DEEPWATER FLOW
ASSURANCE
~e~().rnm;enaedpr~~~iQ~~~~/nVdrate
control ana remeaiation
Results and positive applications. of a majorsurv.ey
developments/operations topreventflowline/pift.e~lin.a
Steven .W. Cochran,.PhD,ExecutiveEngineerand Flow Assurance Manager,
INTEC Engineering, Houston
Successful, reliable development of
deepwater oil fields requires effective
hydrate control and remediation.
Responding to this. industry need,
INTEC Engineering. has developed a
recommended practicefofworldwide
application. Asig.IliflFantpart'.pfthis
effort involved.development .ofapro-
duction.. . system thati achieves. hydrate
controLwith an<acceptable risk level.
The recgmlllended practices weredevel-
opedfrom: 1) a survey of developments,
bothin operation and under design, and
2}evaluation of hydrate prevention and
remediation techniques, as described
below. Supporting elements to the rec-
ommendeclpractice, as follows, include
technical issues, level of protection, asso-
ciated risks and cost impacts.
RECOMMENDED PRACTICE
The recommended practice for a typ-
ical deepwater subsea oil field
an integrated program
sufficient redun-
for field life without
de~)ll:11n, an overly conservative
Ue:oeJt1dlne: on attributes
components
recommended practice
include:
Insulating flowlines, risers,
trees, jumpers and/or manifolds
to extend desired cooldown time
Insulating wellbore tubulars
Providing capability for
depressurization and displace-
ment
of depressurization for
hydrate blockage and remedia-
tion, combined with methanol
injection at strategic locations
other means of
remediation, such as: coiled tub-
ing access for inhibitor delivery,
and electric or hot fluid flow-
56 SEPTEMBER 2003 WorldOil
line/pipeline hea.ting.
FUllHowass~ranceanalysis of pro-
posed production systems is required to
yalidatethehYclrateprevention/remedi-
ationstrategy.Systemdesigners need to
consider ()theriissues such as wax depo-
sitioll, . slllggillgiandsystelll hydraulics,
deliyerability. ~nd.operability, because
alloft~ese.impact concept selection and
field architecture. An integratedapproach
withitopsides, flowline a ll cl riser, sub-
sea, reservoir engineering,operations
and other activities is required to prove
the feasibility of proposed concepts.
Ba.ckground. Hydrates are crystalline
compounds that form when water and
light hydrocarbons or other small gaseous
molecules-e.g., methane, ethane,
propane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide,
hydrogen sulfide-are present together
at high pressure and relatively low tem-
h~vdrate ._II'~4I!,"+iiiM"'II'!l1
peratures. When temperature/pressure
are in the hydrate region, hydrate crys-
tals may form and grow, as long as water
and light hydrocarbons are available.
These' hydrate crystals can eventually
develop into flow blockages, which can
be time-consuming to clear in subsea
equipment or flowlines. Further, flow
blockages near flow exit points maypose
safety concerns. Hydrate formation is
typically prevented by using oneofsev-
eral methods, including controlling tem-
perature/pressure, removing water and
shifting thermodynamic equilibrium
with chemical inhibitors such as
methanol or mono-ethylene glycol.
Fig. 1 presents an example of a
hydrate dissociation curve for a deep-
water oil development. To the left of the
curve is the region in which hydrates
are thermodynamically stable. To the
right is the region in which hydrates do
not form.
Hydrates are a concern in
deepwater oil developments
because ambient temperatures
are about 39F (4C), which
is well within the hydrate for-
mation region at typical oper-
ating pressures. Lost or delayed
revenue and costs associated
with a blocked production sys-
tem can be significant for deep-
water subsea tiebacks. Thus,
hydrate prevention and reme-
diation are important design
drivers for deepwater develop-
ments.
Hydrate design philoso-
phies. At the beginning of the
flow assurance design process,
basic design and operating
philosophies should be set. For
flow assurance, design philoso-
phies with respect to three
"big" issues should be warm equipment andlorpro-
addressed: hydrauli<:;s and )I'.B~E .... Summal" of survey results duced fluids to stay to the right
deliverability, hydrates and Primary technology Projects using Projects using
of the hydrate formation region.
wax. While specifics of a devel- primary technology alternative technology Examples include hot oil circu-
o p men t will define 0 ther ---------:.-~---::..::--------..:::;.:.. lation and electrical heating.
important desigl1 parameters, Insulation 24 o Low-pressure operation-
these three should always be Methanol injection 19 3 Can reduce quantity of
considered. Hot oil circulation 13 7 inhibitor required for hydrate
for restarts inhibition, but pressure nor-
Depressurization 17 mally cannot be reduced
for remediation enough to avoid use of an
inhibitor or another technique.
