Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Thanks to the introduction of a closed pressure oil gathering system at the Kashkadarya field, SEG has significantly reduced the cost of maintaining and repairing equipment.

SEG, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan, in September of this year modernized the oil-gathering blocks of the input lines at the oil gathering points at the Kruk field. According to the new technology, oily liquid is collected using a closed pumpless system, in which the extracted oil moves through a hermetically sealed pipeline system without contact with the atmosphere.

This factor makes it possible to exclude direct contact with oxygen of the transported liquid in the product transportation system, and due to this, to reduce the corrosion rate of pipelines to almost zero values. The first such system was introduced by the company’s specialists in June last year at the Northern Urtabulak field, also located in Kashkadarya region. The system introduced at the Kruk field is more modern, it eliminates the shortcomings of the first system at the North Urtabulak.

“Such an oil collection system is used today by all world leaders in oil production. But in Uzbekistan, we are the first company to implement this solution at two sites. What are its advantages? All associated gas is collected at a single point and separated from oil without loss. Previously, it was simply flared, but now about 5 tons per day is spent on heating furnaces at oil treatment facilities. Thus, we stopped purchasing raw materials from external suppliers. Moreover, the system achieves a reduction in energy costs for the pumps. But, perhaps, the biggest plus is the reduction of corrosive wear of equipment due to the presence of oxygen in the system. We conducted lengthy studies to confirm the decision with numbers. In the old, open oil recovery system, the rate of corrosion pockets was exceeded by 27 times. And this is about 2 complete replacements of pipelines per year.

In addition, the numbers speak for themselves to a certain extent - at the Kruk field, 137 pipeline failures per year were recorded, which is an average of 18 failures per month. After switching to a pumpless system, this figure will decrease by 2.5 times,” said Tulkin Yusupov, Executive Director of SEG.

Reconstruction of existing facilities is carried out in accordance with the implementation of the program for the capital construction of fixed assets. The company plans to equip other fields with increased corrosion rates with such systems.