Subsea Awareness Course

Flow Assurance
Dr James Holbeach
Regional Manager Oceania
Wood Group Kenny

May 2014
james.holbeach@msikenny.com p:+61 8 6314 2500 / +61 417 553 757
Presentation Contents

• Flow Assurance (FA) in relation to overall project schedule

• What is FA, & what are the key knowledge areas?
• Revisit FA in relation to project Schedule
• FA decisions impacting project cost
• FA Toolkit
• FA interface with other disciplines
• Discussions / Q&A
• Summary
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Learning Objectives

• The aim of this presentation is to provide a general appreciation for the

activities of the FA discipline, within the context of a subsea pipeline project.

• It is NOT meant to make you a Flow Assurance Engineer, but rather give
you an Overview of the discipline.
What is Flow Assurance?

• A term coined in about 1992 by Petrobras in Portuguese as ”Garantia do

Escoamento” meaning literally “Guarantee of Flow”, or Flow Assurance.

• Flow Assurance is making sure a production system is correctly sized and

specified to achieve:
• Deliverability - achieving production rates (boosting/lifting/sizing)
• Integrity - does not fail (corrosion/erosion)
• Controllability - stable and flexible operation
• Uninterrupted Production (due to hydrates/wax/liquids etc)

• FA is a bridge between subsurface (reservoir) and surface (production or

downstream).
• Typically FA balances the inputs from reservoir with the demands and constraints from downstream.
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Introduction
• Why is FA demand increasing?

• The recovery of hydrocarbons in:

• deeper waters,
• further from receiving facilities,
& with
• more challenging reservoir.

• Challenges increasingly include

deliverability, integrity &
controllability.
Challenging …

Snøhvit in Northern Norway ... 71 ° North

 Integration

Onshore Facility
The Schumacher Group plc. Webber Industries pty. ltd
Dom Gas Offshore topsides
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikonnen Single phase export
(VRR)
Engineering Alonso Corp. pty. ltd

Multiphase subsea

Flow assurance is the primary discipline that Alonso Corp. pty. ltd
understands how the system works as a whole

Subsea Processing

Well bore
Senna Energy
 Translation services R us

Topsides

FA

5000+ m
Subsea

FA
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
Demotic script
Ancient Greek
Subsurface
 What is happening?

• Understanding what is happening subsea requires experience and inference

10000 5000
Pressure
9000 4500
Liquid Holdup

8000 4000

7000 3500
Inlet Pressure (psia)

Liquid Holdup (BBL)

6000 3000

5000 2500

4000 2000

3000 1500

2000 1000

1000 500

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Flowrate (MMSCFD)

10 120

5 100

0 80
Temperature (bara)

Pressure (bar)
-5 60

-10 40

-15 20

-20 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (hours)
Case Study: Flow Assurance

•Beer
Beer

Normal operation
Beer / Gas

Empty Keg
Shutdown / Re-start
Where does FA fit in the
project Schedule?
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Project Costs

FA runs through almost the entire project life, but is typically

heavily “Front End” loaded

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Project Schedule - where are we?

FA runs through almost the entire project life,
but is typically heavily “Front End” loaded

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate
• Concept (what FA characteristics
or challenges influence concept
selection?)
• Firmed up in Develop – develop
FA strategies (quite a bit of detail)
• Should be preparing operating
manuals in Execute
• Ongoing support during Operate
• Ideally one step ahead of design
disciplines, as FA analysis provides
key input to other groups (e.g.
pipeline size/process/subsea
facilities)
› Will return to project schedule later
on…
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Flow Assurance Knowledge Areas

• To achieve the above goals, the FA discipline must consider a number of areas.

