Answer 1: Liquid slugging is a phenomenon that occurs in liquid-gas two-phase flows where the gas

exists in form of large air bubbles surrounded by the liquid or a large liquid flow surge surrounded by air.
This is usually caused due to pressure changes in the pipe and this type of flow causes large pressure
reductions in the system. It can lead to flooding at the receiving end when the air pressure builds up
behind the liquid and thus liquid gushes forward in the system.
The challenge is that the gas is lighter than the oil and water, and thus bubbles through the liquid on the
way to the surface (and liquid stays behind and can flow backwards)

Liquid runs downhill and builds up in low spots until gas pressure behind it moves it as a
cohesive plug, or slug which can charge along the line picking up more liquid as it goes.

When the liquids separate from the gas, it causes difficulties for the inlet separators
The separators run well with a constant stream of a mixture of liquid and gas
The separation of liquid and gas in the flowline is referred to as slugging

Causes of liquid slugging:

Low flow rate
Production shut-down and restart
Low GOR
Higher water-cut
Decreasing reservoir/wellhead pressure
Slugging mitigation methods:
Optimize flowline and riser size for full range of flow rates and operating conditions
Pigging to remove liquids in long pipelines
Gas lift at Wellbore, tree, manifold, or riser base
Gas recycle
Slug handling equipment at host facility
Choke control subsea or topside

Answer 2: Asphaltenes are the fraction of a petroleum fluid that is insoluble in n-alkanes and soluble in
simple aromatics. They have a strong tendency of self-aggregation and stabilizes emulsions by forming a
rigid, cross-linked interfacial layer.
All oils contain a certain amount of asphaltene. Asphaltenes only become a problem during
production when they are unstable; Asphaltene stability is a function of the ratio of asphaltenes to

stabilizing factors in the crude such as aromatics and resins. The factor having the biggest impact on
asphaltene stability is pressure. Asphaltenes stability is at a minimum near the crude oil bubble point, as
shown in Fig.
Asphaltene solids are typically black coal like or tar-like substances. They tend to be sticky, making them
difficult to remove from surfaces. In addition, asphaltenes solids are electrically charged and tend to
stabilize water-oil emulsions, complicating oil separation and water treatment at the host

Inject an asphaltene dispersant continuously into the wellbore (injection must be at the packer
to be effective).

Install equipment to facilitate periodic injection of an aromatic solvent into the wellbore for a
solvent soak Be financially and logistically prepared to intervene with coiled tubing in the well
bore to remove deposits Control deposition in the flowline with periodic pigging with
solvents

Heavy organics depositions and their remediation in petroleum fluid systems may be controlled using
various techniques which include the following sixcategories
I)

Production scheme alterations techniques:

II)

Chemical treatment techniques

III)

External force field techniques

IV)

Mechanical treatment techniques

V)

Thermal treatment techniques

Answer 3: Challenges encountered in deep-water subsea installation:

Water Depth
High-pressure high temperature reservoirs cause a lot of limitation on equipment such as valve,
trees, headers, and jumpers.
Long offsets/ tie-backs distances
Bathymetry sometimes is very difficult to deal with, especially with unsteady terrain
characteristics and various obstacles along the seabed profile.
Arctic environment making it more difficult to access for installation and operation.
Low-energy reservoirs create more demand for artificial lift means.
Heavy and extra heavy oil, which requires means of artificial lift or high capacity booster pumps.
Subsea Processing might impose a lot of risks on the system in terms of adding more equipment
subsea such as pumps, compressors and separators.
Hydrate formation for long tiebacks

Methods to overcome these challenges:

Choose the most optimum materials grade that can sustain harsh environment, high H 2S rate,
HPHT and extra deep water.

Conduct a thorough flow assurance analysis that includes:

o
o
o
o

Optimum line sizes (tubing, flowlines, riser)

Chemical injection requirement
Erosion study
Artificial lift study

The use of state of art flow assurance software in order to simulate steady state and transient
state in real time in order to identify any potential production issues.

