As a rule, booster pumping stations are employed in remotely located fields. The necessity in booster pumping stations is stipulated by the fact that such fields very often lack the energy of oil/gas-bearing formations for transporting oil/gas mixture to oil gathering terminals.
Booster pumping stations are intended for gathering, separation, preliminary dewatering, metering, and subsequent oil and associated gas transport to the central terminals. Booster pumping stations can transfer oil/gas-in-water emulsion by pipelines by multiphase pumps or, additionally, perform an oil well product preconditioning, namely, the separation (discharge) of water and associated petroleum gas and pumping dehydrated and degassed oil into a pipeline. Besides, a booster pumping station can perform water injection into injection wells to maintain reservoir pressure.
The feedstock for booster pumping stations is the gas-liquid mixture, produced by oil field wells.
Booster pumping stations differ in types depending on their capability to pass through various liquids. A full cycle booster pumping station consists of a buffer tank, oil spills collection and pump down, pumping unit per se, and a set of emergency gas discharge flares.