Gas Hydrate Formation Interactions for Water Continuous Partially Dispersed Systems

摘要

A major flow assurance concern is to mitigate the safety risks associated with hydrate plug formation andrnto provide cost effective flow assurance strategies for mature fields by extending subsea tiebacks. Onernmajor challenge for the flow assurance community is the fundamental understanding of the hydraternformation and plugging under different multiphase flow conditions. Such understanding will only lead tornbetter hydrate management guidelines to effectively mitigate the safety risks associated with hydrates, butrncould also potentially reduce the operating costs by providing improved inhibitor injection strategies. Thernmanner in which the hydrates interact/interfere with multiphase flow can be significantly different forrnwater continuous, oil continuous, and partially dispersed systems. The latter is defined as a systemrncontaining oil/gas/water, where the water is present both as free water and partially dispersed in the oilrnphase (e.g., entrained water in the oil). Efforts were made to study the interaction between hydrates andrnmultiphase flow. Controlled amounts of hydrates were formed and their effect on the pump pressure droprnwas studied systematically. This paper presents the experimental results and analyses of these experiments.rnLessons resulting from this work could provide valuable insight with regard to the behavior ofrnhydrates in multiphase flow, and hence could help improve operating company production strategies tornmitigate the risks associated with hydrate plugs in complex multiphase systems.