Meeting Archives

19 June 2012 Presentations

Harry Giles, COQA Executive Director, opened the meeting and welcomed all the members and guests of the two associations. In his opening remarks, he summarized the mission and meeting policy of COQA. He then thanked the numerous companies whose logos appear above for their generous support and for helping to make the meeting a success. In closing, Harry thanked Andre Lemieux, CCQTA Secretary, Bill Lywood, and Randy Segato for their considerable support in arranging the COQA portion of the program and provided each an acrylic COQA paperweight as a memento.



Dennis Sutton, Marathon Petroleum, opened the 1st day’s technical session with a discussion of COQA’s proposed “Domestic Sweet / WTI Specifications.” Historically, Domestic Sweet as traded at Cushing, OK, was a blend of various low-sulfur crude oils produced in Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding areas. Today, however, this stream may contain, high-TAN crudes from Africa, Canadian blends, and Brazilian heavy crude oils and still meet Nymex specifications. The proposed additional specifications are meaningful, attainable, and will not limit liquidity of Domestic Sweet. In illustrating this, Dennis provided data on TAN, MCR, yields, and Ni + V.



Charles Ward, Alberta Department of Energy (ADOE) on the “Alberta Bitumen Assay Program – Overview and Technical Challenges.” The majority of Alberta’s oil sands are government-owned. Royalties are collected on produced bitumen, based on the prevailing WTI price. Currently, the bitumen is valued with a bitumen valuation methodology (BVM) using density as the variable. To better assess value, ADOE plans to implement an assay program for production from 20 projects accounting for >90% of the bitumen produced in the province. An RFP has been issued for an independent laboratory to collect and analyze samples over a two-year period. Charles presented a matrix of the assay requirements, and discussed the issues believed to be associated with sampling and analysis. The program should commence no later than 3Q2012.



Walt Giesbrecht, Flint Hill Resources, on “Challenges of Processing Heavy Canadian Crudes.” Flint Hill Resources processed predominantly heavy Canadian crude oils at its 300,000 b/d Pine Hill, MN refinery. In doing so, it has faced a number of challenges including:            

Effectively desalting the incoming crude oils;
Handling solids downstream of the desalter units that go to the wastewater treatment plant; and
Monitoring and controlling corrosion resulting from the high TAN levels.           
For each of these, Walt discussed their adverse impacts in a refinery. For example, effective corrosion control programs will differ depending on the process unit and its operating parameters.



Steve Fekete, Purvin & Gertz, on “North American Crude Oil Market Overview.” Since 2008, there has been a significant decline in product demand resulting in a number of refinery turndowns. The U.S. is now a net exporter of refined products, mostly diesel fuel. Refinery rationalizations have seen closing of the Hovensa refinery in the Caribbean and three Philadelphia-area refineries that provided nearly one-half of the products consumed in East Coast markets. Tight oil resources such as the Bakken, in both Canada and the U.S. are impacting global markets and helping North America to become less dependent on imports. These resources are, however, resulting in changes in transportation and refining logistics. Crude by rail shipment are increasing dramatically, pipelines are being reversed, and refiners are having to adjust to crude slates of differing quality than customarily processed. One major change in this latter respect is streams with little or no residuum that can be fed to cokers.



Darren Curran, Cenovus Energy, on “WRB Refining Wood River CORE Project – Expanding heavy oil processing.” WRB Refining is a 50:50 business venture with Phillips 66 for refineries operated by the latter at Borger, TX and Wood River, IL. At Wood River, a new 65 Mbbl/d coker project was recently completed that increased diesel yields by 5%. The coker was designed to process synbit to mitigate light ends handling in the refinery. Modules were constructed in Mississippi then transported by barge up the Mississippi River. Barge deliveries were hampered by unusually cold conditions and extreme ice, then flooding that impacted air drafts under bridges spanning the river. Coke produced at the refinery is to be shipped by barge and used for power generation.



Paul Tsounis, Albert Department of Energy on “Alberta’s Energy Markets: Opportunities and Challenges.” A number of key issues are driving today’s oil markets. Among these is the uncertain economic situation in Europe and the U.S., Iran, slowing growth in the Asian Pacific region, and increased crude oil supplies resulting from turndowns in consumption in many areas. Alberta is well positioned to meet some of these challenges. Its natural gas potential is high, but faces competition from growing production of shale gas in the U.S. from the Marcellus and other deposits. Similarly, Alberta’s crude oil resources are increasing in availability but adequate transportation infrastructure is lacking, environmental concerns continue, and competition from the Bakken, Niobrara, and Utica shale among others is growing.



