Role of Liquid Hydrocarbon Oxidation for Safety in Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

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Upstream oil and gas operations, such as drilling of oil and gas wells, well workovers, cleaning and stimulation, petroleum separation and processing, and air injection-based improved oil recovery (IOR), may involve air or an oxygen-containing gas in the presence of hydrocarbons. In such operations, air or oxygen containing gas may be introduced either deliberately (as a part of the process) or undesirably (due to the nature of the operations). Therefore, when an ignition source is also present, there is a potential for fire and/or explosion hazard. Over the past several years, there have been a number of serious oilfield fires and explosions that have resulted in worker injuries and fatalities, and significant loss of equipment. During this same period, there has been an increase in the use of air or oxygen containing gas during such operations in Canada and worldwide. While regulations exist with respect to explosive hazards, there are no clear industry guidelines dealing with air-hydrocarbon mixtures in these well-site operations. This is mainly due to the lack of fundamental understanding of the complex ignition processes associated with such operations. Accordingly, the proposed research is aimed at establishing basic information on volatilization, oxidation and ignition characteristics of a variety of reservoir oils, from Athabasca bitumen to C5+ condensates over a range of pressures and temperatures. Moreover, combustion characteristics of pure as well as complex mixtures of liquid and vapor hydrocarbon/air mixtures will be examined. Based on the established information, relevant correlations may be developed leading eventually to the development of models that can predict unsafe conditions. The established data as well as the correlations would be directly applicable to industry for designing safe and successful upstream oil and gas operations. Moreover, this information will aid in providing and/or upgrading much-needed guidelines, such as the Industry Recommended Practice (IRP) 18 document sponsored by CAPP, for dealing with air-hydrocarbon mixtures in well site operations.