MSc O&G and Subsea Engineering

Introduction to Key Concepts in Flow Assurance

Tom Baxter, Senior Fellow Chemical Engineering

Technical Director, Genesis Oil and gas Consultants

Flow Assurance
0

Subsea Pipeline Flow Assurance

Introduction to Flow Assurance

Offshore infrastructure
Key challenges
Phase behaviour
Multiphase flow
Heat transfer
Production chemistry - hydrates, wax, scale and asphaltenes
System integrity corrosion, erosion
Operations
Subsea processing
Conclusions and key messages

Flow Assurance
Flow assurance encompasses the thermal-hydraulic
design and assessment of multiphase production/transport
systems as well as the prediction, prevention, and
remediation of flow stoppages due to solids deposition
(particularly due to hydrates and waxes). In all cases, flow
assurance designs must consider the capabilities and
requirements for all parts of the system throughout the
entire production life of the system.

Subsea Systems

The fluids within a subsea pipeline are

categorised as;

Single phase liquid export

injection water

oil,

Dry gas export gas, lift gas

Wet Gas - export gas, lift gas
Multi-phase fluid production from
subsea well

Platform Infrastructure
Gas

Oil

Subsea
Systems
Subsea
Platfrom

Infrastructure

Concept Hosts - Steel Jackets

TPG/Jack-Ups
Elgin

Harding
Shah Deniz

Tension Leg Platforms

Ram Powell
1000m water depth

Mars After Katrina

Semi-Submersible
Semi-Submersible

Semi-Submersible

BPs Thunder Horse (GOM)

production-drilling-quarters (PDQ) is
the world's largest production semisubmersible ever built. The platform's
topside area is the size of three
football fields.

10

SPAR

11

Concrete

Brent D

Hibernia

12

Ice Scour Protection

13

FPSO

BP Fionaven

BP Skarv

BP Schiehallion
14

Turrets
The turret is a key part of many FPSOs. It is the point around which the FPSO
weather vanes and at which all risers are gathered. The number of risers is the key
parameter which defines the diameter and size of the turret. The turret is also the
part of the FPSO which is moored to the seabed. Any turret therefore has a fixed
part (moored to the seabed) and a rotating part (part of the hull).
There are many designs of turret available. Turrets can be designed to be
permanent or disconnectable (e.g. Cossack Pioneer, Australia). They can also be
internal or external.
A key component of a turret system of the swivel which contains fluid path swivels
to transfer all production and utilities fluids from the fixed to the rotating part of the
FPSO.
Leak recuperation path

Liquid Flowpath

Leak Rec. path

Seal Oil

Gas Path

15

Sevan FPSO

16

Greater Plutonio Spread Moored

Hull does not weather vane suitable for consistent directional environmental
loadings

17

Depth Summary

18

Onshore Terminals

19

Oil Terminal Functions

Basic oil terminal functions are:
Reception of crude oil from pipelines or shuttle tankers
Stabilisation of crude oil (including dehydration/desalting, gas/water
treatment)
Fractionation of associated gas into:
Lighter gases (methane and ethane) normally used as fuel for
power generation
Propane (LPG)
Butane(LPG)
Storage of stabilised crude and LPG
Export / trans-shipment of products
into tankers or pipelines for
distribution to refineries for further
downstream processing
20

Gas Terminal Functions

Gas terminals are intermediate gas treatment
facilities collecting partially processed gas from
offshore facilities and pipelines.
Reception of gas from pipelines
Treatment of the gas for sale to the onshore
gas grid;
Gas dehydration
Removal of natural gas
liquids ethane,
propane, butane and
heavier components
Removal of carbon
dioxide and sulphur
dioxide
Removal of other
unwanted components
mercaptans, mercury
21

The Main Challenges

Accurate prediction of :
Pressure profile
Temperature profile

Flow Instabilities:
Slugging

Pipeline Blockages:

Hydrates
Wax
Asphaltenes
Scale

Loss of Containment:
Corrosion
Erosion

Much of the flow assurance challenge

reduces to identifying, understanding
and managing uncertainty
22

Deep Water Challenges

Remote and inaccessible.

Low ambient water temperatures.
Long distance tie-backs.
Long risers hydrostatic head.
Extremely high cost of intervention.
Complex subsea systems.

