Cenovus Energy Compressor Analysis

Cenovus Energy is an oil and gas producing company with operations throughout Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. The company’s primary focus is exploration and operation of oil wells.  The Oil & Natural Gas Business Unit in Brooks, Alberta supports operations of existing oil wells and an oil and gas processing plant. An oil and gas plant is located approximately 25 kilometers south of Brooks, Alberta, and is illustrated geographically using the Alberta Township system in Figure 1, outlined in red. Natural gas is entrained in the oil and is collected during oil processing. The gas contains hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and must be “sweetened” by removing the H₂S; this requires an increase in gas pressure. The three current gas compressors were initially configured to handle large volumes of gas, significantly greater than the current production, although new wells have the potential to increase this gas volume. It was necessary to evaluate the existing gas compressors at the Cenovus oil and gas plant, based on collected data, maximum volume capacity and monetary operating costs, to recommend an optimal operating mode.

Dominic Toselli, a co-op student from the University of Waterloo, was asked to investigate the gas compressors at the Cenovus oil and gas plant to recommend the optimal compressor configuration for daily operation.