Water removal-If the
planned and operating developments. water can be removed from produced
While the survey focused on deepwater fluids, then no hydrates will form.
oil developments, the team also consid- Low-dosage hydrate inhibitors
ered shallow-water and gas-condensate (LDHIs)-Inc1ude kinetic hydrate
developments, to capture all possible inhibitors and anti-agglomerants. Unlike
techniques. Geographic regions included: thermodynamic inhibitors, LDHIs do
Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil, offshore not change hydrate formation tempera-
West Africa and the _North Sea and ture; they -either interfere with hydrate
North Atlantic regions. crystal formation oriagglomeration of
Survey trends identified are shown crystals into blockages.
in Table 1. Insulation is almost always Other or noyeltechniques-These
applied to flowlines and risers. Another approaches include techniques that either
trend is use of methanol for chemical do not fit into oneofthe above categories
tech- inhibition, whether. for restarts, spot or are in a research stage and have not
Pf()QlICrllon sys- treating during shutdown or displace- been applied.
torm2ltlOIn enve- ment. All developments using methanol It is important to note that, to protect
OpleratlOns, as current have the capability to inject inhibitor the whole production system, a combi-
SU1:nClerlt to design a into the subsea system. nation of techniques is needed.
hydrate region Hot oil circulation is a commonly
urt-rnr\111" hur1r'],rp blocka~~e formation. used technique to warm deepwater flow- Thermodynamic. inhibitors. The
only for lines and risers in a cold restart. Either most common thermodynamic hydrate
operations and not depressurization or displacement is com- inhibitors include methanol and glycols.
COllt1ltlU<)US operation. monly used following shutdowns to pro- They inhibit hydrate formation by reduc-
flowlines and risers for tect flowlines and risers. For blockage ing the temperature at which hydrates
retentIon during normal operation remediation, depressurization is the most form by changing the water's chemical
provide reaction time during commonly used technique. The main potential. This approach is the same as
alternative is active heating. adding anti-freeze to water to lower the
>.JVU."U ......Lwellbore insulation to pro- freezing point. Selection of the inhibitor
W2Lrrrl-U.D during restart opera- ASSESSMENT OF HYDRATE for a particular project will need to
lll(:re::lse operating tempera- PREVENTION TECHNIQUES include several key issues, such as:
low-rate operation. The project team assessed hydrate Capital cost of topsides process-
Determine minimum production prevention techniques while consider- inglinjection facilities
rates and flowing wellhead temperatures ing possible application of all techniques Topsides area and weight limita-
and check consistency with technical to a subsea production system for con- tions
and economic criteria. tinuous operation, shutdown and restart. Inhibitor storage
Establish well and flowline start-up The assessment included a detailed eval- Environmental limits on overboard
rates to minimize inhibitor injection uation of the techniques considering discharge
while ensuring that the system warms in technical issues, level of protection, lim- Contamination of hydrocarbon
an acceptable time. itations, facility requirements, risks and liquids and the effect on downstream
Further, remediate hydrate blockages cost impacts. The techniques consid- processmg
via depressurization or heating, and pro- ered in the assessment include: Safety considerations.
vide for depressurization on both sides of Thermodynamic inhibitors- Methanol and mono-ethylene glycol
a blockage. Techniques shift hydrate formation to (MEG) are the most commonly used
lower temperatures. Common examples inhibitors, though ethanol, other gly-
SURVEY OF DEEPWATER OIL include methanol and mono-ethylene cols and salts have been used and are
PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENTS glycol. effective. For oil systems, methanol is
The project team surveyed various Insulation-Used to retain heat in by far the most commonly used
field developments to identify hydrate produced fluids and stay above hydrate inhibitor, because:
prevention and remediation techniques formation temperatures. It is more effective than glycols at
available within the industry for both Active heating-Can be used to reducing hydrate formation temperature

World Oil SEPTEMBER 2003 57


It is less likely to precipitate salts
from produced water
It is less viscous
It is better for remediation of
hydrate blockages
If injected into the wellbore, it is
unlikely to foul the perforations, and
Because it readily goes into the vapor
phase, it is more effective for restarts.
