An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Surface Equipment Facilities
Practical guide to surface equipment selection and operation.
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 4,000
Starting From
15 Feb 2027
Surface Equipment Facilities
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Surface Equipment Facilities - SF-FPSP-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF-FPSP-PEA27 | 15 - 19 Feb 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
4000 |
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Surface Equipment Facilities
An equipment-focused course covering the hardware installed on a production site. It works through wellheads and christmas trees, chokes and manifolds, pressure vessels, heat exchangers and fired equipment, pumps and compressors, valves and actuators, tanks, piping, metering and field instrumentation. For each item the course covers construction, selection criteria, operating envelope, common failure modes and inspection requirements.
Description
A production facility is a collection of equipment items, each selected for a duty, each with an operating envelope, and each with a characteristic way of failing. Process courses explain what the plant does. This course explains what the plant is made of. It is aimed at the engineer or supervisor who needs to look at a wellhead, a vessel, a pump or a control valve and know what they are looking at, what it is rated for, how it is supposed to behave, and what the symptoms of a developing problem look like.
The course works through the equipment systematically. It covers wellhead and christmas tree construction with pressure ratings and sealing arrangements, chokes and their trim selection, production and test manifolds, pressure vessel construction and code requirements, separator and vessel internals, heat exchangers and fired heaters, pumps of positive displacement and centrifugal types with performance curves and cavitation behaviour, reciprocating and centrifugal compressors with surge and capacity control, valve types and their appropriate applications, actuators and control valve sizing, atmospheric and pressurised storage tanks, piping, flanges and gaskets, metering equipment, and field instrumentation for pressure, temperature, level and flow. Selection criteria, materials, operating limits, failure modes and inspection requirements are covered for each.
Most production problems are equipment problems. The process is well understood and rarely changes; what changes is that a control valve is passing, a pump is cavitating, a compressor is recycling continuously, a level transmitter is reading wrongly because of foam, a relief valve has lifted and not reseated, or a gasket on a hot line has relaxed. Diagnosing these situations requires knowing how the equipment is built and how it behaves when it is not working properly.
Equipment knowledge is also what makes specification and selection possible. A pump is not simply a pump: the choice between centrifugal and positive displacement determines how the system responds to a closed discharge, whether the flow is steady, how the machine tolerates gas breakout and what happens when viscosity changes. A valve is not simply a valve: a globe valve, a ball valve and a butterfly valve behave differently on throttling duty and fail differently on dirty service. Selecting the wrong item creates an operating problem that no amount of process attention will fix.
This course builds that knowledge item by item. It covers construction and internals so that participants understand what is happening inside a piece of equipment they cannot see into, operating envelopes so they know when equipment is being run outside its design intent, and failure modes and inspection requirements so that developing problems are recognised before they cause a shutdown. It is intended for people who work with this equipment daily and need a systematic technical grounding in it.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Identify the principal equipment items on a production facility and state the duty of each
- Describe wellhead and christmas tree construction, pressure ratings and sealing arrangements
- Select chokes, manifolds and flow control arrangements appropriate to the service
- Explain pressure vessel construction, code requirements, nozzles, internals and inspection needs
- Select pumps and interpret performance curves including head, efficiency, net positive suction head and cavitation limits
- Describe compressor types, capacity control methods, surge behaviour and protection requirements
- Select valves and actuators for isolation, throttling and emergency service, and size control valves
- Specify storage tanks, piping, flanges and gasket arrangements for the intended service
- Describe metering equipment and field instrumentation for pressure, temperature, level and flow
- Recognise the characteristic failure modes of each equipment type and the inspection required to detect them
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Reduce equipment failures and unplanned shutdowns through earlier recognition of developing problems
- Improve equipment selection and specification for new installations and replacements
- Strengthen technical review of vendor proposals and equipment datasheets
- Improve inspection targeting and maintenance planning based on actual failure mechanisms
- Reduce the incidence of equipment being operated outside its design envelope
- Build a common technical vocabulary between operations, maintenance and engineering
Participants will:
- Recognise and understand every major equipment item on a production site
- Read datasheets, nameplates and equipment drawings with confidence
- Select and specify equipment appropriate to the duty and the service conditions
- Diagnose equipment problems from operating symptoms
- Recognise when equipment is being operated outside its rating
- Communicate precisely with vendors, inspectors and maintenance teams
- Production and operations engineers
- Facilities, maintenance and reliability engineers
- Plant supervisors, senior operators and technicians
- Mechanical and rotating equipment engineers new to production facilities
- Inspection and integrity personnel
- Graduate engineers assigned to production operations
- Procurement and technical support staff dealing with equipment specification
Module 1 — Production Facility Layout and Equipment Overview
- Equipment groupings and the flow path through a production site
- Reading process flow and piping and instrumentation diagrams
- Equipment tag numbering, datasheets and nameplate information
- Pressure ratings, flange classes and temperature limits
- Material selection basics for produced fluids service
