Wax control

Arild Stokkenes Leading advisor Multiphase Fluid Control

Outline
Flow Assurance in Statoil
What is wax and what problems may it cause? How to control wax deposition

How to monitor wax deposition

Case example: How to not control wax deposition
2/10/2014

Flow Assurance
Main deliverables/competence:
Process Separator Slug catcher Chemical Injection Package Fluid properties Rheology

Thermohydralic multiphase analysis System design Hydrate- and wax control philosophies Slug control Operational support Multiphase metering
Hydrate control

Emulsion control

Corrosion control

Scale control

Asphaltene control

Wax control

Multiphase equipment: Wellbore hydraulics Transient pipeline thermohydraulics Multiphase meter Multiphase pump

Flow assurance = safe, uninterrupted and simultaneous transport of gas, oil and water from reservoirs to processing facilities.

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Fluid control the problems

Gas hydrates
Asphaltenes

Wax
Kristin-NJ/DR Wye - wax deposition and temperature profile after 600 h
0.005

70 60 50
Temperature [C]
Wax deposition Fluid temperature

Wax deposition [m]

0.004 0.003

40 30 20

0.002 0.001

10
0 0 20 40 60 80 100

0 Pipeline length [km]

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The future .
Arctic / harsh environment

Longer distance Deeper water

More difficult fluids

Increased field complexity

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Outline
Flow Assurance in Statoil
What is wax and what problems may it cause? How to control wax deposition

How to monitor wax deposition

Case example: How to not control wax deposition
2/10/2014

What is wax?

Wax consistency range

Soft wax

Hard wax

2/10/2014

n-alkane

What is wax?
Natural constituents of crude oils and
most gas condensates

wax crystal

Typical wax content 1-15 wt% Mostly long chain n-alkanes Solubility strongly dependent on
temperature

Operational consequences: Gelling Deposition

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Wax-forming components in crude oils

C10+
Mainly n-alkanes Non-wax Wax

C7 C8 C9

Lab. analysis Pseudo-components

subtype of the saturates (non-polar compunds without double bonds) Mainly alkanes of > C18 Can be linear, branched or cyclic

9 - 2/10/2014

Simple questions difficult to answer !

Steady-state Wax deposition Shut-down/restart Gelling

Will wax accumulate on the pipe wall

when the oil flows?

When we shut down a pipeline, do we

have enough power (pressure) to make it flow again?

If so, where and how fast? How often do we have to pig the line? Is chemical assistance needed (wax
inhibitor)?

How long will it take to reach normal flow

rate?

Is chemical assistance needed (pour

point depressant)?

Key parameters:

Wax appearance temperature (WAT) Wax content Pour Point

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Wax precipitation and wax depositon

Wax precipitation is defined as the formation of solid particles out of the liquid, directly related to thermodynamic properties.

Wax deposition is describing the formation and growth of the precipitated solid on a surface, related to flow and transport process.

3 inch 2 inch

Cold finger device

Flow loop

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Wax precipitation curve

Norne crude at 1 bar
8 7

Wt% solid wax

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50

Temperature (C)

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Wax diffusion towards cold surface

1. The cold wall removes wax molecules from the oil 2. Give rise to a diffusion of wax molecules toward the wall

n wax DM
n wax DM dC / dr dC / dT dT / dr

dC dC dT wax DM dr dT dr

mass flux of dissolved wax molecules towards the pipe wall density of solid wax molecular diffusion coefficient of dissolved wax molecules concentration gradient of dissolved wax in the laminar sub-layer solubility of wax components as a function of the temperature radial temperature gradient close to the wall

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Wax deposition by molecular diffusion

Laminar boundary layer Turbulent core Temperature gradient Heat loss WAT

dT/dr
Dissolved wax

dC/dr = dC/dT * dT/dr

Wax concentration gradient

Pipe wall

dC/dr
Velocity profile

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Wax depositon_Process
1. Transport to pipe wall 2. Inital wax layer formation 3. Growth 4. Aging

sites

or thin gel

Thickness Roughness Hardness

Diffusion Dispersion

Fluid-solid interaction

Crystal growth Trapping of oil

Time Shear/hydrodynamics Diffusion/Counter diffusion

Wax deposition process shown by Rnningsen

Rnningsen HP, 6th Int. Conference on Phase Behaviour and Fouling, Keynote speech, 2005

15

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What happens in the pipeline?

