Water Dew-Pointing with Subsea Gas Dehydration to Improve Pipeline and Flow Assurance Economics

Abstract

A prolonged period of relatively low oil prices has resulted in an industry-wide push to utilise field development technologies that provide better returns on investment. For deepwater and long distance tieback developments, both pipeline and flow assurance related expenses constitute the major components of both CAPEX and OPEX figures for the development. This paper presents how subsea dehydration technology could be used as a novel solution to reduce development costs by solving pipeline issues related to multiphase flow. It also outlines the two potential application scenarios for subsea dehydration, with Specific focus on the hybrid topsides-subsea development scenario. Key features of the subsea dehydration system are provided, with descriptions of the main subsea technology components.