Abstract
TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY STUDY ON HYDRATE TRANSPORTABILITY FOR CONDENSATE PRODUCTION FLOW LINES
Nsofor A. Paul, Tobinson A. Briggs* and Adewale Dosunmu
ABSTRACT
Recent quest for oil and gas towards exceptionally remote ultra-deepwater areas requiring long tiebacks to link subsea wells with existing platforms renders the popular hydrate preventive method economically non-reasonable for long distances involved. This work investigated the likelihood of transporting hydrate slurry in condensate production flow line without using any heat or hydrate inhibition program. PIPESIM? was employed to simulate the transportability of hydrate slurry for flow line sizes of 0.241, 0.292, 0.343m and flow rates of 820, 1640, 2460 and 3280 sm3/day over a distance of 10 km. Simulations results support higher rates and bigger duct diameter for hydrate-plugging avoidance. Flowrate at 3280sm3/day for both low and high Watercut was more favourable having less outlet pressure drop hence taking out any requirement for secondary recovery techniques at the later field life. PIPESIM? predicted hydrate-temperature of above 12oC was contrasted with some hydrate-temperature prediction models including the Hammerschmidt model, Towler and Mokhatab model, and Katz model. Considering the deviations in the simulated hydrate-temperature with the existing models, the Towler and Mokhatab model were prescribed here as the most suitable alternative to PIPESIM? simulation.
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