During the summer semester of 2014 University of Utah MS Petroleum Engineering students visited 14 engineering operations and facilities. The goal was first hand exposure to oil and gas operations in Utah and Wyoming. Following the visit to ConocoPhillips Drunkards Wash Facility [link], students toured XTO’s Castle Valley amine plant. XTO, formerly known as Cross Timbers Oil, is owned and operated by ExxonMobil. 
XTO’s Castle Valley amine plant was built to process the raw separated field gas from the nearby Drunkards Wash gas field. The Castle Valley plant is capable of treating up to 300 MMCF of field gas through its two-train amine sweetening system, which allows for minimized downtime. Following a safety orientation, students on the field study received a detailed overview of the plant from XTO operators. Gas enters the plant at 4% CO2, where it undergoes treatment and blending to meet the 2% CO2 specifications for the Questar gas delivery system. The amine sweetening process removes virtually all CO2 from the treated gas, so XTO performs on-line blending to achieve the 2% specification. After separation, XTO sells food-grade CO2 as a valuable by-product, allowing XTO to capitalize on another revenue stream from their process. Over the course of the field study, students encountered a diverse range of petroleum-related operations. These encompassed E&P operations, midstream and downstream facilities, as well as end-use applications. Students also met with service providers and recruiters. The Department of Chemical Engineering was fortunate to work with many of Utah and Wyoming’s key energy companies; including ConocoPhillips, Savage Energy Services, Fidelity, Resolute, Wolverine, PacifiCorp, Utah Geologic Survey, Tesoro, Newfield, Crescent Point, Red Leaf, U.S. Oil Sands, Halliburton, Questar, and ExxonMobil. Each organization’s willingness to showcase their work and their facilities offered our students a unique opportunity to understand the full life-cycle of hydrocarbon commodities and highlighted potential career paths.