7 6 wax thickness (mm) 5 4 3 15 2 1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Length (km)
Wax after 1 day

40

Wax after 7 days

35 Temperature (C) 30

Wax after 2 days

25 20

Temperature

10
5

0 100 110 120

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Wax deposition modelling in Statoil

Commercial tools like OLGA, PVTsim Wax precipitation curve tuning developed internally Mutivariate analysis
3 Data Power and control Before tuning distribution unit After tuning

Predicted value Measured value

2.5

Wax content [wt%]

1.5

Subsea separation and multiphase pumps Water injection pumps

10 20 30
o

0.5

0 0

40

50

Temperature [ C]

Wax precipitation curve tuning

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Wax thickness (mm)

Cold flow cool down section

Multivariate analysis validation

The wax build-up can be reproduced

30

wax thickness (mm)

The wax build-up profile in a pipeline can be reproduced using the OLGA (RRR) model.
.. but is hard to predict !

25 20

200 m wax

Rough. 0.5 - Diff. 7 - Shear C3 0.7 Rough. 1.0 - Diff. 2 - Shear tuning Rough. 0.5 - Diff. 6

280 m3 wax 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 Length (km) 210 m3 wax

The wax deposition profile can be reproduced by various combinations of model parameters:

Heimdal Export Pressure (bara)

Diffusion coefficient Wax porosity Shear stripping

The pressure build-up can also be reproduced by proper tuning of the roughness effect of the wax deposit, i.e.

220 210 200 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 Field Pressure Rough. 0.5 - Diff. 6

Wax roughness factor

Different ongoing JIP and internalt research ongoing for improving the models
18

50

100

150

200 250 Time (days)

300

350

400

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Outline
Flow Assurance in Statoil
What is wax and what problems may it cause? How to control wax deposition

How to monitor wax deposition

Case example: How to not control wax deposition
2/10/2014

Wax deposition challenges

Stuck pigs HSE Inspection tools Plugged pipelines

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The most famous wax illustration !

Pipeline between Snorre B and Statfjord
B platforms (N. Sea)

3 m3 of accumulated wax ahead of pig Nearly stuck non-bypass pig in riser Now the line is pigged regularly with
optimized bypass pig

Ref. SPE 77573 (2002)

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Methods for controlling wax deposition

Pipeline insulation External insulation coating on single pipes Pipe-in-pipe systems Pigging Chemicals Inhibitors Dispersants Dissolvers PPD treated oil; this work Heat Bundles Electric heating Hot oil flushing
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PP-Solid PP-Solid PP-Syntactic PP-Solid PP-Adhesive FBE PP-Foam

Wax control strategies

1. 2.
Single phase oil/condensate pipelines:

Wax control normally by regular pigging

Medium length multiphase oil and gas condensate pipelines:

Normally insulated (or heated) Prevents wax deposition and hydrate formation

3.

Long-distance multiphase pipelines:

a) Low-wax gas condensates (Snhvit): Wax deposition will normally not be an issue b) Oils and waxy gas condensates: No general, proven way to control wax deposition Wax-repellent surface coatings?

