Optimization of Plant Operations
Authors: Goodman D.F. , French B.J. , Grekel H. 
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.

Evolutionary Operation (EVOP) Programs are being placed into operation in more than fifty Amoco operated gasoline plants which are widely separated geographically. Most natural gas plants operate under continually changing plants operate under continually changing conditions such as gas rates, gas compositions, product specifications, product prices, product specifications, product prices, equipment and process technology, government regulations and company goals. In order to obtain maximum profits, plant operations can be guided by a program which continually optimizes operations to the changing conditions and the EVOP program appears to be a viable means of program appears to be a viable means of accomplishing this.

Amoco's EVOP program is a team effort with the Plant Manager heading the team and assistance from Plant supervisors and personnel from the Local, Division and Headquarters Office Plant Engineering Section. This brings maximum technical experience to bear on each project. project. In order to evaluate a program of this nature, a six months pilot test was initiated in two East Texas plants processing sour gascondensate from several Smackover Field wells. At the end of the test period, the equivalent annual value of the changes in plant operations in both plants totaled $110,000. All benefit was from operating cost reduction. Also, it was estimated that potential savings were at least equal to those already demonstrated.

The success of the pilot program prompted expansion of the program to include additional plants. Over the next 18 months, the EVOP plants. Over the next 18 months, the EVOP program was expanded to include all Amoco operated program was expanded to include all Amoco operated plants. The changes in plant operations since plants. The changes in plant operations since the start of EVOP have led to profit increases which, expressed on an annual basis, total $775,000 per year companywide. The increase has been accomplished with existing manpower and negligible new investment.

Amoco Production Company produces oil and natural gas and the associated LPG and sulfur. This involves the operation of more than fifty gas processing plants scattered from the U. S. Gulf Coast to Northern British Columbia, Canada. The plants process both sweet and sour gas and range in size from 2 to 500 MMCFD of inlet gas. Some of the new plants employ the most recent designs for processing gas, others are well over 20 years old and employ less efficient processes which would not be built today. processes which would not be built today. However, the problem of maximizing profits by adjusting to continually changing conditions is common to all these plants. These changes include gas rates, gas compositions, product specifications, product prices, equipment and process technology, government regulations and process technology, government regulations and company goals.