SYNOPSIS

In the upstream offshore oil & gas production, effective and efficient sand separation and management are vital, since the presence of sand particles and solids in wellhead production flowlines are likely to cause erosion and blockage issues in the subsequent downstream equipment at production platforms.   As a consequence, dangerous incidents, such as failures of flowlines, production separators, pumps and control valves, have a higher risk of occurring.   Moreover, oily sands discharged into the sea are also an environmental concern.

In this one-day course, the participants will learn the engineering design, operation and maintenance of the technologies, such as wellhead desanders, for the removal and cleaning of sand and solids prior to discharge.   Proven sand removal technologies, such as wellhead desanders, produced water desanding hydrocyclones, sand fluidizers, and sand cleaning systems are commonly used in the upstream oil & gas production.   However, these sand removal and cleaning systems need to be designed and operated correctly to ensure optimized separation performance.

The course will cover the following:
i.   Equipment Engineering Design Philosophy (Principles of operation, desander performance characteristics),
ii   Package Description (Review of all package components, major design and engineering features),
iii. Equipment Start-up Procedure (Initial start-up/commissioning, normal start-up),
iv. Normal Operation Procedure (Operating parameters, system monitoring, solids removal),
v.  Shutdown procedure (Temporary isolation, prolonged shutdown),
vi. Troubleshooting and maintenance (Routine maintenance, liner removal and replacement).

At the end of the course, the participants will be able to understand the importance of offshore sand separation processes and how it can be performed effectively and efficiently during the design, operation and maintenance stages.


SPEAKERS

Ir. Dr. John Eow is a Chartered Engineer (UK) and a Professional Engineer (BEM), with more than 16 years’ experience in the Oil & Gas industry, having worked with sand separation and management, produced water treatment, crude oil dehydration-desalting, seawater treatment & injection, and gas processing technologies and equipment.  

He also conduct lectures and training in chemical and process engineering at Singapore Institute of Technology.   John obtained his B.Eng in Chemical Engineering (1st Class Hons) and PhD in 1998 and 2002, respectively, from the University of Surrey, UK.   His PhD work was on electrostatic water-oil treatment technology.   Over the years, he has worked as a technology specialist with oil & gas technology companies, such as Global Process Systems (Malaysia), Keppel Offshore and Marine (Singapore), Cameron Process Systems (Singapore, Japan and Malaysia), and EDES Technology Malaysia.   His experiences cover a wide range from Technical and Commercial Proposal to Detailed Engineering to Commissioning to Production Improvement & Troubleshooting for oil & gas processes and technologies.  

He has also conducted technical training and process improvement work for Saudi ARAMCO, SABIC, PETRONAS, Sarawak SHELL, CNOOC, Murphy Oil Sarawak, Husky Oil Energy, GAIL India, Transwater API, CPOC, Boustead-Salcon Water Solutions, etc.   John is also a HAZOP workshop facilitator for oil & gas companies.