Selection of Natural Gas Dehydration Process for Offshore Floating Production Storage and Offloading

Based on the oil and gas component data of an offshore gas field in West Africa, the steady‐state models of the triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration process and the low‐temperature separation dehydration process are established. The adaptability of two kinds of processes to the disturbance of pressure, temperature, and flow of imported natural gas source is studied, and the sensitivity analysis is carried out. In addition, the investment cost and operating cost of the two types of processes are compared. The low temperature separation dehydration process is more adaptable to the disturbance of inlet gas source than the TEG dehydration process. The former is more expensive to build than the latter, but less expensive to run. The low temperature separation dehydration is preferred as the natural gas dehydration process which is more suitable for floating production storage and offloading. This article establishes steady‐state models for triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration and low‐temperature separation dehydration processes, and compares the investment costs, operating costs, and maintenance costs of the two processes. The construction and maintenance costs of low‐temperature separation dehydration process are higher than those of TEG dehydration, but the operating cost is lower.