• Any one of these could be a sizing or governing case for the design for a
particular aspect of the system.
Flow Assurance Key Knowledge Areas
• Appreciation for the overall system (gas/oil, level of processing, Sediment
other fields, etc)

• Phase behaviour and fluid properties

• Fluid hydraulics (multiphase flow and liquid management)

• Heat transfer in production systems

• System operational modes (startup, shutdown, steady state,

etc)

• Fluid-related issues:
• Hydrates
• Corrosion
• Wax
• Asphaltenes
• Scale
• Sand (erosion, transport, deposition)
• Other issues eg emulsion, heavy oil, dense phase
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Appreciation of the Overall System

• An understanding of the generalities allows for rapid understanding and

assessment of likely issues and can provide focus.

• Some questions may be…

• Is the system gas, or oil? Is significant water expected? What laboratory
tests have been carried out to support this?
• Are the fluids raw (wellstream), or is there processing involved?
• Is the flowline a significant distance from the receiving facilities?
• What are the ambient conditions?
• What are general constraints associated with the reservoir (pressure and
temperature) and receiving facilities (eg, arrival pressure)
• Do neighboring fields tie in to the development, and does this change any
considerations?
• …etc
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Phase Behaviour and Fluid Properties

• Understanding fluid phase behaviour provides the FA engineer with a

roadmap for all subsequent analysis.

• Predicting accurate fluid properties is necessary for the specification of

all materials and equipment in the system. This is called fluid
characterisation.

• If fluid characterisation and properties prediction is done poorly, the system

may not operate as predicted, or may be under or over-sized. These errors
do not manifest in design and will only be evident on startup!
Phase Behaviour and Fluid Properties

• The fluid’s phase envelope provides

an indication of the fluid’s vapour-
liquid equilibrium behaviour at all 160

temperatures and pressures. This is 150

necessary to predict the varying 140

SINGLE PHASE SINGLE PHASE

130
amounts of liquid and vapour at 120
Liquid Gas

different locations in the system. 110

100
Only ice Only Liquid water Only water vap.

Pressure (bar)
90 TWO-PHASE
• Reservoir fluids exhibit such typical 80
(LIQUID DROP-OUT)
Both Liquid and Gas exist @ same time
phase envelopes as they are multi- 70

component mixtures. 60

50

40

30

20

10

0
-100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Temperature (C)
Phase Behaviour and Fluid Properties

• The fluid’s composition largely determines

• physical & transport properties (density, viscosity, surface tension, thermal conductivity, specific
heat, etc)

And also indicates its likely behaviour with respect to:

• Pressure drop (Vapour – Liquid Equilibrium)

• Heat transfer (fluid properties)
• Hydrates (C1, C2, C3…)
• Corrosion (CO2, H2S) Note these are all key
FA knowledge areas…
• Scale (formation water salts) understand the fluid
• Wax (long-chain simple hydrocarbons) and we understand its
• Asphaltenes (aromatics) behaviour in the system!
• Sand Production
• Emulsion

• Consequently, its worth getting fluid characterisation correct.

Fluid-Related Issues

• Hydrates
• Corrosion
• Wax
• Asphaltenes May have none, may have several, may have all!
• Scale
• Sand
• etc

Hydrates are ice like structures with methane trapped within a cage of ice
molecules
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrates

• Ice-like solids that form due to the presence of water. Hydrocarbons are
trapped in a lattice of frozen water.

• Can form and be stable at or near normal operating temperatures, resulting

in potential for a blocked system.

• May be an issue during steady state production, and more commonly during
shutdown and cool-down of a production system

• Occur at High Pressures and Low temperatures

Methane Hydrates ... Aka “Fire Ice”

 100

90

80

70 Inside the
hydrate
Pressure (bara)

60
region…
50 PROBLEMS!
40

30
Outside the
hydrate
20 region… ok.
10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Temperature (C)
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrates

• Steady state and transient operation

• Cooldown, Depressurization, Restart

• Can form anywhere in production system

• Production tubing
• Subsea equipment (jumper / tree / manifold)
• Flowline / riser
• Topsides
• Umbilicals

1. CIR: Complete Inhibition Region (no risk of

• Kinetic process (time-dependant)
• Water condensation at pipe wall
• Particulate agglomeration
• Heat transfer
• Blockage
• Typically NOT from water vapor in gas phase
hydrate growth within a limited range of
subcooling)
2. RGR: Reduced Growth Region (slow growth
– typical growth rates have been measured
and presented in the paper, Reference [7])
3. RFR: Rapid Formation Region
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrates

Management strategies typically:

• Maintaining system temperature outside the

hydrate formation region
• Passive: Eg, use of insulation, heating, pressure limitations
Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor chemicals (THI’s)
• Active: Chemicals that reduce the hydrate formation
temperature of the system (eg MEG, Methanol, etc).