2/10/2014

Outline
Flow Assurance in Statoil
What is wax and what problems may it cause? How to control wax deposition

How to monitor wax deposition

Case example: How to not control wax deposition
2/10/2014

Methods for monitoring of wax deposition

Method
Pressure drop

Features
Kind of proven Gives no deposit profile Proven for single phase lines Gives axial deposit distribution Proven for temperature measurements Potential for deposit detection (utilize insulation effect) Local measurement Not fully qualified (WO 2009/051495) Deposit detection by response to heat pulse (utilize insuation effect) Local measurement

Pressure pulse

Distributed temperature sensing with fiberoptics

Heat pulse monitoring

25 2/10/2014

Outline
Flow Assurance in Statoil
What is wax and what problems may it cause? How to control wax deposition

How to monitor wax deposition

Case example: How to not control wax deposition
2/10/2014

Heimdal Brae condensate export pipeline

Huldra

Vale Vale
Skirne

Heimdal

Statpipe Brae

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Introduction of Vale fluids in 2002

Before 2002, no wax and no pigging performed. Then Vale field started up with high wax content.
Heimdal Vale 24,6 7,3 700 Huldra Mixture -22,3 0,5 300 13,1 4,9 2000

80
Normalized pressure drop, bar

70 60
Start-up waxy cond.

WAT (C) WAX in STO (wt%) Volume rate (Sm3/d)

3,2 4,2 1000

50
40 30 20 10 0
19.4.01

5.11.01

24.5.02

10.12.02

28.6.03

14.1.04

1.8.04

- Build up of line differential pressure was insignificant until 2004

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2004 - 2008
- Foam pigging program - Stuck pigs

2008
Fill and soak operation Chemical dissolvant Very good effect in laboratory Only minor effect in field

2008 - 2010
- Foam pigging - Stuck pigs

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Heimdal Brae wax characteristics

Heimdal Brae wax consists mainly of high molecular weight paraffins that are hard to dissolve. Supported by indications of high melting temperature (60 C +). Wax removal must be based on a combination of dissolution and break-down of the wax
deposit.

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2010: Aggressive pigging!

Why change strategy? 1. The pipeline NEEDS to become wax free due to inspection requirements 2. Progressive approach with foam pigs does not work

Two Alternatives for consideration:

1. Hydraulically Activated Power Pig (HAPP) Limited experience Assumed best for downstream facilities

2. High Friction Jetting Pig (HFJP) Well proven technology New application

Overall risk was evaluated together with our downstream partners, and the HAPP was chosen

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HAPP pigging operation January 2012

Markland tests before and after

Pig stopped 15.01.12 at 8357 m

Estimated wax removed by HAPP = 80 m3 Remaining wax in pipeline = approx 350 m3

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2013 High Friction Jet Pig

Brae Heimdal

- Launch 1 off pig from Heimdal using condensate - Pig to be tracked through topsides down to riser hang-off - Pigging speed: ca 0.4 m/s

Finally SUCCESS ~10 m3 wax left in the pipeline (+/- 50%) Reduced from ~350 m3 Wax layer of ~1mm Reduced from up to 20mm

500m zone

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Learning
A main learning:
Consequences of changed operating conditions (e.g. new fluid composition) have to be carefully evaluated and wax control philosophy updated accordingly.
Heimdal WAT (C) WAX in STO (wt%) Volume rate (Sm3/d) 3,2 4,2 1000 Vale 24,6 7,3 700 Huldra Mixture -22,3 0,5 300 13,1 4,9 2000

New tie-backs or reservoirs Retrograde gas condensates may

become significantly leaner as reservoir pressure declines

Year

Mole% C1

Mole% C18+

Bottomhole pressure (bar)

Condensateto-gas ratio Sm3/MSm3

Simulated WAT (PVTsim) (deg C)

An original wax problem may in

fact disappear !

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

76,91 77,91 78,39 78,76 79,72 79,89 79,53 79,45 79,30 78,65

0,928 0,406 0,280 0,173 0,098 0,036 0,017 0,009 0,007 0,004

485

65

549 418 346 290 226 189 166 146 132 122

22 16 11 6 -2 <0 <0 <<0 <<0 <<0

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Thank you

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