Water in crude is charged for twice. It occupies pipeline and tanker capacity that could carry oil, and it triggers contractual penalties or rejection when it exceeds specification. Salt is worse, because its effect is deferred to the refinery, where chloride-driven corrosion in the crude unit overhead is one of the most persistent integrity problems in refining. Producers are therefore held to salt limits that require deliberate desalting rather than dehydration alone, particularly for crudes produced with high salinity formation water.

Emulsion stability is the technical core of the problem. Produced emulsions are stabilised by material native to the crude, principally asphaltenes and resins, and by fine solids that accumulate at the oil-water interface. As a field ages, water cut rises, shear across chokes and pumps increases the fraction of fine droplets, and injected chemicals for scale, corrosion and hydrate control interact with the demulsifier programme. An emulsion that broke easily at first oil can become intractable, and the treating plant that handled it comfortably can become the facility bottleneck without any change to its equipment.

The mechanisms available are limited and each has a cost. Heat reduces viscosity and increases droplet collision, but it consumes fuel, increases light end losses and can worsen the vapour pressure specification downstream. Residence time works, but requires vessel volume. Chemical demulsifier is effective and flexible, but overdosing tightens emulsions and reverses the intended effect. Electrostatic fields coalesce very small droplets efficiently but are sensitive to conductivity and short out when water content is too high. Effective treating is the correct combination of these, adjusted as the fluid changes.

Finally, treating problems are frequently misdiagnosed. Crude failing on water content may be a treating problem, a level control problem, a sampling problem, or an upstream separation problem presenting downstream. Distinguishing between these from operating data, before spending on chemicals or equipment, is a core competence for facilities and production staff.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Explain emulsion formation, stabilisation mechanisms and the fluid and operating factors that govern emulsion tightness
• Design and optimise a chemical demulsification programme including bottle testing, injection point selection and dosage control
• Evaluate the effect of temperature, residence time, shear and dilution on emulsion resolution
• Size and specify heater treaters, free water knockouts and electrostatic coalescers for a defined treating duty
• Explain electrostatic coalescence principles and specify grid configuration, voltage and operating limits
• Design a desalting scheme including wash water rate, mixing valve pressure drop and salt removal efficiency
• Configure a complete treating train and select the operating conditions for each stage
• Diagnose off-specification crude, oil carry-under to the water leg and chemical overconsumption from operating data
• Assess treating plant capacity against rising water cut and changing crude chemistry over field life

The training develops emulsion behaviour first and then applies it to each treating technology in turn, so that equipment selection follows from fluid properties rather than convention. Bottle testing methodology, dosage response curves, salt removal calculations and wash water balance calculations are worked through numerically using representative crude and brine properties. Equipment is presented with sectional drawings, electrical grid arrangements and operating data from installed units. The troubleshooting content is built on documented field cases of treating failure, with participants working through the diagnostic sequence, and participants are encouraged to bring crude quality problems from their own assets for discussion.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Reduce crude quality penalties and rejected cargoes through more reliable water and salt specification compliance
• Lower treating chemical expenditure by optimising dosage rather than increasing it in response to problems
• Recover treating plant capacity as water cut rises, deferring capital expenditure on additional equipment
• Reduce oil losses to the produced water system and the associated water treatment load
• Improve the technical quality of chemical vendor management and performance evaluation
• Strengthen diagnosis of crude quality problems, reducing time spent treating symptoms rather than causes

Participants will:

• Understand why a given emulsion is stable and which mechanism will break it
• Run and interpret bottle tests and translate the results into a field chemical programme
• Size and specify treating equipment for a defined duty and fluid
• Diagnose off-specification crude systematically from operating and laboratory data
• Challenge chemical vendor recommendations with technical reasoning
• Build specialist capability in an area that directly affects revenue from crude sales

• Facilities, process and production engineers
• Production chemists and chemical treatment specialists
• Operations engineers and supervisors responsible for crude quality
• Laboratory and quality control staff supporting crude sales
• Design engineers specifying treating and desalting equipment
• Terminal and export operations personnel
• Technical staff managing production chemical contracts and vendor performance

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.