BP operated Nakika floating production facility in

1930m water depth in the Gulf of Mexico

FPSO Espirito Santo moored in 1789m in the

Campos Basin off Brazil

Minimise hardware CAPEX while assuring OPERABILITY

23

Single-component Phase
Behaviour

Pressure

Dense Phase

Solid

Triple Point

Liquid

Supercritical

Critical Point

Gas

Superheated
Gas

Temperature

24

Reservoir Fluids
Other components which may
require treatment/consideration
are;

CARBON DIOXIDE
HYDROGEN SULPHIDE

METHANE &
ETHANE
LOWEST
BOILING POINT

HIGHEST
BOILING POINT

SUBSTANCE

USES

gases

Propane and butane gas for lighter fuel

& camping stoves

naphtha

Chemicals for medicines, plastics, paints,

cosmetics & clothing materials

gasoline

Petrol for vehicles

kerosene

Jet fuel and paraffin

diesel oils

Diesel fuel

Lubricating
oils

Machine oil, waxes and polishes

Fuel oil

Fuel for ships and central heating

residue

Bitumen for road surfaces and roofing

materials

Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN)

Carbonyl Sulphide (COS)
Carbon Disulphide (CS2)
Mercaptans (RSH)
Nitrogen (N2)
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)

WATER

Mercury
SAND

The proportions of the components will vary depending on field type.

25

Oil and Gas Components

Reservoir
Fluids

Alkanes (Parrafins).

Methane (CH4)

Aromatics
Benzene

Ethane
Propane
Butane

Cycloparaffins

one or more cyclic

structures

Octane (C8H18)
Napthenates
one or more cyclic
structures
26

Multi-component Phase
Behaviour
140

Dense Phase

Critical Point

120

Wellhead

Cricondenbar

80

Liquid

70%
50%
40%
30%
20%

60

40

Host

10%
20

0
-100

Multiphase
-80

-60

-40

-20

Gas
0

20

40

Cricondentherm

Pressure (bara)

100

60

Temperature (C)

27

Liquids and Gases

Incompressible - Liquids offer resistance to
compression. Volume changes are negligible with
pressure.
Compressible - Gases and vapours are compressible.
Volume changes with pressure. Density changes with
pressure.
Key physical properties;
Density
Viscosity
Specific heat
Thermal conductivity
28

Pressure Loss Friction

The prediction of the pressure in a pipeline system is a key
element of subsea pipeline design. Pressure losses will be
critical to predicting whether a well will flow to host, the size of
the pipeline required, the mechanical design of the pipe, the
materials of construction, requirement for gas lift.......

Pf

f Lv
2 D

The analysis of pressure

drop in multi-phase flow is
significantly more complex
than single phase flow .

29

Head and Pressure

If the pipeline flows vertically (riser) or down/uphill, in addition to friction
another pressure loss occurs due to the change in elevation (change in
potential energy). This is referred to as head elevation losses/gain. It is
dependent upon fluid density.

Determination of
density in multi-phase
systems can be difficult
due to phase slippage.

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Gas Lift
Lift gas is delivered from
the receiving facility. The lift
gas is introduced into the
produced fluids reducing
the system density.
The gas compression
facility on the host has to
handle returning lift gas and
the gas associated with the
produced oil.

31

Acceleration Pressure Drop

Although not common in pipeline systems a third form of pressure loss can occur
Acceleration. As a fluids velocity is increased the associated kinetic energy
increases.

This increase in kinetic energy has a corresponding drop in pressure.

32

The well and subsea hydraulics

must be matched with the
reservoir characteristics

33

Horizontal Flow Regimes

34

Vertical Flow Regimes

35

Multiphase Flow Maps

36

Slug Flow

Unstable flow - intermittent slugs / surges of liquid and gas delivered to

downstream processing facilities
Perturbations in gas and liquid flow can cause serious control problems with
receiving process plant
Three mechanisms by which slug flow can develop during normal steady state
operation:
- hydrodynamic - flow regime based.
- terrain - undulating seabed.
- severe riser slugging (a form of terrain induced).

37

The Severe Slug

38

Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient, U

Ta

Inside/outside boundary layers:

To

q hi Ai T f Ti

q ho Ao To Ta

Ti

Inside and outside film coefficients can

be estimated from empirical correlations.

