Online Flow Assurance Tool for Optimum Wax Management at Field

Abstract

Traditionally, a field’s wax management and operating philosophy have been developed by conducting a rigorous Flow Assurance (FA) study. Optimization at field level warrants the study to be updated from time to time to reflect the actual field performance. This accounts for overall field performance but does not incorporate variations due to operational changes. Rather, the operating philosophy is based on representative scenarios where conservative measures are often used to safeguard operations. With the increasing number of waxy crude oil pipelines within company that demands immediate attention, an online prediction/monitoring tool that quickly adapts to operational changes is one important enabler, not only to optimize operations and address the huge Operating Expenses (OPEX), but also to address remote/unmanned operation’s requirement especially for subsea operation. Unfortunately, to date, such a tool is not commercially available or deployed widely. To address this gap, this paper aims to present the Online Wax Smart Meter development concept and to showcase the performance of an online wax monitoring tool which enables fast and optimum wax management.