- Hazardous area classification and equipment certification
- Design codes and standards applicable to production equipment
Module 2 — Wellheads, Christmas Trees and Flow Control
- Casing head, tubing head and hanger arrangements
- Christmas tree configurations and valve functions
- Pressure ratings, temperature classes and material classes
- Sealing arrangements, packoffs and annulus access
- Surface safety valves and actuator arrangements
- Choke types: positive, adjustable and multi-stage
- Choke trim selection, erosion and cavitation damage
- Wellhead maintenance, testing and integrity monitoring
Module 3 — Manifolds, Piping, Flanges and Fittings
- Production, test and injection manifold arrangements
- Piping classes, wall thickness and material selection
- Flange types, ratings, facings and bolt tightening practice
- Gasket types and selection for pressure and temperature
- Fittings, branch connections and small bore piping vulnerabilities
- Pipe supports, expansion and vibration considerations
- Insulation, heat tracing and coating
- Erosion, corrosion and dead leg management
Module 4 — Pressure Vessels and Internals
- Vessel construction, heads, shells, nozzles and supports
- Design pressure, design temperature and corrosion allowance
- Code requirements and vessel documentation
- Separator internals and their function
- Vessel access, manways, davits and inspection provisions
- Insulation, external protection and painting
- Vessel inspection, thickness monitoring and repair
- Common vessel problems: internals damage, fouling and corrosion
Module 5 — Heat Transfer and Fired Equipment
- Shell and tube heat exchanger construction and configurations
- Plate and air cooled exchanger applications
- Fouling, tube failure and cleaning requirements
- Indirect fired heaters and heating medium systems
- Direct fired heater treaters and firetube arrangements
- Burner management and combustion safety
- Heater efficiency, hot spots and firetube failure
- Temperature control and thermal shock avoidance
Module 6 — Pumps
- Centrifugal pump construction, impellers and casings
- Performance curves: head, flow, efficiency and power
- Net positive suction head available and required, cavitation
- Positive displacement pumps: reciprocating, screw and gear
- Application of each type to production duties
- Sealing arrangements: mechanical seals and packing
- Multistage pumps and export pump arrangements
- Pump problems: cavitation, dry running, vibration and seal failure
- Chemical injection and metering pump arrangements
Module 7 — Compressors and Drivers
- Reciprocating compressor construction and operation
- Centrifugal and screw compressor applications
- Staging, intercooling and scrubber arrangements
- Capacity control: recycle, speed, unloaders and suction throttling
- Surge behaviour, surge control and antisurge protection
- Lubrication, sealing and gas seal systems
- Drivers: electric motors, gas turbines and gas engines
- Compressor monitoring, vibration and performance testing
- Common compressor failures and their symptoms
Module 8 — Valves, Actuators and Control Elements
- Gate, globe, ball, plug, butterfly and check valve construction
- Valve selection for isolation, throttling and non-return duty
- Valve trim, seat materials and severe service considerations
- Control valve characteristics and sizing principles
- Actuator types: pneumatic, hydraulic, electric and gas over oil
- Fail-safe action and emergency shutdown valve requirements
- Pressure relief valves, rupture discs and set pressure verification
- Valve testing, leak classes and maintenance requirements
Module 9 — Tanks and Storage Equipment
- Atmospheric tank types: fixed roof, floating roof and internal floating roof
- Pressurised storage vessels and bullets
- Tank appurtenances: gauges, vents, drains and mixers
- Blanketing, breathing losses and vapour recovery
- Tank foundations, settlement and bunding
- Tank inspection, floor corrosion and integrity management
- Cleaning, sludge removal and confined space considerations
Module 10 — Metering and Field Instrumentation
- Pressure and differential pressure transmitters
- Temperature measurement: thermocouples, resistance devices and thermowells
- Level measurement: displacer, differential pressure, radar and nuclear
- Level measurement problems in foaming and emulsion service
- Flow measurement: orifice, turbine, positive displacement, Coriolis and ultrasonic
- Multiphase and wet gas metering principles
- Custody transfer metering skids and proving arrangements
- Instrument calibration, verification and failure recognition
- Control system interfaces, alarms and shutdown logic
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.
This course is led by a facilities and equipment engineering specialist with more than 20 years in the oil and gas industry, built on knowing every piece of equipment on the surface and what it is there to do.
He currently holds facilities engineering leadership responsibility with a major operator managing surface production equipment, covering wellheads, vessels, compressors and metering systems — the equipment that keeps hydrocarbons flowing safely from field to market. Earlier in his career he served as a facilities engineer on major field development projects, leading equipment selection and specification work on some of the industry's most equipment-intensive surface facilities. Across two decades he has taken several equipment packages from selection through installation into reliable, long-term operation.
That operating background shapes how he teaches. Delegates learn not only how each piece of equipment is designed to work, but how it behaves in the field — where valves and vessels actually fail, why pumps and compressors underperform, what drives equipment selection decisions, how instrumentation and metering go wrong, and how engineering and operations teams resolve equipment issues together. Every module is anchored in real equipment data, failure history and decisions made under operating pressure.
His subject coverage spans the full range of surface equipment: wellheads, chokes, manifolds, vessels, heaters, pumps, compressors, valves, tanks, metering and instrumentation — equipment by equipment, from selection through operation to failure.
He has delivered surface facilities and equipment training for many years across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, working with mixed groups of engineers, operators and technical staff at every level of experience. He is an active contributor to industry forums on surface facilities and equipment engineering.
His approach is practical, discussion-led and grounded in real equipment behaviour — not the textbook.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
