Planning reduces flow assurance issues

Judy Maksoud
International Editor
Offshore

Carefully reviewing the project design basis and conducting laboratory testing can lead to a successful first oil strategy.

Lawrence Cenegy of Nalco told participants at PennWell's ninth annual Offshore West Africa conference in Abuja, Nigeria, today that identifying problems early on is the key to dealing with flow assurance issues.

"Strategies need to be developed in the capex phase," Cenegy said.

According to Cenegy, work needs to be done at the front end to identify potential flow assurance issues. Testing is very important, he said.

Cenegy identified a number of tests that can be used to determine the types of flow assurance issues a given field is likely to encounter.

Organic deposition like paraffin and asphaltenes can occur any where in the system, and there are several tests to determine from a sample if organic deposition is an issue,
Cenegy said. Treatment varies based on the type of deposit.

"Asphaltenes are a lot different from paraffin's because they don't melt and are not particularly responsive to temperature," Cenegy said.

Inorganic deposits like scale, meanwhile, present different challenges. Scale forms at the production wellhead, but can be treated with scale prohibitor if the problem is identified at the outset.

"Scale deposition has to be treated continuously before scale forms." Cenegy said.

Investing in testing at the outset of a project is critical to ensuring continuous production, Cenegy said.

Nalco is opening a facility in Nigeria within the next six months to better provide solutions for West African fields.

(3/21.2005)