Methanol only protects components
downstream ofthe injection point. Thus,
injection point location is an important
system decision. Possible locations are
downhole, immediately above the
SCSS~ at the tree, and on the manifold.
Methanol is regularly used for system
restarts. It is injected until the fluids
have warmed above hydrate conditions.
Methanol also is used to treat and/or
displace fluids in wellbores, trees, jumpers
and manifolds during shutdowns. How-
ever, methanol is not used for continu-
ous operation of oil systems.
The predictive capability of deter-
mining methanol dosage is at a mature
level. While several commercially avail-
able software packages properly model
methanol inhibition of gas/oil systems,
uncertainties remain as to the combined
inhibition due to methanol and dissolved
salts in produced water.
System methanol requirements are a
function ofwater production, methanol
dosage, system warm-up times and sys-
tem geometry. Methanol dosage is a
function of cold-point conditions (worst-
case minimum temperature and maxi-
mum pressure) and produced fluid com-
position. Warm-up times can be
determined from transient thermal-
production system simula-
V ..... '"<LU.J.U,..
Water production multiplied by
methanol dosage will give the methanol
injection rate. Methanol rate multiplied
by warm-up time will give methanol
volume required for restart.
Methanol also is used to displace sub-
sea equipment and downhole tubing fol-
lowing shutdowns. The total methanol
quantity for an unplanned shutdown/
restart cycle, expected frequency of cold
restarts and chemical re-supply frequency
is used to define required storage volume.
Risks in using methanol include:
Underdosing, particularly due to
not knowing water production rates
Methanol not being injected in a
specified area because of operator error
or equipment failure
Overuse of methanol can result in
contaminating the oil and causing it to
be devalued
Environmental and regulatory con-
DEEPWATER FLOW ASSURANc:e
cerns with topside discharge limits tem CAPEX. Deepwater flowline insu-
on methanol lating options include: externally insu-
Methanol delivery system may lated rigid pipe, insulated flexible pipe,
define field abandonment condition burial, pipe-in-pipe, and bundle.
Ensuring regular supply in remote For risers, the options include: exter-
locations nally insulated SCR, insulated flexible
Ensuring material compatibility, riser, pipe-in-pipe steel catenary riser
and (SCR), and hydrid riser tower.
Safety considerations in handling The level of protection provided by
methanol topsides. insulation depends on production
The cost of methanol varies greatly flowrates, reservoir temperature, tieback
with location, depending on local avail- distance and the insulation system cho-
ability and transportation costs. Cost sen. The level of insulation will typi-
can range from $50/bbl in the Gulf of cally define minimum production system
Mexico, up to $150/bbl offshore West operating flowrate.
Mrica. Often, the design driver for selecting
insulation is the desired no-touch time
Thermal insulation. Insulation pro- period to hydrate formation conditions
vides hydrate control by maintaining following unplanned shutdown. Systems
temperatures above hydrate formation have been designed with cooldown times
conditions. Insulation also provides a from 6 to 24 hr. However, it is important
cooldown time period (also known as to note that the level of insulation (or the
"no-touch time") before system compo- overall heat transfer coefficient) is not the
nents reach hydrate temperatures. This only consideration in determining
period gives the operator time either to cooldown time. Thermal mass also is an
recover from shutdown and restart of a important factor because the greater the
warm system or to prepare the system for thermal mass, the longer the cooldown.
a long-term shutdown. Insulation also For cold restarts, a lower overall heat
reduces time necessary to warm pro- transfer coefficient will allow faster
duced fluids above hydrate conditions warm-up; however, thermal mass also
during a restart. Operators may have must be considered. A system with a
other design drivers for insulation, high thermal mass will be slower to warm
such as preventing or minimizing wax during restart. Warm-up time will impact
deposition. inhibitor requirements and/or active
Wellbores. For wellbores, vacuum- heating requirements.
insulated tubing (VIT) or gelled com- Flowline insulation considerations.
