Crude Oil Transmission Hose Problems, Floating Storage Barge, Pazargad
Authors: Saber A.R. , Shamloo N. , Ansari H. , Allison R.J. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 48th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1973. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The huge storage barge Pazargad is moored to an SBM at the Cyrus Field in the Persian Gulf some 50 miles from shore. Two floating hoses, one for incoming production and one for pumping oil to the tanker loading system, also pumping oil to the tanker loading system, also connect the barge and the SBM. In the past 3 years of operation many failures have occurred in these hoses, causing high maintenance costs and production cutbacks. These failures have been reduced by changing hose configuration and by imposing operating limitations. Study of the problem has led to further methods which are expected to improve performance.

Introduction

The Cyrus Field is located in the Persian Gulf about 50 miles from the Iran shore. High salt content, 19 degrees API crude oil is produced from the Burgan sand about 7500 ft. deep. Production from the field began in 1967, and is Production from the field began in 1967, and is currently about 23,000 BOPD from 7 wells. Artificial lift is being installed this fall to increase withdrawals. The field is operated by Iran Pan American Oil Company (IPAC) for the National Iranian Oil Company and Amoco Iran Oil Company.

Production from the wells flows to a production platform via undersea pipelines. production platform via undersea pipelines. Gas is separated on the production platform, and the oil is pumped via undersea lines to storage.

Because of the great distance to shore, and the relatively low production rate, it has not been economically feasible to construct a pipeline and onshore storage tanks. When production pipeline and onshore storage tanks. When production began in 1967, the captive 40,000 dwt tanker Persian Commander was used for storage. Oil Persian Commander was used for storage. Oil was pumped to export tankers via a submarine line to a spread mooring. During these early years with the captive tanker, Cyrus production averaged only about 10,000 BOPD. This low rate was due to limited storage of only about 230,000 barrels and lack of crude oil desalting facilities.

To increase oil production the barge Pazargad was leased from Mobil Oil Corporation. Pazargad was leased from Mobil Oil Corporation. Pazargad has a nominal capacity of 133,000 dwt, Pazargad has a nominal capacity of 133,000 dwt, or about 880,000 barrels working storage with the low gravity crude oil. This is nearly four times the capacity of the captive tanker. Additionally, the Pazargad is equipped with desalting facilities for 35,000 BOPD. It also has loading pumps, living quarters for barge and field operating personnel, maintenance facilities and storage, and heliport and communication facilities. The barge is 505 ft. long, 150 ft. wide, and 82 ft. high.