• Kinetic hydrate inhibitor chemicals (KHI’s)

• Chemicals that reduce the speed of hydrate formation.

• Growth inhibitor chemicals (Anti-Agglomerates)

• Chemicals that limit the size of hydrate solid, resulting in a
slurry rather than a blockage.
“MEG” – Mono Ethylene Glycol is the
primary ingredient in typical car antifreeze
/ antiboil
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrate Curve

Inlet (well head)

Outlet (fascilities)

As gas travels through a deepwater production system it may cool to ambient conditions and then heat back up as
seawater temperature rises. This figure depicts this process and shows how an inhibition of slightly more than 20%
MeOH would be sufficient to prevent hydrates forming in the system
Fluid Related Issues - Corrosion

• Corrosion is primarily due to the presence of CO2 and H2S in the wellstream.

• Corrosion is a chemical reaction whereby the metal in the pipeline / system is

oxidised and is consequently removed.

• Water is required for the corrosion mechanism.

• While not strictly a corrosion mechanism, Stress Induced Cracking (SIC) is an

often-associated phenomena which can cause sudden material failure. SIC is
due to the presence of atomic hydrogen (often from H2S) penetrating the metal
lattice, accumulating and ultimately causing fracture.
Fluid Related Issues - Corrosion

• Manage corrosion by:

• Removing the chemical reactants (CO2, H2S or water)
• Dosing with chemicals to inhibit the corrosion mechanism directly or move conditions
away from those preferred for the mechanism (e.g. temperature or pH).
• Protecting the pipeline internal wall by either a chemical lining (batch inhibitor) or
promoting a “naturally occurring” protective layer (eg, some iron oxides).
• Specify more durable materials (e.g. stainless steels or other exotics), or specify a
sacrificial material layer.
Fluid Related Issues - Wax

• Wax is essentially long-chain simple hydrocarbons.

Depending on the length of the chain, these
components can be stable in the solid phase at
various temperatures.

• If sufficient quantities of these components are

present, and the operating temperature of the
system is below the necessary limit, wax will deposit
on the inside wall of the pipeline.

• The properties of a waxy fluid are characterised by

its pour point and its gel strength (viscosity).
 Fluid Related Issues - Wax

• Maintain the system temperature above the wax

appearance and/or fluid pour point.
• Insulation
• Circulation of hot fluids (eg diesel, oil or water)
• Heating

• Physical removal of wax

• Periodic scraping of the wax layer via pigging operations.
• Heating

• Chemical treatment
• Pour point depressants (PPDs) – wax inhibitors.
• Usually a last resort as PPDs are notoriously difficult to specify
and can cause problems downstream. Not so effective too –
require analysis to suit type of fluid.
Fluid Related Issues - Asphaltenes

• What are asphaltenes?

• High molecular weight compounds

• Tar-like substances

• Organic part not soluble in straight-chain

solvents

• May lead to emulsion problems (first

indication of formation may be emulsions)
Fluid Related Issues - Asphaltenes

When / Where do they form?

• When
• Reservoir pressure is significantly above the bubble point
› Fluid density decreases: Preservoir > Pbubble point
› Resins become soluble in liquid phase
› Asphaltenes are left behind

• Where
• Wellbore
› Region where pressure is above the bubble point
› May occur at subsea choke, depending on operating conditions or
compressor blades etc …

• Mixed fluid region

› Two variable density fluids are mixed (oil + condensate)
Fluid Related Issues - Asphaltenes

Remediation
• Thermal
• None – function of pressure
• Asphaltenes do not melt

• Chemical (typically downhole, continuous or squeeze)

• Inhibitors (stop flocculation)
• Solvents

• Mechanical (Flowline and/or well)

• Pigging (disk / cup pig)
• Wireline cutting
• Coiled tubing
 Fluid Related Issues - Scale
• Solids formed due to the salt components in the associated water of the fluid.