Answer 4: Hydrate Inhibitors:

Thermodynamic inhibitors: Methanol, Glycols, Electrolytes (salts)- these can inhibit the
formation of hydrate completely by lowering the hydrate formation temperature. These are
usually injected into the wells, flowlines/risers or in the processing equipment during operation,
shut-down, restart or remediation period. These inhibitors have a proven track record and
hence used widely in the industry. However, there are few disadvantages of these type of
inhibitors which include large storage volumes on topsides and the effect they have on the
refineries. Thermodynamic inhibitors generally require very high injection rates, with higher
subcooling in a system requiring a higher concentration of Thermodynamic inhibitor.
Low dosage hydrate inhibitors: Kinetic inhibitors-these can delay the hydrate formation and
inhibit hydrate crystal growth for 24 to 48 hours, Anti-agglomerants- these cannot stop the
hydrate formation but can keep the particle size under control but are not very effective in gas
systems. These are referred to as Low dosage inhibitors because the dosage of such inhibitors in
the fluid is usually 3% to 5% by weight compared to 10% to 50% for thermodynamic inhibitors.
These inhibitors will have limited effect, if the fluid is static. Also, Kinetic inhibitors are cost
effect compared to thermodynamic inhibitors.
Anti-agglomerates: These types of inhibitors allow the formation of hydrates, but control the
size of the hydrate particle formed, so that the flow of hydrocarbons is not restricted by hydrate
formation. The hydrate particles that are formed remain small and well-dispersed, nonadherent. When small hydrate crystals begin to form, the anti agglomerant molecules attach to
them to help make the surface hydrophobic, which mediates the capillary attraction between
the crystals and free water and disperses the fine particles into the oil layer. This results in
transportable slurry off tiny hydrate particles in oil that can flow to the processing facilities.

Answer 5: Multiphase simulation software:

The type of flow that we come across in the industry is a mixture of gas, liquid and water so the
effective analysis of the flow characteristics for the multiphase flow is important.
Potential flow related issues can be modeled and monitored.
We can analyze the thermal design of insulation and effective heat transfer coefficient.
Based on multi-phase mixture model, erosion and corrosion characteristics can be simulated.

Flowline, risers and production tubing sizes - Size pipelines to minimize backpressure while
maintaining stable flow within the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP)
Define flow assurance strategies - managing solids (e.g., hydrates and wax)
Production and Injection rates - Optimize production through intelligent completions by
modeling downhole flow control valves or other downhole equipment, such as chokes,
subsurface safety valves, separators, and chemical injectors, to determine the amount of
methanol to inject to avoid hydrate formation.
Thermal insulation - Calculate optimal burial depth and insulation requirements for pipelines.
Risk assessment - Identify the risks of potential solids formation including wax, hydrates,
asphaltenes, and scales, Assess the risk from deposition of wax along flowlines over time
Liquid management - Identify the risk for severe riser slugging, Account for emulsion formation,
Assess the operational risk from the deposition of wax along flow lines over time.
Advisory tool for flow assurance issues These softwares help engineers to identify possible
flow assurance issues such as hydrate formation, wax formation, scales and asphaltenes, so that
operators can use methods to mitigate these in real time.
Virtual flow metering - Used to estimate wellhead flow rates based on parameters normally
measured in and around the well. Also provides a means for allocating production to each well,
which is an important factor for monitoring reservoir depletion.
Real-time production planning and optimization advice - modeling for contingency planning (kill
mud density and kill flow rates for blowout control)

The following is the significance of these simulation softwares in various different aspects:

Sizing: Following equipments in the subsea field or topsides can be designed.

o Pipe sections
o Pumps
o Compressors
o Dampers
Economy: The cost impact of several equipments can be estimated since their specifications
could be determined by the simulators.
o Required components
o Power consumption
o Capacity
o Regularity
Feasibility: Following issues are considered to check the feasibility of the field or wells
o Capacity
o Single/Multiphase
o Insulation
o Pumps and Compressors
Monitoring: Following issues can be visualised and monitored using the simulators
o Leak Detection
o Flow Estimation
o Hydrate and Wax
o Special Events