pletion fluids can be used. In the Gulf of In selecting the type of insulation, oper-
Mexico, VIT has been used to minimize ators need to consider a number of fac-
well restart times and reduce minimum tors beyond flow assurance, including
operating/restart flowrate of individual mechanical design, installation, lifecycle
wells. Drawbacks to VIT include: 1) and risk issues. For example, for flow-
more rapid wellbore cooldown because lines, the insulation system can impact:
the surrounding completion and rock on-bottom stability, how the flowline is
are cool; 2) impacts on cost and sched- installed, cost of installation, and design
ule; and 3) mechanical integrity issues of field joints. For risers, insulation will
with failure ofVIT and spatial require- impact fatigue, which is often the great-
ments in the well. est design consideration for deepwater
Subsea equipment. Such equipment risers. The flow assurance engineer must
as trees, jumpers and manifolds are some- work closely with pipeline, riser, subsea
times insulated in deepwater oil devel- and other engineers to optimally select
opments, most commonly with syntac- insulation type.
tic foam. It can be difficult to effectively For systems with external insulation,
insulate the complex geometry associ- the insulation material must withstand
ated with trees and manifolds; gener- the hydrostatic pressure imposed in deep
ally, just the flow paths are insulated. water. Concerns other than compressive
The advantage of insulating this equip- strength include water ingress, thermal
ment is that the insulation provides no- aging and creep. These materials, because
touch time until hydrate conditions are of their relatively high density, are lim-
reached during a shutdown. ited to a higher range of overall heat
Flowlines and risers. Operators have transfer coefficients. These materials are
a number of insulation options, with specially engineered polymer compos-
selection of the most appropriate option ites with hollow-glass or silicate micro-
having a notable impact on subsea,sys- spheres, and they are also relatively
World Oil SEPTEMBER 2003 59
expensive on a bulk-rate basis.
Pipe-in-pipe (PIP) systems can use a
wide range of insulating materials; how-
ever, low-density polyurethane foam is
most common. Fabrication of PIP sys-
tems offers a variety of options includ-
ing injecting a foam agent into the annu-
lus or strapping pre-molded half-shells to
the flowline with the carrier pipe slid
into place. Installation of PIP systems has
the advantage of being thoroughly field-
tested. The difficulty with installing PIp,
however, is that water-tight bulkheads are
required to protect the majority of the
insulation material in the event of a leak
in the carrier pipe. The limitation of
laying PIP in deep water is primarily
weight-and maintenance and repair of
PIP can be difficult.
Like PIp, bundled systems can use
low-density, low-thermal-conductivity
materials for insulation. Bundles can
give the lowest overall heat transfer coef-
ficient. Bundle designs are flexible and
allow a number of configurations,
including grouping lines together to
help preserve heat. The main disadvan-
tages of bundles are installation and
maintenance.
Risks associated with insulation
include:
Degradation of thermal performance
of insulating material, e.g., water ingress
Field joints of poor quality or not
accounting for the greater heat loss asso-
ciated with field joints, which can poten-
tially increase flowline overall heat trans-
fer coefficient by up to 20%
Lack of field validation
Poor performance can lead to early
ab;;m(lorlm,ent or costly repair or replace-
ment
Convective heat loss not accounted
for in design. This can occur in
bundles, riser towers and
buried flowlines.
Insulation costs. The cost
of insulation systems on a unit-
length basis increases with
decreasing overall heat transfer
coefficient. Fig. 2 illustrates
material cost trends for exter-
nally insulated pipe, pipe-in-
pipe (PIP) and pipe bundles,
from a 1995 study. This figure
shows that for higher overall
heat transfer coefficients, exter-
nal insulation will be more cost
effective. For lower overall heat
transfer coefficients, pipe bun-
dles or pipe-in-pipe designs
will have lower CAPEX.
Novel insulation tech-
60 SEPTEMBER 2003 WorldOil
niques. Deepwater flowline burial for
insulation purposes is relatively new. In
the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, soils
tend to be plastic clays in which heat
conduction is the primary heat loss
mechanism. West Mrican deepwater soils
tend to be similar. This technique has
been successfully applied to the Shell
Angus flowlines. While the primary flow
assurance advantage to burial is that it
can result in very long cooldown times,
this technique also can have relatively
long warm-up times during restart.