Hillary Stevenson, Genscape, on “Tracking of Pipeline Movements of Crude Oil and Condensate Between Canada and the U.S.” Genscape currently monitors approximately 165 million barrels of crude oil storage capacity, 7 million barrels per day of pipeline throughput, and 0.5 million barrels/day of rail loadings/unloadings in the U.S. and Canada. Monitoring involves over flights where changes in tank levels are observed and tracking of power consumption for pipeline movements. In addition to these, Genscape tracks progress in construction of new storage and transportation infrastructure. Data is disseminated through a web dashboard, PDF reports, and real-time email alerts. In illustrating her presentation, Hillary provided examples for Spearhead, Keystone, and Southern Lights pipelines, storage at Cushing, OK, and construction at Patoka, IL.



Cameron Konecnik, TransCanada, on “Keystone Pipeline – Optimizing Delivered Quality.” The Keystone Pipeline originates at Hardisty, AB and delivers crude oil to Wood River and Patoka, IL, and Cushing, OK at a nominal throughput of 590,000 b/d. Between Hardisty and the several destination points, there are no breakout points. This, together with rigorous batch detection instrumentation encompassing density, viscosity, and temperature and pressure help to preserve batch integrity. Various operational controls including minimum batch sizes and adherence to a batch train sequence that minimizes contamination further helps to preserve quality. Several examples of monitoring results were presented to illustrate the effectiveness of these measures.



Tammy Sauer, Kinder Morgan Canada, Inc., on “Life is a Batch – Supply and Quality Challenges on the KMC Pipelines.” As the largest midstream company in North America, with over 75,000 miles of pipeline and 180 terminals, Kinder Morgan faces a number of challenges in maintaining quality of its deliveries. Among its facilities are:           

Trans Mountain Pipeline;
Puget Sound Pipeline; and
Express and Platte Pipelines.           
Quality is controlled and maintained through a suite of strategies that includes:           

Batch sizing and staging;
Use of buffers;
Common streaming; and
Provision of merchant storage.           


Ashok Anand, Enbridge Pipeline, on “Enbridge System and Commodity Consolidation.” Currently, Enbridge moves 54 commodities through their system, which includes 176 receipt and delivery points at 70 locations. With increases in production, system capacity is being challenged. While at an early stage in discussions with shippers, Enbridge is looking to consolidate similar commodities and to improve scheduling. A conceptual consolidation matrix for these commodities involving 10 pools was presented. Besides its pipeline operations, Enbridge has a rail shipment in North Dakota where they are handling approximately 100,000 barrels / day of Bakken.


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In closing the day’s session, the floor was opened to questions of the presenters and general discussion on any topic of interest. Of concern to a number of attendees is vapor pressure of shipments and its accurate measurement. Of particular concern is that while shipments at origin can have an acceptable RVP, by the time they are delivered in the U.S., RVP may have increased to unallowable levels due to warm ground temperatures traversed by pipelines. It was suggested that our two organizations should work jointly on developing an acceptable criterion for RVP of shipments.

Also, methodology used in determining true vapor pressure involving AP42 for converting RVP to TVP is outmoded.

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20 June 2012 Presentations and CCQTA Project Reviews

Gerald Bruce, CCQTA President. Gerald welcomed all to day 2 of the meetings and briefly reviewed the day’s agenda. Today’s theme “Quality and Technology” would favor more technical presentations which would include a review of CCQTA projects later in the day. Also included in the agenda was a CCQTA Annual General Meeting and all were invited to attend. Gerald also reviewed the Association’s structure, objectives and membership numbers.



Branko Banjac, Maxxam Analytics Inc. on “Predicting & Measuring Viscosity of Crude Oil Blends.” Viscosity can be measured by several methods, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Critical factors in viscosity measurement are the measurement temperature and, if non-Newtonian, the shear rate. Viscosity is a specification for transportation on pipelines, and heavy crude oils must be diluted with a less viscous diluent to meet that specification. Estimating the viscosity of a blend of diluent and heavy crude oil can be done using the Wright Blending Method or the ASTM blending method. The Wright method is considered more accurate, but requires more viscosity/temperature data to use.

Normally Maxxam will prepare a set of real blends of heavy crude with diluent, spanning the dilution range of interest. Then viscosity tests are performed on each blend at multiple temperatures. This provides input on incompatibility issues, shrinkage data, and can be used to extrapolate the required dilution data for the viscosity target blend. Challenges exist in viscosity measurement due to butane blending, presence of stable/unstable emulsions, and slurries.



