Successful identification, evaluation, and management of bottlenecks in a complex offshore production processing system is challenging but can increase daily production significantly. The Constitution platform in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, which was commissioned in 2006 with a nameplate capacity of 70,000 BOPD, is a complex system with four fields in varying stages of development. The complete paper focuses on a multidisciplinary process developed to identify, evaluate, and eliminate interdependent bottlenecks on the platform and its flowline network during a 16-month period; this synopsis details some of these findings.
Integrated Process
A study and field trial during 2016–17 demonstrated the ability to separate fluids above the design capacity, but the team faced challenges in terms of flow reliability even at lower production rates. Therefore, in 2017, an effort was launched to understand and mitigate this issue.