• Scale can form due to a change in pressure or temperature.

• Depending on the specific type of salts, some scales precipitate at lower

temperatures/pressures, and some at higher temperatures/pressures.

• Historically a significant problem if waters from different fields are mixed (due
to reaction between mineral salts).

• Scale precipitation can block production systems very suddenly (within hours
or days).

• Must be mindful of water breakthrough or reservoir “short circuiting” when

using water injection for reservoir pressure maintenance.
Fluid Related Issues - Scale

• Prevention is better than cure.

• Preventative measures are based on a thorough mineral analysis, and

understanding of the chemistry. Any expected/possible water mixing must
be trialed to ensure fluids are compatible.

• Remediation activities typically involve replacement of the affected areas.

 Fluid Related Issues - Sand
Production
• Solids production can cause problems of erosion or
flow reduction due to blockage.

• Prediction of sand production usually given by the

reservoir / subsurface group and is associated with
the type of reservoir formation.

FA consultants often employ complex CFD

modelling for sand issues such as Erosion
Fluid Related Issues - Sand Production

• Sand production is often managed “down hole” using sand screens, gravel packing and
other methods.

• The erosive effects of sand may impose production limits to ensure critical velocities are
not exceeded. Specifying a sacrificial material layer or more durable materials may be
necessary.

• To assess the likelihood of sand deposition and “bedding” in a production system requires
analysis of solids transport. Possible management strategies may be associated with
minimum turndown rates or periodic pigging /surging of the system.
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• A pressure-temperature operating
envelope can be developed from the Critical Point
curv
e
tene
fluid behaviour characteristics no asphaltenes asphal

discussed above.
dense
wax no wax phase

• This provides a good visual asphaltenes

indication of operating limits. hydrate no hydrate asphalte

ne curve

liquid
no asphaltenes
P

e
op
2-phase

vel
en
gas

ase
ph
w
ax
e
c urv cu
rv
te e
dra
hy

T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Phase Envelope:
• Describes the physical state of the
system at various temperatures
and pressures

Critical Point
dense • States vary between liquid, 2-phase
(gas & liquid), gas
phase
• ‘Critical Point’ is the highest P & T,
liquid that two phases can exist for a
given system

P • Dense phases may also be

2-phase present at very high temperatures
and pressures
gas

T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Hydrate Curve:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form hydrates at
various temperatures and
pressures
hydrate no hydrate
• Hydrates will form at
conditions (P&T) to the left of
the curve, and may cause
blockages in the system.

T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Wax Curve:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form waxes at
various temperatures and
pressures
wax no wax
• Wax will form at conditions
(P&T) to the left of the curve,
and may deposit in the system.

T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Asphaltene Curves:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form asphaltenes at
various temperatures and
pressures
no asphaltenes
• Asphaltene formation is most likely
within a pressure band over a
asphaltenes range of temperatures

• Asphaltene formation is unlikely

at either low temperatures and
P pressures or at high temperatures
no asphaltenes and pressures

T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Operating Envelope:
• Gives the overall
characteristic of the system
when considering phase,
Critical Point hydrate, wax and asphaltenes
no asphaltenes

dense • Allows for the interpretation of

wax no wax phase
an ideal pressure-temperature
asphaltenes
operating range to guard
hydrate no hydrate against fluid related issues
liquid
P no asphaltenes
• NB: Scale must also be
2-phase
considered
gas

T
Fluid Hydraulics

• Hydraulics is typically primarily concerned with the

pressure drop in the system.

• Pressure drop influences size of equipment and

recovery from the reservoir.