Tf

Overall heat transfer (including fluids):

1
1

q T f Ta
Rt
h
A
h
A
o o
i i

l
q UAref T f Ta

where:

n
ln ro m ri m
1 Aref 1
1

U l di hi m1 2km
d o ho

Units for U are Watts per square metre per Kelvin (W/m2/K).
39

Heat Transfer - Flowing Pipeline

dq

Tf 1

Heat loss through wall:

Equate heat loss and integrate:

dTf
dx

Heat loss from fluid:

Tf

Tf

dT f
dT

dq m c p T f T f
x m c p f x
dx
dx

dq d ref xU T f Ta

dTf
dx

d ref U
cp
m

Ta

T f Ta
T f 1 Ta

d ref U
m c p

Temperature decays exponentially, if fluid properties and OHTC are constant

40

Heat Transfer Identification of U

Value
Insulation
can be very
expensive.

OHTC = 0.8 W/M2DegC

OHTC = 2 W/M2DegC

OHTC = 10W/M2DegC

41

Pipeline Insulation Systems

Insulation systems are classed as WET or DRY, depending on
whether the insulation is contained inside a structural carrier
pipe
Solid insulating material
(at ambient pressure)
Anti-corrosion
coating

Foamed or blanket wrap

insulating material (at or
below atmospheric
pressure)

Anti-corrosion
coating

Pipeline
Pipeline
External hydrostatic pressure transmitted
through insulation (liable to crushing)

Typical Wet Insulation System

Carrier Pipe
External hydrostatic pressure
taken by carrier pipe

Typical Pipe-in-pipe Insulation System

42

Wet Insulation Systems

Deepwater wet insulation is typically based on
syntactic polyurethane (SPU).
SPU is solid PU containing a matrix of microscopic low
conductivity microspheres.
Microspheres are typically ceramic for moderate depths
(low conductivity but relatively poor collapse resistance)
and glass for extreme depths.
Theoretically applicable in depths down to 2800m
Limited maximum temperature at about 115C

Bredero Shaw ThermoFlo SPU system

Alternatives can be based on composite

polypropylene (PP) systems
Composed of a layer of foamed PP surrounded by a
thick layer of solid PP
PP has higher operating temperature at about 155C

Typical OHTCs in the range 2.0 to 3.5 W/m2/K

Major suppliers include Dow Hyperlast, Bredero Shaw and EUPEC

Bredero Shaw Thermotite PP system

43

Dry Insulation Systems

Dry insulation must be contained
in a structural carrier pipe
Carrier pipe must be watertight and
collapse resistant
Annulus may be at or below
atmospheric pressure

Aspen Aerogels Pyrogel

Insulating materials include:

polyurethane foam (Logstor, Bredero Shaw,
EUPEC)

microporous silica blanket wrap (Aspen

Aerogels, Cabot, InTerPipe)

mineral wool

(Rockwool)

Microporous and mineral wool

based materials offer low OHTC
and high temperature service
OHTC ~0.7 W/m2/K
Max temperature >200C

Outer pipe provides

mechanical protection for
insulating material.
44

Heated Flowline Concepts

Two basic concepts for heating a subsea
flowline
Convective heating or Hot Water systems
Electrical heating

Hot water systems can be direct or indirect

Direct heating systems have the heating medium
flowing round the outside of the production pipe
(annulus heated systems)
Indirect heating systems have heating pipes bundled
with production pipes in a common carrier

Electrical systems may also be direct or indirect

Direct electrical heating (DEH) relies on pipeline steel
carrying the heating current
Indirect heating systems use induced currents in the
pipeline or direct thermal contact with electrically
heated cables
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Electrically Heated Systems

Systems can be Direct Electrically Heated (suitable for single pipe
and pipe-in-pipe systems) or Indirect Electrically Heated (suitable
for bundled applications)
DEH systems include:
Closed Loop Single Pipe (grounded and ungrounded)
Open Loop Single Pipe
Pipe-in-pipe (centre feed and end feed)

IEH systems include:

Tube Heating (induction and conduction)
Trace Heating

Open loop single pipe DEH is field proven for long North Sea tiebacks
sgard (8.5km), Huldra (16km) , Kristin (6.7km), Norne (9km),
Tyrihans (43km)

Pipe-in-pipe DEH systems are field proven in deep water GoM

Serrano (6km), Oregano (7.5km), Habanero (17km), Na Kika (section
lengths 2km to 13km)

46

Subsea Cooling Spool

47

Hydrates
Hydrates are crystalline solids formed in
the presence of water and small nonpolar molecules
Hydrates are ice-like compounds
Hydrates form at high pressure and low
temperature
Critically, at high pressure hydrates can
form at up to 30C

0.1m3 hydrate ~ 18scm gas!

