Experimental results of pipeline dewatering through surfactant injection

Abstract

Liquid loading is a common problem affecting hydrocarbon production both in well and pipeline. Pipelines transporting hydrocarbons from the wells to the downstream facilities often come across a hilly terrain, which could be considered the main reason of liquid loading phenomenon. Currently the main technique used to solve the problem is the mechanical pigging. Nevertheless, this technique is not free of risks, in fact when the mechanical pigging is possible, operators and engineers have to deal with several issues. This paper presents an alternative method to deliquify pipelines, by using foamer injection. Even if in its preliminary stage, this research work represents a breakthrough since the feasibility of the method can allow an easier, safer and cheaper solution of the water accumulation in pipelines.The effectiveness of pipeline deliquification treatments by foaming injection is difficult to predict a priori, due to a high number of variables affecting the foam formation and transport within the pipeline. In this paper the issues related to the application of this method are described and some preliminary results on foam formation conditions, obtained on an experimental test bench are presented.

Occurrence and Characterization of Paraffin Wax Formed in Developing Wells and Pipelines

“…Flow assurance is defined as the process of ensuring the successful and economical flow of hydrocarbon stream transported from the reservoir to the point of sale. Maintaining the hydrocarbons flow during oil and gas production is a critical task, especially in deep-water or cold weather, due to long distances, high pressures and low temperatures [25,93]. Flow assurance is applied to the petroleum flow route during every stages of production.…”

“…Wax deposition is the primary flow assurance challenge, which create pressure abnormalities and causes an artificial blockage. Therefore, understanding wax and wax related process is required for the development of new solutions for field developments in artic and remote locations, and also for deeper and colder fields [93]. Various methods for prevention and/or removal of paraffin wax deposits have been performed to deal with wax problems.…”

Planning pipeline pigging operations with predictive maintenance

“…While pigging operations have been the industry standard for many years, their application in deep and ultra-deep waters is quite challenging. In fact, the associated production downtime can become costly in long-flow lines [14], while the installation of looped flow lines for round-trip pigging requires a significant initial investment [27] and the high pressure upon the infrastructure due to the section reduction may cause severe damages, especially in older and corroded pipes [28], and accidents with stuck instruments occasionally occur [23,25,28]. Another issue with pigging operations is related to the difficulty in scheduling them.…”

The extension of the one‐dimensional two‐fluid slug capturing method to simulate slug flow in vertical pipes

“…Multiphase flows have a relevant role in many industrial fields, such as oil and gas industries, where the fluids are transported across long distances via pipelines under conditions of mixtures of oil, water, gas, and also sand, 1,2 nuclear power plants and microelectronics cooling, 3 where the cooling systems are based on liquid‐vapor flows, and recently their importance improved also in the green solar energy sector where multiphase flows can occur in parabolic trough power plants 4 . Two‐phase flow systems can be considered the simplest among all multiphase configurations; however, these systems are also very complex and, depending on flow conditions and system configurations, it is possible to observe various kinds of flow regimes and interactions between the phases.…”