• A key aspect of hydraulics is understanding single

phase and multiphase flow.
• Single phase flow is well understood, and multiphase
flow is becoming better-defined.

• Essentially need to balance the parameters of:

• Flowrate
• Required arrival pressure (eg; oil separation, LNG/gas
plant, etc)
• Available inlet pressure (reservoir or offshore facilities)
• Pipeline diameter
Fluid Hydraulics

• Overall pressure drop

DPT = DPF + DPEL + DPACC

• 3 parts, Frictional, Elevation (hydrostatic), Acceleration
• Frictional pressure drop
› Energy lost due to interfacial shear between phases
› Pressure loss greater than for homogeneous conditions
• Elevation changes
DPEL = rs * L * g * sinq

rS = rL HL+ rg HG
› Understanding of liquid holdup is critical for DP
› DPUPHILL ≠ DPDOWNHILL
• Acceleration
› Not important in most O&G situations
Deepwater - Hydraulics

SURFACE

2000 – 2500m

MUDLINE

~9000 – 10000m ~10000 - 12000m

~7000 – 7500m

RESERVOIR GROUND
Multiphase Flow

• Multiphase flow is becoming better understood, but is

still the focus of some research and analysis.

• In addition to pressure drop; liquid holdup and slippage

in a system are key variables that influence hydraulics.

• The amount of liquid in a multiphase system, the

operating flowrate, fluid properties and the system
geometry will determine the flow regime of the fluid.

• The flow regime is a key factor in many aspects of FA

analysis, eg:
• Pressure drop, operability, dynamic behaviour
• Heat transfer
• Chemical distribution
Horizontal flow regimes
• Hydrate / wax forming potential
Multiphase Flow

• Movies
Multiphase Flow

140000
Total Liquid
Oil
Water
120000

100000
Fluid Velocity:
Water Holdup:
Liquid Holdup (BBL)

Area:
80000
Gas Velocity:
60000

40000

20000

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Gas Flowrate (MMSCFD)
Multiphase Flow

• Liquid holdup a function of pipe size and flowrate

5000
6" Flowline
4500
8" Flowline

4000
10" Flowline

3500
Liquid Holdup (bbl)

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Flowrate (MMSCFD)
Thermal Design

• Sometimes try to keep fluids hot…

• Avoid hydrate formation
• Avoid wax deposition

• How to:
› Passive Systems
› Active Systems

• Or sometimes try to cool fluids down…

• Reduce corrosion
• Manage maximum material temperature limits

• How to:
› Subsea heat exchangers
› Ensure exposed piping
› Select non-insulating external pipeline coatings
Thermal Design - Steady State Operation

• Say we have a fluid with a Wax appearance temperature of 35 °C…

60
0.50 W/m2-K
55 1.14 W/m2-K

2.84 W/m2-K
50
5.68 W/m2-K
45

40
Arrival Temperature (C)
35

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
Flowrate (BPD)
WAT: 35C

50% turndown – 10,000 bpd: 1.1 W/m2K

25% turndown – 5,000 bpd: 0.5 W/m2K

Thermal Design

Insulation Option Achievable U-value Issue / Concern

(W/m²-°K)

Flexible 4.0 – 8.0 Limited insulating capacity

Wet (Syntactic) 2.8 – 4.3 Buoyancy issues

Burial 2.8 – 5.7 Dependant on soil properties

Combined with insulation

Pipe-in-pipe 0.8 – 1.1 Cost impact to riser

Micro-porous 0.45 – 0.57 Industry acceptance

Putting it all together …
Integrated system knowledge

• Heliops asked for these floating facilities to be rotated by 15 degrees for

prevailing wind access issues

• This ultimately led to a complete redesign of the facility and subsea

infrastructure nearly leading to project abandonment…

• Why?