Adding a small amount of insulation
can help reduce warm-up times with-
out significantly impacting cooldown
times. l
Vacuum-insulated pipe (VIP) applies
the technology to pipe. VIP is essen-
tially pipe-in-pipe design with a vacuum
in the annulus. Overall heat transfer
coefficients are 0.05 Btu/hrlft2 /oF, or
less. While industry has not yet applied
this technology, VIP is expected to cost
more than equivalent-size pipe-in-pipe.
Thin-film insulation, noted for its
ease of application is an existing indus-
try technology. 2 It consists of a sprayed
coating applied in multiple layers. The
insulation benefit comes from low ther-
mal conductance between layers, with
total layer thickness to be less than 3
mm. Currently, this technology has been
applied to VIT joints (BP Marlin) and
to pipe-in-pipe joints (Shell Oregano
and Serrano).
Active heating. Active heating has
been applied to flowlines and risers; tech-
niques include: 1) Electrical heating-
Various techniques are available, with
systems applicable for continuous oper-
ation, shutdown and restarts; 2) Hot
fluid circulation-Applied in a bundle
design, which contains production lines
and heating lines together, and is appro-
priate for continuous operation, shut-
down and restarts; and 3) Hot oil circu-
lation-Hot dead oil is circulated
through a flow loop in the production
flow path to warm flowlines and risers
prior to restarting wells. A fluid other
than dead oil also can be used. Hot oil
circulation can also be done to keep
flowlines and risers warm during a shut-
down, until the system is restarted.
Electrical heating is a technology
that is rapidly maturing, with a few field
applications existing in the offshore envi-
ronment. Table 2 presents projects cur-
rently using EH, or which have EH as
part of their design. Advantages include
eliminating flowline depressurization
and displacement, delaying or remov-
ing wax deposition and providing abil-
ity to quickly remediate hydrate block-
ages where other techniques might not
be effective.
With respect to hydrate control, elec-
trical heating offers several design/oper-
ating advantages over more traditional
techniques. Generally, the operational
sequence is simpler and benefits are
more important for hosts serving mul-
tiple subsea production systems. For
benefits, EH:
Eliminates depressurization and
minimizes methanol usage
Facilitates immediate restart of pro-
duction system after host has recovered
from process trips
Allows operation without extended
methanol injection should a very slow
production ramp-up be required
Provides capability to quickly reme-
diate hydrate blockages and, thus, gives
the opportunity to be less conservative in
system design
Can potentially allow use
of a single flowline and thus
save CAPEX; and, at shut-
down, the flowlines can be
allowed to pack. This condi-
tion can reduce wear on sub-
sea valves.
While not all electrical heat-
ing syste!ils are considered
mature and application-ready,
some are being employed in
active projects and some are in
early stages of operation. Oth-
ers are either undergoing test-
ing prior to deployment or are
still in early development
stages. A current project con-
sidering EH will likely neces-
sitate purchasing or negotiating
 DEEPWATER FLOW ASSURANCE

for use of technology/data developed by

others, or development of extensive in- TABLE 2 .. Projects using electrical heating
house designltesting. programs. Use of
equipment vendors with experience of Operator Line diameter Water Year of Electrical Mode of Status
& project & length depth,m installation heating operation
active projects is highly recommended. method
Hot fluid. circulation in pipe bun-
dle offers essentially the same advan- Shell 10-in. x 16 in. 1,900 2003 PIP direct Remediation Engr. &
tages as electrical heating. Instead of Nakika PIP qualification
testing
using electricity for providing heat, these
bundles have a hot fluid, typically inhib- Shell 6-in. x 10-in. 1,000 2001 PIP direct Temp. maint. In operation
ited water, circulated through them to Serrano/ PIP, two lines for shutdown
provide heat to produced fluids. Exam- Oregano 10 and 12 km
ples of such bundles include Statoil's Statoil a-in. single 300 to 2001 Earthed Temp. maint. In operation
Asgard and Gullfaks South, Cono- Huldra pipe, 15 km 400 direct of 25C during shutdown
coPhillips'Britannia and BP's King.