Berry Beumer, XOS, on “On-Line Analysis for Transition Metals and Chlorine in Crude Oil and Aqueous Matrices.” Berry reviewed the capabilities of some of their bench top and on line instrumentation designed to measure S, Cl, Si, P and a selected group of transition metals in both oil and water matrices. Through the use of specialized optics and a dynamic window module, XOS has achieved sub-ppm detection limits for the X-Ray analysis of many elements of interest in the oil industry. Results for both field and lab analysis of chorine and metals were provided to demonstrate the capabilities of the on line analyzer to generate meaningful plant data, and highlight the opportunity to expand the analysis matrix to more than one element at a time. Berry pointed out that in the last few years XOS has invested significant resources expanding the use of MWD XRF technology, beyond its historical use for sulfur analysis of finished product, to measuring for the presence of a number of contaminants in crude oil.



Travis Davies, CAPP, on “Getting the Word Out.” Travis’ presentation focused on providing an update of the public’s perception of the oil sands industry and the impact of recent communication efforts. CAPP’s marketing and communications efforts in Canada over the last 16 months have improved the public’s perception of the oil sands industry in general, the industry’s willingness to communicate with the public, and their efforts at minimizing environmental impacts.Most of this progress has occurred with the undecided/neutral parties. In the US, the public’s perception of the Canadian oil industry is somewhat more positive. The environmental impact of oils sands is a concern although there is a belief that proper development can be managed. Hot topics such as the development of the Keystone XL pipeline are a higher profile issue for politicians, than for the general public. Overall the US consumer favors an increase in the use of Canadian crude oil.



Dr. Lloyd Snowdon (speaker), Barry Bennet, and Steve Larter, Gushor Inc. on “Oil Sand Resources and Production Practices.” Unconventional heavy oil has been variously described using terms such as “heavy oil”, “super heavy oil” and bitumen. These terms are usually differentiated on the basis of the density of the oil (or API gravity) and/or the viscosity of the oil. Unfortunately there are no universally accepted definitions. In general, heavy oil differentiated from conventional crude oil at an API gravity of about 20° (density = .934 kg/m3) with bitumen defined as having a density of <10° API (density = 1 kg/m3; the density of water). Viscosity values under reservoir conditions generally fall into the range of >100 cP to millions of cP (centipoise). Heavy oil and bitumen deposits in Alberta and Saskatchewan almost always show a large vertical variation in density and especially viscosity over the thickness of a reservoir (typically a few 10s of meters). A range of 20,000 cP through 10s of millions of cP (dead oil viscosity at 20°C) is not uncommon. Thus the differentiation of heavy oil, super heavy oil and bitumen is essentially moot.

Viscosity decreases approximately exponentially with increasing temperature and thus the heating of heavy oils using steam injections is normally required in order to produce them. Two common approaches are used. The first is cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) in which steam is injected into a well and then the oil is produced back from that well after a suitable “soak” time. This method is useful for thin reservoirs (~5 m). For thicker reservoirs, a second method, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is commonly used. This method uses a pair of horizontal wells drilled a few vertical meters apart and extending up to 1600 m in length. Steam is injected into the upper well and heated oil is produced from the lower well. The steam chamber evolves through time such that the initially produced oil reflects the character of the “bottom oil” and later production reflects the “top oil”. This time sequence allows the chemical characterization of the produced oil to monitor the SAGD process.

At SAGD and CSS temperatures of about 180–330 °C, C-C and C-S bonds in the heavy oil may break, resulting in the chemical alteration of the oil. These are generally referred to as aquathermolysis or hydrous pyrolysis reactions because of the presence of water and organic compounds. One of the most significant reactions involves the production of H2S because of the relatively high concentrations of sulfur (up to ~8%) in the initial oil. Thermally produced H2S is autocatalytic and thus concentrations of this product tend to increase during the life cycle of a SAGD site. Case studies indicate that the volume of H2S production could limit a project from an environmental and/or economic perspective. SAGD is a highly effective process for recovering heavy oil from the deposits in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The stratigraphic and geographic variability of both the physical and chemical properties of the oil mean that a detailed characterization and thorough understanding of the processes is necessary in order to establish the optimum engineering conditions for oil production.



Eric Vetters, Phillips 66,on “Challenges of Processing Canadian Crude.” Eric’s presentation highlighted some of the challenges faced by Phillips 66 refineries when processing Canadian crude and the approach they employ to help manage these challenges. Four areas of interest were briefly reviewed with some data and case histories provided. The role of feedstock variability, particularly as it applies to contaminants like solids were highlighted as potential contributors to desalter upsets and fouling issues. Asphaltene stability issues when blending crudes were also linked to preheat fouling and desalter upsets.

One specific incident involving high corrosion rates in a vacuum resid line was discussed. This corrosion, usually attributed to naphthenic acid, occurred despite no evidence of TAN increase in the feedstock. This incident also occurred with accompanying fouling/corrosion in other streams, highlighting the importance of continuing to improve Phillips 66 understanding of the refinery impact of feedstock quality. In addition to their ongoing efforts with in-house research, Phillips 66 actively participates in industry projects, like those found within the CCQTA.



