Life Cycle Assessment of Turbomachinery for Offshore Applications -- Updated with Field Data

Abstract

About 40 to 50 percent of the power required for the operations of a typical offshore oil and gas platform is used for gas compression. Miranda and Brick (2004) described a comprehensive procedure that could be applied to decide between mechanical or electric drives for the main compression units. The case studies demonstrated that, in most cases, the best configuration would be to combine a larger and more efficient power generation system with all electric drive machinery, including the large injection pumps and the main export and gas lift compressors. Since then, five major offshore platforms with electric driven compressors were put into operation in the Brazilian offshore province of Campos Basin. This paper describes an updated life cycle evaluation of the power generation and main compressor drivers for these “new generation” offshore oil and gas production platforms. The authors present operational data collected at these recently installed platforms, which are configured with all electric driven machinery, and make direct comparison with data collected from “previous generation” platforms, installed in the same offshore province, where the main compression units are gas turbine driven. Predicted life cycle behavior is compared to actual results for the “new generation” platforms.