Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
(OP)
Hi,
The kind of wellhead I see/work around is typically a 200'-500' by 200'-500' pad and inside it are wellheads flowing to high or low pressure gravity separators, gad production unit (which is a pack of indirect line heater connected to a horizontal separator), heater treaters (emulsion treaters), and then gas flowing from the afore mentioned to the gas meter then to the gas gathering lines. The water flows to the water tanks and the oil flows to the oil tanks. We may sometimes have compressors for VRU, flash gas, booster, or gas lift.
My thought is, although ASME B31.3 is for refineries and chemical plants, it is the piping code that best applies to the production pad described above, and then the lines outside the pad for gas and liquid gathering can be goverened by ASME B31.8 and B31.4 respectively because these are only for pipeline/gathering lines?
Is that a good assigning of the pressure piping code? If not, is there any other pressure piping code that best applies to the production pad described above?
Thanks a lot.
The kind of wellhead I see/work around is typically a 200'-500' by 200'-500' pad and inside it are wellheads flowing to high or low pressure gravity separators, gad production unit (which is a pack of indirect line heater connected to a horizontal separator), heater treaters (emulsion treaters), and then gas flowing from the afore mentioned to the gas meter then to the gas gathering lines. The water flows to the water tanks and the oil flows to the oil tanks. We may sometimes have compressors for VRU, flash gas, booster, or gas lift.
My thought is, although ASME B31.3 is for refineries and chemical plants, it is the piping code that best applies to the production pad described above, and then the lines outside the pad for gas and liquid gathering can be goverened by ASME B31.8 and B31.4 respectively because these are only for pipeline/gathering lines?
Is that a good assigning of the pressure piping code? If not, is there any other pressure piping code that best applies to the production pad described above?
Thanks a lot.





RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I'm guessing that "from choke-valve to block valve before barred-tee" encompasses the begining of the flow ling in from the well head to just down stream of the production equipment right?
i.e. what kind of equipment (if any) do you have down stream of the block valve/barred T, or is it just pipeline there from?
Thank you.
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
Actually even farther than the block valve...
B31.8 has nothing to do with anything not concerning "Transportation" of gas, ie. no flow lines, gathering systems, which go up to the trap or separator, oil refineries, or natural gasoline extraction plants.
B31.8 does cover dehy main gas stream piping, and all other processing plants installed as part of a gas transmission system, gas manufacturing plants, industrial plants, or mines, as described in (d).
B31.3 does not specifically state that it covers well piping and flowlines, although it is often applied to these assemblies and pipe connections when other specifications are lacking.
B31.4
Once off the lease facilities, B31.4 can cover liquid lines according to the diagram supplied in the code showing coverage from a connection at the well, or production facilities, somewhere within the lease.
It is not uncommon for onshore gathering systems in the US to be entirely unregulated.
Propritary company standards often fill the gap for well heads and flowlines, unless they are offshore, in which case API RP 14E is applied.
We will design everything from now on using only S.I. units ... except for the pipe diameter. Unk. British engineer
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
Would not designate it Class M, just inspect at that increased rate over "Normal Fluid Service".
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
We will design everything from now on using only S.I. units ... except for the pipe diameter. Unk. British engineer
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I was an expert witness in a personal injury case once where the plaintiff claims he was injured because the well site was not built to industry standards. The plaintiff lost because the defendant was able to show that there is no industry standards that apply between the wellhead wing valves and the upstream flange on the well site meter. If there is no well site meter (as is common on casinghead gas systems on stripper wells), then no code applies to the gathering line either. If there is a well site meter then the gathering line comes under B31.4 or B31.8.
I can't find anything in B31.3 that admits jurisdiction over well sites.
David
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
And that's why when I was working onshore West Africa I saw gathering systems and flow lines that were made of tubing, laid in a ditch next to the wellpad access roads....