B
System Operations

• Steady State Production …

• Commissioning
• Start-up
• Shutdowns (long / short, planned/ unplanned)
• Restarts (cold and warm)
• Turndown
• Ramp up
• Depressurisation
• Repressurisation
• Circulations
• And others …
System Operational Modes

• A system may operate at a generally constant set of conditions:

• Eg, a gas feed pipeline to an LNG plant

• Or the conditions may fluctuate regularly due to necessary stop/start activities:

• Eg, regular pigging (sphering), Swing Production on spot allocation basis, etc

• Understanding the operational modes is required to provide complete analysis of design conditions and
system behaviour.

• Key operational modes include: startup, shutdown, packing, un-packing, steady state, rate changes
etc

• Key behaviours associated with various modes:

• Liquid surge in multiphase systems during ramp-up / start-up

• High pressures during shutdown / shut in
• Cold temperatures on startup (JT cooling over valves)
• Survival times on shutdown (how long before the fluid cools to a particular temperature)
System Operational Modes -
Cooldown
• Insulation selection
• Cooldown time determined by:
› U-Value 60

› Thermal mass (r, Cp, A) 55

Pipe-in-pipe (U=1.1 W/m²-K)

• Measure of heat storage Wet insulation (U=4.5 W/m²-K)

50
• Line size impacts Flexible (U=5.70 W/m²-K)

45
• Prolongs cooldown time
40

Temperature (C)
Gas / liquid interface typically controlling point 35

› Highest pressure 30

› Coldest temperature
25
› Gas = low thermal mass
20

15

10

0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
Time (Hours)
 System Operational Modes - Cooldown

30

RESERVOIR
WELLHEAD
25 FLOWLINE
SEPARATOR

20
Hydrate Propensity, T-Thyd (C)

15

10

5
0 hours (Steady State)
1 hours
0 2 hours
4 hours
6 hours
-5
8 hours
10 hours
-10 12 hours
18 hours RISER
24 hours
-15
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
Distance (km)

Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -

Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example
Liquid Surge
• Steady State (hydraulics)
• Line sizing
• Single vs. dual flowlines
• Dual flowlines becoming “standard” for deepwater
• Hydrate management
• Wax management
• Pressure drop
• Velocity / erosion (minimum / maximum)
• Slugging
• Steady State (thermal)
• Insulation requirements
• Hydrate formation
• Wax deposition
• Gel formation

• Transient Operations
• Shutdown
• Planned
• Unplanned
• Depressurization
• Restart
• Warm
• Cold
• Fluid displacement / pigging
• Flowline preheating
• Wax deposition rates
 -7500
Original Route - 40 miles total length
-7600 Alternate Route #1 - 36 miles total length
Alternate Route #2 - 45 miles total length

– Oil System
-7700

Design checklist
Pigging – Liquid Arrival -7800

-7900

Water Depth, ft
-8000

-8100

400 -8200

Original Route -8300

WELLHEAD RISER BASE

Alternate Route #1
-8400
350 Alternate Route #2
-8500

-8600
Liquid Accumulation Above Normal* (bbl)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
300 Distance, miles

>24 hour Ramp-up Required

250

200

10 hour Ramp-up Required

150

100

50 bbl Slug Catcher Capacity

50

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (hours)
FLNG

Floating Liquefied Natural Gas

(FLNG)

What makes it special?

 Gas
F
system F P
P
Onshore LNG Facility

Offshore topsides

LNG ( F(t) ) Single phase export

Multiphase subsea

Reservoir (Pres) Well bore

75 - Wood Group Kenny

FLNG system
F P

LNG ( F(t) )

Multiphase subsea

Reservoir (Pres) Well bore

76 - Wood Group Kenny

FLNG
Project Schedule - Detailed

• FA activities are present in:

• Select (Concept Development)
• Develop (FEED)
• Execute (Detailed Design / Construction)
• Operate

• The following slides outline typical activities in each phase.

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5

Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate
Concept Select Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
• Overall System Understanding. Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate

• Fluid Characterisation - sets the baseline for all FA work to come.

• System sizing (eg, pipeline diameter).

• Operating envelope (general understanding of pressure, temperature, production rates,

etc).

