Predicting When and Where Hydrate Plugs Form in Oil-Dominated Flowlines

Abstract

Summary This work provides a means to predict when and where hydrate plugs will form in oil-dominated flowlines. The method was funded by the DeepStar Consortium of Energy Companies and is based on a Colorado School of Mines hydrate kinetic (CSMHyK) model developed over the last six years, which is currently an addition to the transient multiphase program OLGA by SPT Group Inc. The predictions show good agreement to data for hydrate formation in three flow loops with five oils. Recent CSMHyK-OLGA workshops have been held in Houston (March and April 2007) and Oslo (May 2007), and major companies are beginning to use the program in flow assurance to predict where and when hydrate plugs will form in flowlines.