Flow Assurance

While the produced fluids flow from reservoir to the surface facilities and then to the point of sale,
some problems may arise that prevent successful fluid flow. In this design project, flow assurance
term is also considered seriously to achieve uninterrupted fluid flow during the entire lifetime of
field. In the following sections main problems that may threat successful and economic fluid flow
are investigated and possible solutions are suggested respectively.

Sand Production
Production of hydrocarbons in most cases is accompanied with solid production and sand
production is one of the serious problems to deal with in hydrocarbon extraction. According to
geological statistics, for the first 5-7 years, sand production is not predicted due to enough
formation tensile strength. To justify this statement, it should be noted that high flow rate
production tests were done, and results were attached to field overview data. The data is showing
that sand production is in low level and not creating a major threat. Besides, accurate perforation
program is prepared to not create perforations within the intervals where sand can easily be
crumbled. Deposited sand grains in pipelines, surface facilities can be disposed by water jetting.
On the other hand, due to reservoir depletion, formation rocks will expand and amount of produced
water and as well as sand will increase. To deal with this produced sand at the surface, wellhead
desander is installed firstly and hydro-cyclone is installed after fluids passing through separation
treatment to remove sand particles from treated fluids. Also, fluid velocities should be maintained
at a sufficient level to carry sand particles.

Gas Hydrate Formation

It is known that gas hydrates can from when gas and water molecules are present under required
conditions. Required conditions here mean high pressures and low temperatures. Gas hydrates cam
form in oil and gas pipelines, in surface processing facilities, during offshore drilling processes
etc. that hydrate plugs blocking the flowing area. Gas hydrates in pipelines can form during the
well shut-downs where the fluid temperature decreases due to stopped fluid flow. In addition, well
start-ups can lead hydrate formation because temperature in a pipeline may be too low, and the
scenario becomes more dangerous for long subsea pipelines where sea temperatures are too low
(like North Sea water temperatures-around 6 degrees Celsius in winter). So, it is recommended to
avoid frequent well shut-downs and start-ups. To prevent hydrate formation thermodynamic
inhibitors, low-dosage inhibitors and anti-agglomerants can be used, and depressurization and
heating can be helpful for this purpose as well.

Wax and Asphaltene Formation

Wax deposition is another problem in petroleum industry. Wax deposition can occur in reservoir
formation, flowing wells, pipelines (subsea and surface) and surface facilities. Deposited wax can
lead to flow restriction, some mechanical problems, reduced flow efficiency and of course, reduces
production rate. As reported by field overview during the well testing in X-2 well, wax deposition
was determined 6 wt.% and to tackle this kind of problem some methods are available to
implement such as mechanical removal, thermal dissolving and injection of chemical solvents.
Mechanical removal of wax will can damage to tubing internal equipment and during thermal
dissolving well should be shut off to fulfill treatment process. Therefore, for our case it will be
beneficial to carry out chemical solvent such as toluene injection to deal with wax deposition.
Additionally, well testing data suggests that asphaltene content in produced hydrocarbon is around
0.5 wt.% and this value is too low to be considered as negligible.

Scale Deposition
Deposited scale can be come across in produced wells, along the perforated tunnels, pipelines and
surface facilities. Scale formation can be due to chemical reaction with surface, changes in system
pressure and temperature, chemical precipitation etc. Scale formation decreases inner diameter of
production tubing that leading to a decrease in well production rate. Besides, blocked perforation
tunnels because of deposited scale cause reduced production rate and productivity index. Even
though aquifer support is low in our field, injection of sea water into reservoir for pressure support
will finally lead to scale deposition while water production increases. To prevent scale deposition,
hydrochloric acid injection will be carried out to prevent carbonate scale deposition, while sulfate
scale deposition can be tackled by chelating agents.

Corrosion
Production of corrosive materials is one of the major problems in oil and gas industry. It is obvious
from the field data overview, during the well testing of X-2 well, content of corrosive compounds
in produced fluid is 1.5% CO2 and 10 ppm of H2S. Considering hydrogen sulfide and carbon
dioxide content, Cr13 alloy is chosen to be production tubing material. To cope with corrosion
problem, corrosion inhibitors are planned to be utilized during acid treatments to protect our
surface facilities and production tubing.

Surface Facilities

The produced hydrocarbons contain significant amount of impurities such as water, hydrogen
sulfide, carbon dioxide etc. and these must be removed from hydrocarbons to meet the
specifications for market sale. Therefore, on the platform different types of processing equipment
(namely surface facilities) must be located. In this section, main processing facilities like
separators, gas treatment unit, water treatment unit and also the functions of pumps, compressors
and heat exchangers are illustrated in brief.
The figure below shows flow diagram that is considered suitable to achieve desired separation,
treatment and pumping purposes. Produced hydrocarbons here is firstly directed from manifold to
first stage separator that is operating at 300 psi and 50 0F condition (according to field data
overview). A chock valve is installed between the wellhead and the first stage separator to control
pressure drop and diminish the flowing pressure to the desired value (here 300 psi). The separated
fluids (oil, gas and water) is then sent to achieve further separation and treatments. The separated
oil is then heated in HE to make separation of heavier compounds in the second stage separator.
Figure 1. Flow Diagram

Operating pressure of this separator is around 80 psi and 180 0F. From here, separated gas is mixed
with the gas that is separated in the first stage and this mixed gas flow is directed to flash drum
after sufficient compression and heating. After removing the liquid vapor from gas, the gas is
further heated and directed to absorber to eliminate the impurities within the gas such as H2S, CO2
etc. Finally, gas is further compressed and heated, and is used for power generation, while surplus
gas is directed to flare stack for burning. Oil from first and second stage separators are pumped to
degassing unit to remove dissolved gas from it. After that, further heating is achieved, and
electrostatic coalescing method is applied for final separation of water content from oil. Lastly, oil
is pumped to transportation line for market sale. On the other hand, all separated water from
separators, flash drum, electrostatic coalescer is directed to water treatment unit to safely dispose
or inject it into reservoir. Additionally, sea water is treated in water treatment unit and then is
pumped into the reservoir through the water injection wells. Besides, all processing facilities, flow
lines are monitored with metering system to get information about the flowing pressures, flow
rates, temperatures, etc. It is designed to export oil to the market via Forties field pipeline network.
The flow capacity of this pipeline system is around 0.7 million barrels per day and our daily
production is approximately ---- that will not be a problem to export it via this pipeline network.
In any emergency cases, oil tankers (FSO) are supposed to be used for oil transportation.