These bundles can be complex in design, Statoil a-in. single 300 to 2000 Earthed Temp. maint. In operation
Asgard pipe, 6 lines 400 direct of 27C during
with thermal and mechanical design, 43-km total shutdown
fabrication, installation, lifecycle and
risk issues that need to be addressed. Statoil 20-in. single 1996 Induction Temp. maint. In operation
Hot oil circulation is a relatively Sieipner pipe, 12.6 km
common technique used to restart cold
production systems. Hot dead oil is cir-
culated through dual flowlines and ris- lation and, for transient operations, time. plexity. Reliability and life-cycle issues are
ers until they have warmed above hydrate Active heating can increase operating major concerns with such systems. For
conditions. Once flowlines and risers flexibility of a subsea production sys- both EH and actively heated bundles,
are warm, the wells can be restarted. tem, such that concerns including water- corrosion will be a major concern. The
The advantage of this technique is that cut, start-up and operating flowrates and number of subsea systems employing
it minimizes methanol usage over warm- depressurization times are of lesser these technologies is few, and the length
ing flowlines and risers with production. importance. of operating experience is relatively short;
When the whole production system is Facility requirements for active heat- however, these are growing.
warmed with production, methanol must ing can include: 1) power generation;
beinjecteduntilit has warmed above 2). pmvertralls1Ilission/distribution; 3) Low .prEt~~~re. For deepwater appli-
hzdrateconditions.At moderate to. high heatgener~ti?1l/8r\Vaste heat recovery; cati9n.s .'V;it~i~na1Ilbienttetnperature of
watercuts, methanol quantities . can . be and 4l>hearex<::hanges, pumps and 39f'.(4(3),pperating.pressure would
prohipitive. meters, andinstru entation. needrobe 150psi (10 bara) or less, to
1Il
Active heating techniques provide a Active h~ating,iwithrespect to EH be below thehydrate curve. For this rea-
good level of protection from hydrate or pipe bundles, adds complexity to the son, low-pressure operation alone is not
formation. With active heating, hydrate subsea.desigll.R.isks. associated with likelyrobea viable hydrate prevention
control is simply a matterofpower, insu- activeiheatiflgar~4t::rivedfromthis com- tech.nique.However, low-pressure oper-

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Circle 78
WorldOil SEPTEMBER 2003 61
ation
niques,
to provide 'It"\,pr'lrl
benefits.
During shutdown, it may be possible
to depressurize the flowlines and risers to
a sufficiently low pressure to be outside
the hydrate formation region. All com-
ponents downstream of the trees can be
depressurized. However, depressuriza-
tion sometimes cannot bring system
pressures below hydrate conditions due
to nature of the fluids or systenlgeom-
etry. Flowlines that slope downward in
their approach to the riser have this prob-
lem. Systems that have low GLR fluids
also may have this problem.
Water removal. If enough water can
be removed from the produced fluids,
hydrate formation ,cannot occur. This
technique is the common one used in
hydrate prevention in export and trans-
mission pipelines. For subsea produc-
tion systems, two potential techniques to
remove water exist. The first is downhole
water separation and disposal, the second
is subsea, i.e., mudline, water separa-
tion/disposal.
62 SEPTEMBER 2003 World Oil
and disposal systems are designed to sep-
recovery of reserves and/or accelerated
recovery by making the produced fluid
stream lighter and thus easier to lift.
Another benefit is reduced topsides (or
surface) water handling, treating and
disposal. While current technologies for
water removal do not prevent hydrate
formation, they will impact the hydrate
management strategy and may reduce
hydrate formation potential.
Downhole separation systems were
first introduced in the early 1990s as a
method to reduce costs associated with
produced water treating/disposal. Such
systems separate water from the pro-
duction stream and pump it into the
reservoir or another zone. Advantages
include: less water handling and treating
(CAPEX and aPEX savings); reduced
lifting requirements; and potentially
reduced hydrate concerns. Downhole
separators have been installed in several
marginal onshore wells in the US and
Canada; however, they have yet to be
proven in large wells or projects. Appli-
cation of this technology to subsea wells
Circle 120
is unknown.
Subsea separation. Water separation
arate water from the production stream
close to seafloor subsea trees. Many of
these systems are being designed for deep
water. The basic components include a
separator (typically gravity-based), a
pump to re-inject the water, and a water
injection well. Additional components
include instrumentation, equipment
associated with controlling pump and
separator, power transmission/distribu-
tion, and chemical injection. The water-
cut leaving the separator may be as high
as 10%. Operating experience on the
Troll Pilot has shown watercuts of 0.5 to
3%.