Operation Support Following support types are provided by the simulators

o Training
o Forecasting
o What if
o Planning

Steady-State simulation softwares:

FlowManager,
PipeSim, - One of the most well known and most used simulation packages for multiphase pipe
flow. Used to simulate both 2 phase and 3 phase.
PipeFlo It is one of the veteran steady state multi phase simulator which comes with 2 phase
capabilities.
Transient Flow simulation softwares:
FlowManager
OLGA The most widely used well documented transient pipe flow simulation software that
handles both 2 and 3 phase flow. Integrates with the most used well and process simulators, in
addition to most of the steady state multi phase pipe flow simulators.
Stoner Large simulation package with many modules and relies on built in PVT data.
LedaFlow Leda Flow is a flexible, modular dynamic multi phase flow simulator for single phase,
2 phase and 3 phase applications. Have different modules for different simulation activities.
Flowmaster Integrates with Matlab. Both Liquid and Gas phases can be modelled. It also has
thermal models.
Process Simulation softwares:
Hysys A process modelling software tool for conceptual design and performance improvement
of petroleum and oil & gas processes. Has Hysys Dynamics, Hysys Crude, Hysys Amines, Hysys
Upstream and Hysys Petroleum Refining modules.
Unisim A process simulation tool for steady state and dynamic simulation models. It is a high
performance tool for process modelling. Compatible with HSC, USC, and XML file formats.
Pro-II
K-Spice It is a Dynamic simulator model for subsea and topsides processing. It can have either
a built in control system or be linked to the DCS.
Flow Manager
Thermal Analysis simulation softwares:
OLGA
Tacite Part of PIPEPHASE software package and hence can be used together with pipephasess
GUI. Used for both 2 phase and 3 phase.
Ansys (Fluent/CFX) Ansys Fluent software contains the broad physical modelling capabilities
needed to model flow, turbulence, heat transfer and other applications.
Star-CCM+ - Designed to fit easily within existing engineering process, STAR-CCM+ helps to
entirely automate simulation workflow and perform iterative design studies with minimal user
interaction.

Online Real-Time simulation softwares:

Flow Manager Integrates flow calculations through the entire production system. Few real
time advice application are Slug and surge detection, Hydrate management, Flow assurance
management etc..
OLGA-online - OLGA online is a fully dynamic online production support system, based on
proven off the shelf components, providing the understanding that enables sustained cost
effective operations. Consists of different building blocks.
Virtuoso - Offers a training simulator that provides realistic transient behaviour of the entire
asset during operation.
K-Spice/Leda Flow - Kongsberg Oil & Gas K-Spice Meter flow metering systems, or production
reconciliation systems, utilise all available sensors in subsea and topside systems, and provide
you with a full and detailed up-to-date model of the complete process.
Operating Training Simulators
Honeywell
Yokogawa
Invensys
RSI
Kongsberg

Answer 6: External corrosion is nearly always a concern for pipelines, and very often internal corrosion
is, too. The corrosiveness inside pipelines depends on the presence of water, and concentrations of CO2
and H2S. The pipe material is of course important, too, and so is coating. In addition, flow-dependent
parameters like temperature, pressure, flow-regime, and flow-rates play a role. The corrosion rate is
easiest to predict on bare steel exposed to well-defined compounds, but less so when the surface is
protected by coating.
Corrosion generally increases with increased temperature and increased pressure, and higher velocity
and better mixing also seems to increase corrosion. Increased velocity tends to result in thinner
protective films of iron carbonate scale and/or inhibitors, limiting such films ability to slow down
further corrosion. It is therefore common to experience more corrosion in areas where we have slugging
compared to areas of stratified flow.
Corrosion in subsea pipelines can be primarily of two types: Internal and External.
Following are the factors corrosion depends on:
Presence of water
Concentration of CO2 and H2S
Pipe material and coating
Temperature
Pressure
Flow Regime
Flow rates/ velocities

Sources of water: Internal-initial commissioning, produced water from the reservoir