48

Hydrate Formation

1000

Pressure (bara)

Hydrates form when a small

molecule (guest molecule)
stabilizes hydrogen bonds
between water molecules (host
molecules)
The host molecules form cages
(12, 14 or 16 sided) round the
guest molecule
Different hydrate types have
different cage configurations

100

10

10

15

20

25

30

35

Temperature (C)
Guest
Molecule

Host
Molecules

Methane

Ethane

Carbon Dioxide

Hydrogen Sulphide

Type I hydrate: 2 x 12 sided cages + 6 x 14 sided cages

Type II hydrate: 16 x 12 sided cages + 8 x 16 sided cages

49

Hydrate Management
There are generally three prevention methods:
1. Water removal.
Free water is removed through separation, and water
dissolved in the gas is removed by drying with tri-ethylene
Glycol or a molecular sieve to obtain water contents which
are sufficiently to prevent water from condensing as the
pipeline contents cool. Clearly this option would not be
possible for a subsea development where unprocessesd
reservoir fluids and transported to a host installation.
2. Maintaining high temperatures
High reservoir fluid temperature may be retained through
insulation and pipe bundling, or additional heat may be input
via hot fluids or electrical heating.
3. Addition of hydrate inhibition chemicals
Chemicals such as methanol (MeOH), mono-ethylene glycol
(MEG) or Threshold Hydrate Inhibitors (THI) can added. These
chemicals suppress the formation of hydrates or prevent
hydrates forming blockages.
50

Hydrate Management
Low Dosage Hydrate Inhibitors
Kinetic inhibitors slow the crystallization
of hydrates but do not provide long term
protection during shut-down.
Anti-agglomerates prevent crystals from
sticking together and growing to form a
potential blockage.
Only small quantities required; may be
delivered through conventional umbilical
cores ( -inch or -inch)
Require extensive lab testing and difficult
to predict effectiveness

Oceaneering Multiflex electro-hydraulic umbilical

51

Wax
Wax is formed from long chain
paraffins and naphthenes
Wax crystals precipitate out of
solution at low temperatures
The wax appearance temperature
(WAT) or cloud point is the
temperature at which wax crystals
first appear
Wax can only deposit if the pipe wall is
below WAT

The pour point is the lowest

temperature at which the oil can be
poured under gravity
A yield force is required to start fluids
flowing if temperature is below the
pour point
52

Wax Deposition
Wax solidifies if the fluid temperature is
below WAT
Wax crystals will remain suspended unless
there is a temperature gradient
Deposition of wax occurs as a result of
molecular diffusion and shear dispersion
Wax may harden over time
Wax inhibition chemicals used to mitigate
effects,

Concentration gradient in
fluid as heavy molecules
solidify drives light
molecules away from wall

Tinlet
WAT
Tambient

53

Asphaltenes
Dark brown or black solids that
precipitate in the presence of n-pentane
or n-heptane
Asphaltenes are solid particles in a
dispersed phase within the oil
Flocculate (come out of suspension) as
a result of
Pressure drop
Gas lift (with rich gas)
Mixing of incompatible oils

Asphaltenes do not melt

Flocculation may be irreversible
Highly soluble in aromatic compounds
(xylene)
Asphaltenes are stabilised by the
presence of resins
54

Other Issues
Corrosion

Principally results from CO2 dissolved in water

(carbonic acid) or by-products of bacterial
activity (microbially influenced corrosion)
attacking mild steel.

Scale

Mineral deposits (carbonates and sulphates)

resulting from reductions in solubility with
changing P and T.
Also occurs when incompatible water streams
are mixed (e.g. injection water plus formation
water).

55

Other Issues
Solids

Solids (sand and debris) will

deposit along with wax if
velocities are insufficiently high
Bottom solids provide sites for
microbial growth (and
subsequent corrosion)
Physical removal by pigging is
the only assured solution

Emulsions

Water and oil phases can form

stable emulsions if there is
sufficient mixing in the presence
of emulsifying agents
Emulsions make the fluids non-Newtonian
Generally, emulsions are more of a problem for
processing, but can make transportation over
long distances less predictable
56

Erosion
The wastage of material due to mechanical removal of the
material surface by a flowing environment.

