On the path of pursuing efficient, safe, and environmentally – friendly oil and gas extraction and gathering – transportation, the direct transportation (multiphase transportation) of oil – gas – water mixtures has always been a bottleneck that the industry urgently needs to break through. The traditional “separate production and transportation” mode relying on large – scale separation facilities is costly and has a complex process, which can hardly meet the needs of modern oilfield development. Nowadays, the multiphase pump system with screw pump as the core technology is leading a profound revolution in oil, gas, and water transportation, significantly simplifying processes, increasing production, and reducing costs. This article will deeply analyze the key technical advantages of the screw pump in multiphase flow transportation and how it enables the multiphase pump to achieve efficient integrated transportation of oil, gas, and water, providing cutting – edge insights and practical references for industry practitioners.
I. Pain Points in Oil, Gas, and Water Transportation: The Shackles of the Traditional Separation Mode
High CAPEX/OPEX
Building and maintaining separators, storage tanks, and independent oil, gas, and water pipeline systems is extremely costly.
Complex Surface Facilities
It takes up a large amount of space on platforms/stations, increasing the difficulty of engineering design, construction, and management.
Production Bottlenecks
High wellhead backpressure, especially, restricts the productivity release of low – pressure, low – production, or mature oil and gas wells.
Operational Risks
Multiple systems increase leakage, safety, and environmental risk points.
The industry urgently needs a transportation solution that can directly and efficiently handle unseparated oil – gas – water multiphase mixtures.
II. Screw Pump: The Cornerstone Technology for Efficient Multiphase Flow Transportation of Oil, Gas, and Water
Screw pumps (especially twin – screw or triple – screw pumps), with their unique positive – displacement working principle and excellent medium adaptability, have become an ideal choice to address the challenges of oil – gas – water multiphase transportation.
Core Working Principle
- Rely on precisely meshing screws rotating in the pump cavity.
- Form a series of continuous, sealed, and axially moving chambers.
- Smoothly and with low – pulsation, push the fluid (oil, gas, water, sand mixture) at the suction end towards the discharge end.
Key Points
Its positive – displacement characteristics make it more tolerant of gas phases, enabling it to maintain a certain transportation capacity under high gas volume fraction (GVF) conditions.
A Powerful Tool for Conquering Multiphase Transportation Challenges
- High GVF Adaptability: Compared with centrifugal pumps, it can operate stably when the GVF fluctuates significantly or is even high (the specific capacity depends on the pump type and design).
- Wide Viscosity Range: It can effectively transport fluids from thin oil to highly viscous oil and waxy crude oil.
- Solid Tolerance: It can handle fluids containing a certain amount of solid impurities such as sand grains.
- Strong Operating Condition Stability: It can still maintain a stable output under conditions such as high pressure, variable flow rate, and viscosity changes.
- Low – Shear and Low – Pulsation: It treats the fluid gently, reducing emulsification and protecting pipelines and downstream equipment.
The Core Value of Screw Pumps in Oil, Gas, and Water Transportation
- Reliable and Efficient: It provides high volumetric efficiency and reduces unit transportation energy consumption.
- Simplify the Front – end: Reduce or eliminate the need for complex pretreatment (such as fine separation and pressurization).
- Enhance System Resilience: Adapt to well – condition changes and ensure production continuity.
III. Multiphase Pump: The Integrated Transportation Revolution of Oil, Gas, and Water Empowered by Screw Pumps
The multiphase pump is not a brand – new pump type. Its core is usually highly optimized and enhanced screw pump technology, integrated with advanced control, sealing, and auxiliary systems to form a complete oil – gas – water multiphase transportation solution. Multiphase pump systems of leading manufacturers such as Vigorous represent the top – level in this field.
System – level Solution
- Core: An efficient and reliable multiphase transportation unit based on the screw pump.
- Integration: Intelligent control systems, gas treatment devices (if necessary), condition monitoring systems, etc.
- Function: A single device can directly pressurize and transport untreated wellhead produced fluids (a complex mixture of oil, gas, water, condensate, sand, etc.).
The Disruptive Changes Brought by Multiphase Pumps
- Completely Simplify Surface Facilities: Eliminate large – scale separators, independent pipeline networks, and supporting metering and boosting stations. Significantly reduce CAPEX and save platform/station space.
- Significantly Increase Oil and Gas Production: Actively reduce wellhead backpressure, release formation energy, rejuvenate low – pressure, low – production, and mature wells, and improve recovery efficiency.
- Effectively Reduce Operating Costs: Simplify processes to reduce OPEX, and reduce labor and maintenance requirements. Based on the reliability of screw pumps, the system has a long MTBF.
- Enable the Development of Marginal Oilfields: Make the economic development of remote, deep – sea, or small oilfields possible.
- Improve Environmental Protection and Safety: Reducing the number of devices means reducing leakage risk points, and the closed – loop transportation is more environmentally friendly.