Because these systems do not remove
all free water, and there may be water that
condenses farther downstream, down-
hole or subsea water removal does not
provide complete hydrate formation pro-
tection. These systems will need to be
combined with another technique. Reli-
ability is the main risk associated with
these systems. Currently, the only field
application of subsea water removal is the
Troll Pilot installation; however, equip-
ment manufacturers and others are devel-
oping systems. Failure of the separation
system can reduce or shutdown produc-
tion; and intervention costs will
be significant. 3
I..ow-dosage hydrate inhibitors
(I..Dl-lls). Two types of LDHIs exist:
Allti-aggIomerants and kinetic inhibitors.
LDHIs their name from their capa-
nr"'-"''''1'11' hydrate blockages at
slgnltl(;antlY lower concentrations, e.g.,
less than weight percent, than ther-
modynamic inhibitors. Unlike thermo-
dynamic inhibitors, LDHIs do not
change the hydrate formation region.
They either interfere with hydrate crys-
tals formation or agglomeration of the
crystals into blockages.
Anti-agglomerants (AAs) inhibit
hydrate plugging rather than hydrate
formation. They allow hydrate crystals to
form, but keep the particles small and
well dispersed in the oil phase. They can
provide relatively high subcooling, suf-
ficient for deepwater applications. Sub-
cooling as high as 41F (23C) has been
tested, and industry has successfully com-
pleted field trials in deepwater Gulf of
Mexico production systems. 4 AA effec-
tiveness can be affected by rype of oil,
water salinity and watercut.
Kinetic inhibitors (KIs) delay hydrate
crystal nucleation and/or growth. KIs
work by inhibiting hydrate formation
in the water phase only and, therefore,
are water soluble or dispersible. While
they appear to work independently of
watercut, they can only be applied for rel-
atively low subcooling-Iess than 22F
or 12C-which is not sufficient for
water. Additionally, KI inhibition
effect is time-limited, thus reducing the
benefit for shutdowns. Applications
include North Sea and Gulf of Mexico
installations, with BP's ETAP Machar
design based on a KI application.
For deepwater oil developments, AAs
are more applicable because of the higher
subcooling. However, industry continues
to develop kinetic inhibitors. Use of an
LDHI does not necessarily preclude use
of methanol. Drawbacks ofAAs include:
Use-and thus cost-is propor-
tional to water production
Relatively high cost per unit volume
ofAA
Toxicity concerns
Less effective at high watercuts
Need to break water-in-oil emulsion
Materials/chemical compatibility
Testing with a representative fluid
sample is recommended, and potential
64 SEPTEMBER 2003 WorldOil
impacts on downstream facilities could
occur.
ASSESSMENT OF HYDRATE
REMEDIATION TECHNIQUES
The assessment of hydrate remediation
techniques follows the approach used
for hydrate prevention techniques. The
project team evaluated possible applica-
tion of all techniques to a subsea pro-
duction system for remediation, and
continued with more detailed analysis of
these techniques considering: technical
issues, speed of recovery, limitations,
facility and intervention requirements,
risks and cost impacts. Techniques con-
sidered in the assessment include:
Thermodynamic inhibitors-
These can essentially melt blockages if
they come in direct contact with the
hydrate
Depressurization-By reducing
pressure below hydrate pressure at ambi-
ent temperature, the hydrate will become
thermodynamically unstable and will,
albeit slowly, dissociate
Active heatint;-Can increase tem- support vessel. From these points, it may
perature above hydrate conditions and
provide significant heat flow to relatively
quickly dissociate a blockage
Mechanical methods such as drilling or
pigging are generally not recommended.
However, industry is developing new
technology on mechanical methods.
Thermodynamic inhibitors. These
can be used to melt hydrate blockages;
however, the difficulty of applying
inhibitors lies in getting the inhibitor
to contact the blockage. If the injection
point is located relatively close to the
blockage, as may be the case in a tree or
manifold, then simply injecting the
inhibitor can be effective. The injection
of an inhibitor may not always help with
dissociating a hydrate blockage, but it can
be useful in preventing other hydrate
blockages from occurring during reme-
diation and restart.
If the blockage can be accessed with
coiled tubing, then methanol can be
pumped down the CT to the hydrate
blockage. Some field applications have
reached as far as 7 mi (11.3 km). The
applicability of using coiled tubing would
have to be considered for various riser
and flowline types.