External- begin a subsea system, flowline are surrounded by sea water
Typical Solutions to prevent corrosion:
Chemical inhibitors- efficiency of about 90%
Corrosion coating film but the high velocity of the fluid tends to erode the film coating
Internal coatings

Answer 7: Water hammer is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or
change direction suddenly. It usually occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system,
and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe. The flow rate in the pipes can vary due to valve or pump
operation either closure or opening. This results in pressure surges which are propagated along the
pipeline from the source (valve)
Water hammer analysis is useful for:
Developing cost-effective surge control strategies
Prevent costly infrastructure damage
Trim construction, operation, and maintenance budgets
Model any surge protection device
Minimize wear and tear on pipes
Simulate any transient condition

Answer 8: Hydrate formation requires the following conditions:

Access to small molecules like C1,C2,C3,CO2,H2S,N2

Access to free water- condensed water is also good enough
High enough pressure- hydrates can be stable at 10-15 bar
Low enough temperature- should be in the hydrate forming temperature range

The thermodynamic stability of hydrates, with respect to temperature and pressure, may be
represented by a hydrate curve like the one shown in figure as may clearly be seen, the stability of
hydrates increases with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature. A curve of this type may be
generated by a series of laboratory experiments, or more commonly, is predicted using thermodynamic
software such Multiflash (Infochem) or HYSYS (Hyprotech) based the composition of the hydrocarbon
and aqueous phases in the system. The hydrate curve represents the thermodynamic boundary
between hydrate stability and dissociation.
A crystal of hydrate will dissociate into liquid water,
releasing the guest hydrocarbon molecules, when brought to the pressure and temperature along
the curve. However, if a hydrocarbon system containing water (note: water does not have to present
in the liquid form for hydrates to form) is brought to the temperature and pressure condition on the
equilibrium curve, hydrates may not form for hours, days, or even at all. Instead, a certain amount of
subcooling is required for hydrate formation to occur at rates sufficient to have a practical impact on
the system.

Hydrate control/prevention methods:

Hydraulic methods: gas sweep, depressurization, compression
Thermal methods: Insulation, direct electric heating
Process solutions: gas dehydration, water-cut reduction
Chemical methods: Thermodynamic inhibitors (methanol, glycol, electrolytes)
Kinetic inhibitors
Anti-agglomerates

Answer 9:

Answer 10: Wax formation: When the temperature in the system falls below the pour point
temperature which is the temperature at which the oil stops flowing and gels, crude oil gel forms. Wax
precipitates from the oil and forms a three dimensional structure spanning the pipe. This does not occur
while the oil is flowing because the intermolecular structure is destroyed by shear forces. However,
when the oil stops flowing, wax particles will interact, join together and form a network resulting in a gel

structure if enough wax is out of solution. As the temperature in a system drops, paraffins that are in the
liquid phase begin to come out of solution as solids. Wax deposits form at the wall of the pipe where the
temperature gradient is at its highest.
Following are few common wax mitigation/prevention techniques:
Optimize the pipeline sizing and layout.
Insulating the line to prevent heat loss and maintain flowing temperatures above the WAT.
Use of non-metallic pipe linings and coatings to reduce the frictional drag and thereby reduce
the effects of shear dispersion and molecular diffusion.
Selection and use of a suitable pig design and periodic pigging of the line.
Injection of paraffin inhibitors, dispersants or solvents. Inhibitors need be injected above the
WAT to be effective. Solvents can be used on existing wax deposits and dispersants when it is
not possible to inject above the WAT.
Controlled production of wax deposits by carefully monitoring the wax layer thickness.
The primary wax remediation techniques common in the oil and gas industry are as follows:
Mechanical removal by using progressive pigging programs to remove accumulated deposits
while ensuring that the use of an overly-aggressive pig will not result in the pig becoming stuck
behind the wax accumulation.
The addition of heat to melt wax by the injection of hot oil, steam or hot water or the use of
electrical heating to melt the wax deposits. When using this strategy it should be noted that the
wax disappearance temperature is typically higher than the WAT.
Usage of solvents and dispersants, such as diesel, xylene or kerosene to dissolve the deposit.