Trevor Place, Enbridge, and Jenny Been, AITF, on “Update on Crude Corrosivity and Pipeline Corrosion Testing.” Trevor and Jenny provided separate presentations on two active projects investigating issues of crude oil corrosivity during pipeline transport. For the former the work is being sponsored by Enbridge Pipelines, while the latter is being carried out by AITF under the supervision of a working group. Trevor discussed Enbridge internal corrosion focus, which is under-deposit corrosion caused by settled pipeline sediment, and emphasized that crude corrosivity measurement is expected to augment, not replace, their current processes. Trevor presented Enbridge crude corrosivity measurement experience, stretching back to 1995. Current Enbridge efforts include improvements and adaptations of the NACE TM0172 standard test method (to be published at IPC this year) and experience using the December 2010 ASTM G205 guideline document. Since G205 is only a guideline and not a method, Trevor also reviewed some of the modifications undertaken by the project group to develop a test method fit for purpose. Improvements are still required and Trevor is seeking feedback/suggestions from members of organizations such as the CCQTA & COQA.


The AITF project operates under the auspices of the Pipeline Integrity and Corrosion Management Group (PiCoM). PiCoM is an industry working group that gathers to discuss operator experiences and proactively directs research addressing industry issues related to the integrity of pipeline systems. The current focus of PiCoM is to develop a mechanistic understanding, monitor, and mitigate under-deposit corrosion. Laboratory testing methodologies have been developed to evaluate the relative corrosivities of various sludges. In order to better simulate actual flow conditions that could affect the accumulation of water and other corrodents, an oil flow loop has been constructed using online corrosion monitoring systems for real time measurements and provide feedback on the effectiveness of mitigation treatments. The flow loop offers a balance between the ability to control operating parameters and simulation of field conditions. Sludge retrieved from crude oil transmission pipelines is introduced to the flow loop test section to simulate corrosive field conditions. The system has been designed to allow for batch inhibited runs, in addition to pigging of the test section.



Heather D. Dettman, Natural Resources Canada, on “Technologies for Oil Sands Crude Quality Improvement.” Heather began her presentation by pointing out that Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions (AI-EES) has contracted Jacobs Consultancy to perform a review of upgrading technologies. Their study concluded that while separation technologies have inherent advantages over conversion processes, they have had limited application due to low yield, poor contaminant segregation, and poor chemical and physical characteristics of the product.

AI-EES and NRCan has initiated a program to find new approaches to help remove or segregate of metals and chlorides, maximize of product yield, reduce of naphthenic acid content, improve extraction of oil from water, clays, and sand, and minimize tailings formation. The goals and objectives of the program were reviewed including a summary of progress to date. This includes some work to assess the components of fouling and corrosion issues, develop pilot scale separation test facilities, review separation technology patents, and develop designs for future pilot plant construction. The program is looking for assistance/participation from industry partners such the CCQTA and its members.



Cameron Konecnik, TransCanada Pipelines, on “Re-Development of TVP/RVP Correlation for Western Canadian Crudes.” TransCanada is conducting work to improve the accuracy of the existing TVP/RVP nomograph for Western Canadian crude oils. Work is ongoing to:

1. Determine the optimal sampling method

2. Validate the RVP test method for crudes with high light ends fractions

3. Validate the relationship between TVP and RVP for common Western Canadian crude oils.

Limits exist on TVP and RVP of crude oils for reasons of safety, pipeline license restrictions, environmental emissions, and volume loss control. Accepted RVP test methods can provide differing results for the same crude oil sample. Problems exists with correlations of RVP as measured by differing methods.

In order to comply with regulatory limits on TVP, an accurate measurement of RVP is required, which can then be used with API MPMS 19.2 (old API 2517) to provide the TVP. However, the applicability of the Chapter 19.2 nomograph/relationship is questionable for today’s crude oil blends. TransCanada is currently working on defining the RVP/TVP relationship across the crude oil types transported on the Keystone system, defining any impact of seasonal dilution requirements. It expects to generate sufficient data to ensure industry acceptance of the need to modify the currently accepted Chapter 19.2 relationship.

 
CCQTA Projects Review

The following project information was reviewed by Project Managers or their appointed representatives. Any questions regarding the presented material or project activities should be directed to the project managers or the Secretary.

The TVP/RVP & Pipeline Corrosion proposals were not reviewed as they had been presented earlier.                    



This concluded the 3rd Biennial Joint Meeting of the Canadian Crude Quality Technical Association (CCQTA) and the Crude Oil Quality Association (COQA). A 4th biennial meeting is planned for the U.S. in 2014, but neither a date nor a destination have been selected.

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Harry N. Giles

Director, COQA