water (PW) discharged into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is limited to a 29 mg/l monthly average with allowable excursions to 42 mg/l. Compliance to regulations has historically been the design basis for produced water treating systems. Environmental stewardship is now becoming a key priority in the industry... More...
Centrifugal Pump Selection Part 2: Horsepower, Efficiency, & NPSH (February 2011) - In part 2, horsepower, efficiency and NPSH will be discussed which will lead to a final centrifugal pump selection... More...
Centrifugal Pump Selection Part 1: Total Head (January 2011) - Centrifugal pumps are the most common type of pumps used to move fluids through a system. Centrifugal pumps are required for high pressure, low flow systems. In this 2-part GATEKEEPER series, we will discuss how centrifugal pumps work and what information is needed to determine the pump needed for a particular application... More...
Ballast Tank Water Treatment (November 2010) - SPAR hulls and other floating production facilities may require temporary ballasting with seawater during transportation from the hull construction site to the integration location. Ballast water tanks may be completely or partially filled with seawater in this case, where some tanks may remain filled for the life of the asset and others will be drained and left dry once the installation process is complete. Seawater often contains... More...
Chemical Compatibility Considerations (June 2010) - Production chemicals that are used in the process system offshore vary in configuration, carrier solvents, type, viscosity and performance. These can be based on a range of inorganic, organic, simple, complex and polymeric chemicals. As such, they have different fluid characteristics and respond differently to pressure and temperature... More...Chemical Injection Rate Control Valves (January 2010) - IRCVs can be effective in deepwater. Successful application requires a systems approach and incorporation of lessons learned. The conventional approach to injection of production chemicals is to use a separate pump for each injection point. For topsides injection at low to moderate pressures these systems are small and inexpensive... More...
Commissioning & Startup
Commissioning Lessons Learned - Methanol System (May 2011) - Deepwater oil and gas facilities are designed, constructed and commissioned by multiple teams with multiple objectives. Consequently, design disconnects and lack of foresight become apparent during the commissioning and startup... More...
Control Flow Rates at Startup (September 2010) - Either by nature, or by training, engineers are conservative. That is generally a good thing, but we sometimes go too far. For example, chokes and control valves are often oversized even for normal operation, and are sometimes far too large to provide adequate control of low flow rates at initial startup... More...
Keys to A Successful Initial Startup (April 2010) - Deepwater oil and gas facilities are designed, constructed, and commissioned by multiple teams with multiple objectives. Effectively managing those interfaces is important in every phase of the project and critically important at Initial Startup... More...
Flow Assurance & Systems Engineering
GATE HAZOP Process (August 2010) - A group of subject matter experts gather together to evaluate a design; for a plugged-in engineer, nothing is more fun than that! Yet HAZOPs are boring and exhausting for most people. That's wrong! HAZOPs should be fun! Picture yourself leaving a HAZOP exhausted, but hoping you can attend another... More...
Induced Gas Flotation - A Unit Operations Perspective (March 2010) - Induced Gas Flotation (IGF) has been used for Produced Water (PW) treatment for decades. The roots of flotation technology are in mining, where it has been used to enrich metal ores since the late 1800's. The technology has evolved somewhat to better suit the special limitations presented by offshore facilities... More...
Materials & Corrosion
Common Pitfalls During Cathodic Protection Design (December 2010) - For most offshore facilities and subsea components such as trees and manifolds, carbon steel is a common material of construction. Effective external corrosion control is essential for the longevity and safe operation of these components. For long-term external corrosion protection of subsea steel components, cathodic protection (CP) along with corrosion coatings... More...
Flexible Pipe for Sour Service (February 2010) - The offshore use of flexible pipe in oil and gas production has been steadily increasing since first used in the 1970's. Initially used in North Sea and North Slope applications, the use of flexible pipe is beginning to expand to other locations as new fields are discovered in ever more challenging locations. In particular, the expansion of the industry into deeper waters... More...
Use and Selection of 13Cr Steels (July 2010) - Of all the corrosion resistant alloys (CRA) used in oil and gas developments, martensitic stainless steels (MSS) are some of the most common. These steels not only have the advantages of normal steels: high strength, cost effective, easy to manufacture, available in a wide variety of product forms, but they also have good CO2 corrosion resistance at higher temperatures as a result of their 11% minimum chromium content... More...
Waterflood
Nitrate Injection Vs. SRU - A Comparison of Operating Costs (April 2011) - In GATE, LLC experience, there are many preconceptions based around the comparitive costs of reactive versus proactive souring control strategies. One such area is the comparitive operating expendtiure (OPEX) associated with the use of either sulfate removal or nitrate injection... More...
Reactive Souring Surviellance & Control (March 2011) - Reservoir souring is defined as the generation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) by bacteria in the reservoir following water injection... Proactive and reavtice souring control methods can be adopted to prevent, control, or alleviate SRB activity as part of a proactive souring control program... More...
Placement of Sulfate Removal Units in Water Injection Systems (October 2010) - Deepwater seawater injection projects, whether subsea or dry-tree developments, generally face the dual challenge of scale control and reservoir souring. These challenges are such that pratically all deepwater seawater injection projects are forced to adopt a proactive approach... More...
Subsea Raw Water Injection (May 2010) - Water injection is often an integral part of the field development plan adopted for subsea developments, where projects may not be economically viable in its absence. However, a significant drawback to the use of topsides water injection facilities for offshore developments is the weight and space required for equipment... More...
Reducing Scale Buildup in Waterflood Operations (September 2009) - Scale has a large tendency to form immediately around the water injector completions due to the mixing of injected brine and formation brine. This is especially true during initial water injection and startup, before the formation water is fully swept away from the completion... More...