57

Operational Issues - Transients

The principal objective for the Flow
Assurance Engineer is to deliver and
maintain an operable system
Systems must reliably:
start-up with wells and pipelines hot or
cold, depressurised or liquid flooded,
ramp-up and ramp-down without
flooding platform based receiving plant,

shut-down without causing temperature related issues,

blow-down to safe pressure in a practical time frame without flooding flare systems,
maintain performance throughout field life.

Hydrate blockages on start-up of deep-water systems are very high risk

it may not be possible to sufficiently reduce pressures in deep water to dissociate

hydrates a blockage can potentially write off a subsea pipeline (>$300MM)
58

Transients/Operating Procedures
Pipeline Warm Up
INNER WALL SURFACE TEMPERATURE,BRANCH-PIPE [C]
0[s]
1801[s]
3602[s]
5403[s]
7205[s]
9006[s]
1.081e+004[s]
1.261e+004[s]
1.441e+004[s]
1.621e+004[s]
1.801e+004[s]
2.432e+004[s]
4.32e+004[s]

70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Length [m]
Otter to Eider - Steady State Basis and Restart Case 5 - 40 mbd 30% Wcut

59

Subsea Blue Skies Future?

No limit to tie back distance

No offshore production surface facilities
Satellite with broad band control & communications
Through water/ air interface radio communications
Subsea power generation
Beach based or long distance existing platform field control
Subsea storage of produced product with consideration to Cold Flow technologies
Intelligent monitoring and safety shut down systems
60

Subsea Separation

61

Subsea Water Injection and

Treatment
Traditional topsides
plant includes;
-Filtration
-Deaeration
-Chemical treatment
-Pumping

Locate on seabed.

62

Multiphase Metering

Framo - meter
63

Seabed Multi-phase Pump

64

Subsea Compression
Wellhead pressure reduction allowing increased flowrate and improved recovery.

65

Cold Flow

66

Laggan Tormore Project

The overall development concept consists of a
long distance tie-back of subsea wells
connected to a new gas processing terminal at
Sullom Voe on Shetland, with further export of
the processed gas to the UK Frigg (FUKA)
pipeline system in the North Sea.
The subsea production system offshore will
consist of two identical six slot templatemanifolds, with up to eight development wells
required to produce the expected reserves and
an initial plateau production rate of 500
MMscfd. The commingled, multiphase fluid
stream will be transported to shore via two
120km, 18 production flowlines. The subsea
wells will be controlled via an electro-hydraulic
control umbilical with a separate smaller
diameter flowline injecting a continuous stream
of MEG to inhibit the production of hydrates
which can form at the low temperatures and
high pressures experienced.

Flow assurance is the

enabling technology which
makes this development
commercially attractive.

67

Key Messages and Conclusions

Production fluids are very complex and can block (or restrict)
flow:
Multiphase flow optimisation of system requires the correct application of
complex thermohydraulic analysis
Hydrates high temperatures or bulk chemical injection required, leading
to insulated or heated systems and blow-down or dead-oil displacement
strategies for long term shut-down
Wax high temperatures and pigging strategy should be maintained
(sometimes inhibitor chemicals)
Asphaltenes careful design to avoid precipitation or chemical treatment
Scale chemical injection required
Corrosion chemical injection or material selection issues, plus long term
inspection strategies (intelligence-pigging)
Erosion velocity control and material selection

68

Key Messages and Conclusions

Flow assurance drives architectures and layouts:
One, two or more production pipelines (slugging, round-trip pigging, dead
oil displacement, late field life turn-down)
Pipeline design (wet insulation, pipe-in-pipe insulation, heated pipelines)
One, two or more service pipelines (lift gas, wash water, dead oil supply,
venting for hydrate remediation)
Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor supply (Methanol or MEG service
pipeline)
Umbilical chemical cores (scale inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, wax inhibitor,
LDHI)
Manifold functionality (temporary or permanent pig launch facilities, vent
arrangements for depressurisation)

69

Key Messages and Conclusions

If the flow assurance analysis is

incorrect, the design and operation
of the pipeline and supporting
systems will be flawed and in the
extreme the system may be
inoperable.

70