PRODUCTION CHEMISTRY & FLOW

ASSURANCE
PDB4333/PEB4333
Ch. 1: INTRODUCTION TO FLOW
ASSURANCE
DR DZETI FARHAH MOHSHIM
L-1-31
dzetifarhah.mohshim@utp.edu.my
+605-3687372
Activity 1

WRITE DOWN YOUR PLEASE PUT YOUR THOUGHT IN

EXPECTATION FOR THIS SUBJECT THE COMMENT/ CHAT SPACE
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

Define flow assurance and explain the issues

involved

Define the flow assurances strategies

Describe the flow

assurance workflow and
design processes
Understand the
role of a flow
assurance engineer
1.1 What is flow assurance?
Flow assurance is sometimes
referred to as “cash assurance”
because breakdown in flow
assurance anywhere in the entire
cycle would be expected to lead
to monetary losses.

Figure 1.1: Full scope of flow assurance (courtesy of MSL Engineering).

 Relatively a new term in the oil and gas industry,

Originating in the 1990s and coined by Petrobras.

Definition of
flow Translated from the Portuguese, garantia de escoamento -
‘guarantee of flow’

assurance
Ensuring that fluids produced by a fuel reservoir consistently
and reliably reach the point of separation into discrete
compounds.

Flow assurance is therefore particularly important (and

difficult) with offshore operations.
 DEFINITION

The term flow

assurance is used Ref: Flow assurance is Ref:
to evaluate the Petrowiki an engineering Yong Bai,
2019
effects of analysis process of
fluid hydrocarbon developing design
solids and their Focuses on the and operating
potential to whole engineering guidelines for the Flow assurance is an
disrupt production and production life control of solids engineering analysis
due to deposition cycle from the deposition process that is used
in the flow system reservoir through to ensure that
refining, to ensure hydrocarbon fluids
with high confidence are transmitted
Ref: that the reservoir Ref: economically from
T. Ahmed, fluids can be moved Yong Bai, the reservoir to
2005 from the reservoir to 2005 the end user over the
the refinery life of a project in any
smoothly and environment
without interruption
 Activity 2
Based on the given definitions, what are the type of
problems that INVOLVED in flow assurance?

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1.2 Flow
Assurance
Issues
Figure 1.2: Flow assurance matters for subsea tieback systems (courtesy of BP)

Flow assurance matters specific

Flow assurance is essential to the sustained operability of
to subsea tieback systems are production facilities. Flow assurance failures often result in
shown in Figure 1.2 production shut-down and costly interventions
 Challenges in Flow Assurance
To minimise development
risk, we must understand
the challenges associated Slugs

with production fluids. Corrosion

Hydrates
Production fluid issues / Erosion
range from characterisation Wax
to represent realistic phase
behaviour, through to Asphalt Emulsion
complex production
chemistry interactions

Figure 1.3: Flow Assurance Challenges

What could be
wrong?
 Issues and Challenges

Associated problems: Severe problems:

• Reduction of internal diameter of the • Production shutdowns
tubulars
• Hazardous conditions
• Increase surface roughness on the
• Extensive work-overs
pipe wall
• Irreparable damages
• Unnecessary accumulations
• Equipment abandonment/
• Interferences with instrumentation replacement
 Economic implications:
•Shutdown cost/ hr:
$15,000 - $50,000
Issues and
Challenges •Work-over: $100,000
- $1,000,000
•Total may exceed $10
million
 System deliverability: Pressure drop versus
production, pipeline size and pressure
boosting and slugging and emulsion

Thermal behavior: temperature

Concerns distribution and temperature changes due
to start up and shutdown and insulation
options and heating requirements

Solids and chemical inhibitor: hydrates,

waxes, asphaltenes and scaling
 Exploration to deeper waters

Cold and harsh environment

Long subsea tie-back projects

Problematic and challenging reservoir fluids

Reasons for Aging fields

FA studies Fast track projects

Increased costs

Smaller fields

High CO2 content gas fields

Getting the most value from investment

 • Mixture composition in pipeline (𝑥)
• Flowing temperature (𝑇)
• Flowing pressure (𝑃)
Required • Compare the calculated parameters to the
parameters condition required for corrosion, hydrates,
wax, severe slugging and liquid loading
• Monitor the variations in these parameters
w.r.t depletion and operating conditions
1.3 Flow Assurance Workout and Design Processes

Early assessment Lab Analysis Modeling Engineering Implementation

Downhole fluid sampling PVT Characterization Thermodynamics Design Selection, prevention and
(characterization) Sample properties Steady-state and Integration and remedy
unsteady-state interpretation Optimization and
monitoring control
 Started in exploration and appraisal phase: both in-situ fluid property data
are measured. Selected fluid samples are retrieved for detailed analysis.

Flow Specific studies may be run on the fluid samples in the laboratory.

assurance A series of engineering software tools are used to model various scenarios

workflow for the production system.

process with Each system and its appropriate flow assurance management strategy is
defined.

surveillance
incorporated
Monitoring and optimizing the flow assurance management processes.
Large cost of failure requires a careful monitoring of the system to before
they result in a catastrophic failure like a blocked flowline.

Models that used fluid property data obtained in the design phase are
conditioned to the measured system data. These models can now be used
to determine the current state of the system and to optimize the system
through a series of what if runs.
 Assignment 1
Group Tutorial 1: Group Tutorial 2:
Group: A, B, C, D, E Group: F, G , H, I, J

Please find the

summary of each
steps in short.

Please add up here

via mind map/ easy-
look summary:
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Flow Assurance Workflow Process Flow Assurance Risk Assessments

Terminologies in FA Design

Start-up: Slugging:

Shut-down: Risers:
Terminologies in FA Design

Warm-up:

Blow-down:

Ramp-up:)

Ramp-down:
1.4 Roles as FA Engineer

Prediction Prevention Remediation

Proper analysis and
interpretation on
Provide guidance of operation Develop remediation methods
• Fluid characteristics strategies
• Flow hydraulics and thermal Develop prevention strategies
behavior
• Production system
performance
 Specific tasks of FA Engineer
Work embedded in a
multidisciplinary project Applied flow assurance
environment where Principal engineer would skills including the
communication with be responsible for modeling of steady state
other discipline mentorship of engineers and transient behavior in
engineers is key to multiphase flow systems.
project success.
Understanding of fluid
Expected to manage physical properties and
Assist Facilities
studies related to transport properties
Engineering Manager
hydrates, asphaltenes, generation and tuning
and ensure effective
wax, scale, and corrosion against experimental
practices for same.
inhibition. data to perform accurate
predictions.

Analyze all issues and

provide solutions for all
processes based on
recommendation.
Any Question?
 • Problems & challenges related to FA
• FA workflow
Recap • Roles of FA Engineer

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