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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