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I think that is a different issue (I once saw a 3/4 inch solid copper bar in a fuse holder on a platform in the Gulf of Suez, no code in the world would have allowed that). The industry has pretty much circled the wagons that offshore platforms should be built to B31.3. Where the API stops and the ASME starts is sometimes an issue (I talked to an Engineer with a major a few years back that wanted to use B31.3 on the riser off the subsea wellhead, but several folks suggested that he might want to contiue with API tubulars up to the platform deck).
David
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
API RP 14E is the only specific coverage I know of that does apply to offshore platforms and MMS and the Coast Guard will see that you follow it.
Zdas is correct in that there will be little difference in materials, as long as the station design factors are used in B31.8, not the pipeline design factors. I think there would be a difference if B31.4 was used, because there you will only find one design factor of 0.72, however both of those codes state that they DO NOT apply to wells, so there's no value to discussing those two codes any further for well site applications ...IMO.
The accepted practice, as far as I've ever seen is, as has already been said above, to use B31.3, or propriatory standards (typically based on the same as a minimum requirement) and include 14E when offshore.
We will design everything from now on using only S.I. units ... except for the pipe diameter. Unk. British engineer
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I was pretty sure you were wrong about B31.3 not having language excluding wellsites, so I just read the exclusions section and you are right, I was wrong. B31.3 is apparently broad enough to cover this equipment. I was sure that I had seen exclusionary language in the old versions, but maybe I was smoking something that isn't legal in New Mexico.
So, if onshore wellsite equipment is designed by an engineer then it should be ASME B31.3. If it is "designed" by a high-school dropout production foreman, then Sched 40 PVC connected with ABS glue and 55 gallon drums for knockout pots is still just fine.
David
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I have also seen many times exactly what you are talking about when you mentioned the foreman's mash up specials on remote well pads... some not so remote. I personally believe code design of some sort should be required on even remote well pads due to a number of accidents, one fatal, I could only attribute to poor design and operating practices for sand separators, dehys, heaters, field compressors and well meters, relief valves locked closed (because they were always flowing), etc. Many times the pressures are significant and I don't think well pad installation foreman are the ones that should be designing the stuff. I am reasonably certain that BP/ARCO's leak in 2006 on the North Slope gathering system was the result of not being required to pay attention to what was going on in an unregulated system where not even minimal routine inspections were required, leading to excessive corrosion and a very large leak. I'm sure that BP no longer allows unregulated gathering systems to run themselves basically unattended, as they got a pretty significant fine for that one too, if I remember correctly.
But until gathering systems do become regulated, there was some talk about requiring it after the above leak, we have to depend only on the remoteness of these systems for general personnal safety, but unfortunately that still won't prevent environmental damage. The majors and most intermediates all have company standards that cover well pad installations, but most of the smaller independents don't have any standards at all... for anything.
You were right about the number of pretty bad mash ups out there.
We will design everything from now on using only S.I. units ... except for the pipe diameter. Unk. British engineer
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
So, I might consider reviewing some of the API codes (on my hard drive) like RP 1111 Design, Construction, Operation, and Maintenance of Offshore Hydrocarbon Pipelines (Limit State Design)
Spec 5L Line Pipe
RP 14E Design and Installation of Offshore Production Platform Piping Systems
RP 5C Welding connections
or even
DNV5 Guidelines No. 14, Free Spanning Pipelines
OK, disregard this message.
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
In other words, where the Codes don't claim ownership, the Regulators attempt to resolve it, and Regulatory Compliance takes hierarchy over Code Compliance.
As one rather smart engineer once said:
"You can do whatever you want as long as you know what you are doing.".
Regards,
SNORGY.
RE: Which code is more applicable to an oil/gas production pad piping
I might edit it a little bit ...
... as long as you know what we wanted.
JLS, as an instrumentation engineer, you should be able to get away with just the RP 14E, unless you like punishing yourself.
Limit state I leave to DNV code pipelines only. I don't think RP 1111 is widely adopted in practical sense for most work. I'd like to hear from anyone that uses it on a regular basis.
We will design everything from now on using only S.I. units ... except for the pipe diameter. Unk. British engineer