Depressurization. This appears to
be the most common technique used to
remediate hydrate blockages. From both
a safety and technical standpoint, the
preferred method to dissociate hydrate
blockages is to depressurize from both
sides of the blockage. Rapid depressur-
ization should be avoided because it can
result in Joule-Thomson cooling, which
can worsen the hydrate problem and
form ice blockages as well.
Two-sided depressurization is recom-
mended because of safety concerns. If
only one side of a blockage is depres-
surized, then there will be a large pres-
sure differential across the plug, which
can potentially turn the plug into a pro-
jectile. Although it is not recommended,
depressurization on one side of a block-
age is sometimes unavoidable.
Depressurization may not be effec-
tive due to production system geometry
or nature of the produced fluids; how-
ever, with sufficient liquid head in the
riser or flowline, an operator can prevent
depressurization below hydrate condi-
tions. If this is the case, then some
method may be needed to reduce the
liquid head. It also may be possible to
access points on the subsea production
system using a temporary riser and a
be possible to reduce liquid head.
If additional equipment is needed to
perform depressurization and remedia-
tion, then the operator should factor in
downtime necessary to mobilize that
equipment. As is often the case in sub-
sea development, the operator will deter-
mine a trade-off between having the
capability built into the design vs. speed
of recovery from a hydrate blockage.
Active heating. This can remediate
hydrate plugs by increasing temperature
and heat flow to the blockage. It is
important to note, however, safety con-
cerns with applying heat to a hydrate
blockage. During the dissociation pro-
cess, gas will be released from the plug.
If the gas is trapped within the plug,
then the pressure can build and poten-
tially rupture the flowline. However, by
evenly applying heating to a flowline,
as is the case with electrical heating and
heated bundles, an operator can reme-
diate a plug safely and effectively.
The advantage ofactive heating is that
it can remediate a blockage in hours,
whereas depressurization alone can take
days or weeks. The ability to quickly
remediate hydrate blockages can enable
less conservative designs for hydrate
prevention.
Mechanical methods. Pigs are not
recommended for removing a hydrate
plug because they can compress the plug,
which will compound the problem. If the
blockage is complete, it will not be pos-
sible to drive the pig. For partial block-
ages, pigging can create a more severe
blockage.
As mentioned above, coiled tubing
is another option for hydrate removal.
The tubing is run into the pipeline
through a lubricator, usually at the host
or a workover vessel, in an effort to get
inhibitor to the plug or to jet out the
plug. In the design phase, it must be
decided whether to have coiled tubing
access on the host and whether to keep
the coiled tubing kit at the host at all
times, or mobilize it from shore when
needed.
Safety considerations. The first
safety consideration for hydrate remedi-
ation is recognizing that single-sided
depressurization can launch the plug like
a projectile and result in: damaged flow-
lines or equipment, a release of hydro-
carbons to the environment, and!or risk
to personnel. Secondly, actively heating
a hydrate blockage needs to be done
such that any gas released from the
hydrate is not trapped, resulting in
pipeline overstress and!or rupture.
When dissociating a hydrate blockage,
an operator should assume from both a
safety consideration and a technical view-
point that multiple plugs may exist.
When multiple plugs are in a flowline,
total remediation time will increase.
While methods are not well-defined
for locating hydrate blockages and deter-
mining their length, knowledge of the
location and length of a plug helps deter-
mine the best approach to remediation.
This information allows the operator to
determine distance from the platform
for a safety perspective, and plug length
to estimate dissociation time. Steven W. Cochran, PhD,
is an Executive Engineer
and Flow Assurance Man-
ager with INTEC Engineer-
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ing, Houston. His respon-
This article was prepared from the paper OTC sibilities include planning
15255, "Hydrate control and remediation best prac- and executing both stand-
tices in deepwater oil developments," written and pre- alone flow assurance pro-
sented by the author at the 2003 Offshore Technol- jects and large, complex
ogy Conference, Houston, Texas, May5-8. projects where flow assur-
ance is an important component. He joined
INTEC in 1998. Before that he served as a
LITERATURE CITED senior research engineer with Exxon Produc-
tion Research Co. He holds a bachelor's degree
in chemical engineering from Clemson Univer-
sity at Clemson, South Carolina, and a doctoral
degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M
at College Station. Mr. Cochran is a member of
the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers..

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