• Identification of major issues that may significantly impact design / cost / schedule
include…
• Extreme pressures and/or temperatures
• Corrosive fluids (leading to exotic materials)
• Potential operating issues that may impair production such as hydrates or wax.

• Optimization / Risk and Opportunity.

• Develop Philosophies
Develop Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate

• Understand the system behaviour and characteristics.

• Provide sufficient information to other disciplines to adequately frame

their design.

• Ensure the design of a safe and operable system that delivers as required.

• Size systems.

• Develop strategies. These then feed into operating procedures in the

following stage of design.
Execute Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate

• All FA “issues” should be completed, eg:

• Sizing should be completed.
• Hydrates etc should not suddenly be identified as an issue.

• Input / review / approval of operating procedures.

• Involve the operations team.

• Input and involvement with commissioning and startup procedures.

• Again, involve the operations team.
Operating Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate

• Close the loop between simulated and real operating behaviour for
predictive modeling systems.
• Ie, take field data to benchmark predictive models

• Provide trouble-shooting/optimization support if required.

• Online System
• Operations may request the development of a look-ahead tool that
predicts the system response to various changes, eg liquid surges
from ramp up operations etc.
Impact of FA issues on Project Cost

• FA analysis can significantly reduce or increase project cost.

• Typically a case-by-case concern.

• Often an area of cost reduction will be balanced by the cost increases

required to achieve it, eg:

• Lowering design pressures by use of subsea HIPPS

• Reducing slugcatcher volumes by increasing onshore processing
capacity
• Eliminating hydrate inhibitor requirements by specifying a thermally
insulated system
Example areas of project cost reduction

• Treatment to qualify standard materials.

• Lowering design limits (eg pressure & temperature).

• Eliminate need for costly equipment (eg onshore or offshore support

facilities).

• Change of Hydrate Management Strategy?

• eg. Example shown previously.

Example areas of potential cost increase

• Exotic materials

• Specifying energy-intensive systems (eg chemical regeneration)

• Chemical requirements (opex costs)

• Regular operational activities (subsea or requiring production reduction /

shutdown/pigging)

• Limiting the competitive environment for materials and equipment

suppliers (eg unusual sizes or special equipment)

• Increased technical risk

Tools

Design / Operate Smart

 Production Management Systems
• Tools
Rather than operating blind, subsea operations
engineers use a range of tools:

• Working knowledge of physics / theory

• Operating guidelines procedures

• Production management tools to help

visualise and predict system behaviour
Design Tools
 Operations

Onshore Facility
The Schumacher Group plc. Webber Industries pty. ltd
Dom Gas Offshore topsides
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikonnen Single phase export
(VRR)
Engineering Alonso Corp. pty. ltd

•PMS – Pipeline Management Systems

•Offline (pre FEED) -> Operations -> Online Multiphase subsea

Alonso Corp. pty. ltd

Subsea Processing

Well bore
Senna Energy
Operations / Design
Production Management

• Online system
• Takes real operating data, interpolates and predicts
• Real time Hydrate management
• Real time virtual Pig tracking
• Real time slug / surge prediction
• Real time metering (Virtual Metering)

• If you can prevent just one shutdown ...

 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Interface with other disciplines

Process
Management
Subsea
significant system response &
changes to
concept constraints

design data
Ops
operability Pipelines
issues
FA
design requirements vendor
input
operating philosophies
Specialist
Eg, Corrosion
Materials, etc
fluid data
back pressures
Reservoir Prodn Tech
 Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example

Summary

• FA is making sure a production system is correctly sized and specified to

achieve deliverability, integrity & controllability.

• Key knowledge areas include understanding the overall system, phase

behaviour, fluid properties & related issues, hydraulics, heat transfer and system
operation.

• FA activities are present at every stage of the project schedule, but ideally one
step ahead of other disciplines.

• FA decisions can significantly impact project cost, hence potential issues should
be identified in a timely manner.

• FA forms a bridge between subsurface and other downstream disciplines,

“balancing” the inputs from reservoir with the demands and constraints from
downstream.