Flow Assurance & Operability

Hydrates

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Hydrates
Hydrates are crystalline material that forms when light
hydrocarbon molecules mix with water at appropriate
pressure and temperature conditions.

The following conditions are required to form

hydrates

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Free water (water in liquid form)

Small molecules like: methane, ethane, propane, nbutane, carbon dioxide
Sufficiently high pressure: typically above 10-20bar at
ambient temperature
Sufficiently low temperatures: typically below 20 - 25 C.

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Hydrates
A massive and uncontrolled formation of hydrates can
result in restriction in the flowline that can eventually
develop into a full blockage; resulting in stop in
production.
Hydrate prevention is a key flow assurance focus area.

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Hydrates common strategy

Operate outside the thermodynamic hydrate formation
envelope in all operational scenarios.
Hydrate control philosophy is field specific and selection
of hydrate control strategy is based on theoretical
estimated hydrate equilibrium conditions.
300

250

Pressure [kgf/cm]

200

150

Wellfluid with gaslift

100

Wellfluid

50

0
0

T = 4C

10

15
Temperature [C]

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20

25

Hydrate strategy
All different operational modes needs to be covered
by a hydrate control strategy

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Normal production

Planned shutdown

Unplanned shutdown

Restart after the different shutdown scenarios

Remediation

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Hydrate prevention
The following conditions are required to form hydrates

Free water (water in liquid form)

Small molecules like: methane, ethane, propane, n-butane,
carbon dioxide
Sufficiently high pressure
Sufficiently low temperatures

In order to prevent hydrates from being formed, one

have to eliminate at least one of the conditions required
for their formations

Hydrate prevention methods can be categorized as

follows:

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Removal of water
Chemical injection
Hydraulic methods
Heat control methods

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Hydrate prevention removal of water

Water can be removed by

Well completion; avoid producing from where water is

dominating in the reservoir
Choking back on well with high water production
Subsea processing

For gas export lines the gas is dried so that no free water
will be present during operation

For oil systems seperators are needed to seperate out the

water phase.
Topside
Subsea

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Hydrate prevention chemical injection

Chemical injection is commonly used for prevention of
hydrates forming

Continuously or for short periods during specific operations

such as start up and shutdown.

Two main classes of hydrate inhibitors exist

Thermodynamic inhibitors are chemical that lower the

hydrate equilibrium temperature. Commonly used
chemicals are MeOH and MEG.

Low-concentration inhibitors
Kinetic inhibitors delay the formation of hydrates by a certain
length of time
Anti-agglomerants allow hydrates to form as transportable
slurry thereby preventing plugging.

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Hydrate prevention chemical injection

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Hydrate prevention hydraulic methods

Fluid displacement

Fluid displacement means replacing production fluid with a

non hydrate forming fluid during or prior to a planned
shutdown.

Compression method

For gas systems compressing the system prior to restart

will result in a temperature increase which places the fluid
outside the hydrate forming domain.

Depressurization

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Depressurization is a widely used strategy for avoiding

hydrates formation for a planned and unplanned
shutdown.

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Hydrate prevention heat control

Thermal insulation

Limiting the temperature loss of subsea equipment and

shorter flowlines
Buying the operator more time reducing how quickly the
system cools down after a planned or unplanned shutdown
Cool down time = No touch time + Implementation time
The NTT is the time required after shutdown where the fluid is
allowed to stay untouched before the start of implementing
any hydrate control methods.
The IMT is the time to implement hydrate control methods.

Design of thermal insulation is a key activity in detailed

design
Focus is on components transporting heat to the ambient.
These are typically valves, support structures, instrumentation.
Focus is on dead legs in the piping design

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10

Hydrate prevention heat control

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Hydrate prevention heat control

Active heat control methods

Hydrates can be prevented by adding heat to the

production fluid. Several options exist:
Heat tracing adds heat to specific components
Pipeline bundling consist of a carries pipe with one or
several internal oil production and/or gas injection lines
together with lines for circulation of a heating medium.
Direct Electric Heating may be used for long pipelines during
shutdown to maintain the flowline temperature above the
hydrate forming temperature.

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12

Hydrate prevention - design

The best way of avoiding the formation of forming is to
properly design the subsea production equipment. Key
points in a design are:

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Eliminate low points (or high points depending on fluid)

Eliminate dead legs

Optimal location of instruments

Optimal location of chemical injection points

Liquid drainage to remove liquid from the actual pipe

section

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Hydrate remediation
Hydrate remediation methods may be organized as follows:

Chemical injection

Heating

Depressurization is commonly used for removing hydrate plugs. Care has

to be taken though. Reducing the pressure on one side of the plug only
may cause the plug to travel like a projectile though the piping driven by
the high pressure on the other side of the plug. The plug may then cause
great damage to the piping.

Mechanical methods

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By heating the system the temperature will move out of the hydrate region
and plugs may melt. Heating to remove hydrates presents a high risk as
large amounts of gas is released when melting hydrates causing a large
pressure buildup. 1 m3 of hydrates may contain typically 0.8 m3 of water
and 150 Sm3 of gas.

Depressurization

Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors are used to melt hydrate plugs. The

chemical needs to be able to reach the plug so the number of and the
locations of injection points are of great importance.

Hydrated may be removed by mechanical means using pigging, hydrate

tractors or by replacing the piping.

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