Automatic Custody-Transfer System at Lake Pelto, Louisiana

The production system and custody-transfer system for the Sun Oil Co.-Pure Oil Co. installation at Lake Pelto La., was designed to operate continuously and automatically to achieve maximum throughput with a minimum requirement for on-lease storage and manual attendance. Suitable equipment was installed in such a manner that all the wells can be controlled from a central production platform; their produced liquids can be processed continuously and delivered to the custody-transfer system with the assurance that all oil delivered is of merchantable quality. The custody-transfer system was designed to deliver oil automatically from the production system to the gathering line, using positive-displacement meters and related equipment for the measurement function. Introduction Everyone is aware that the cost of oil production and handling facilities in water locations is quite high. These costs have been trimmed a little through the years by more careful engineering, by prefabrication, and even by some attempts at mass production; today, however, the greatest hope for cost reduction lies in the use of newer improved oil-handling techniques. For this reason, in planning the facility to serve the Sun Oil Co. operated Louisiana State Lease 2620 in the Lake Pelto field, the design section was instructed to utilize automatic control systems and equipment wherever the application could be of economic or operational advantage. The full portent of this charge was realized when initial engineering estimates were summarized to showthat a continuous throughput design, utilizing automatic custody transfer, would reduce oil storage requirements 60 to 70 per cent compared to a conventional system andthat the additional cost of the equipment and controls necessary to make the operation continuous and completely automatic was approximately the same as the cost of 1,000 bbl of storage in this water location.