Classification: Protected

Status: Draft

- A Flow Assurance Challenge

Wax

Narve Aske, Statoil

Outline

Statoil and Flow Assurance

Wax deposition

Wax control strategies

The future

This is Statoil
Established in 1972 Partially privatized in 2001 2006 production: 1 135 000 OEBD 2006 income: 431 112 MNOK Represented in 34 countries About 25,600 employees Rapid international growth

In Salah gas treatment plant in Algeria

Represented in 34 countries

USA

Norway Sweden Estonia Latvia Denmark UK Russia Lithuania Ireland Poland Kazakhstan Belgium Germany Azerbaijan France Turkey Iran Algeria Libya Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates China

Mexico Venezuela Nigeria

Singapore Angola Brazil

Largest operator on the NCS

A world-class oil and gas province Statoil operates:

48% of Norways
oil production

Harstad

Halten/Nordland
Growth area

82% of Norways
gas production

22 oil and gas fields

Tampen

Matured area

Stjrdal

Bergen

Troll/Sleipner
Gas machine

Core areas Stavanger Offices Fields operated by Statoil

Field development concept evolution

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Accumulated length of multiphase flow lines [km]

Tasks Phenomena
Reservoir and wells

Production

PVT/fluid propereties Asphaltenes Scale Sands/solids Multiphase flow Sluggin Hydrates Waxes Emulsions Foam
Flowlines and facilities

Outline

Statoil and Flow Assurance

Wax deposition

Wax control strategies

The future

Composition of petroleum fluids

Fluid behaviour and control Enormous range and variety of components with regard to boiling point, molecular
weight, polarity and carbon number

Thousands of components from methane to large polycyclic compounds with

atmospheric equivalent boiling points higher than 800C

Molecular weights range from 16 g/mole up to several thousand g/mole Carbon numbers from 1 to at least 100 (for heavy oils probably about 200)

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What is wax?
Natural constituents of crude
oils and most gas condensates

n-alkane

wax crystal

Typical wax content 1-15 wt% Mostly long chain n-alkanes Solubility strongly dependent
on temperature

Operational consequences: Gelling Deposition

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Wax-forming components in crude oils

C10+

Mainly n-alkanes

Non-wax
C7 C8 C9

Wax

Lab. analysis

Pseudo-components

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Wax precipitation curve

Norne crude at 1 bar
8 7

Wt% solid wax

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50

Temperature (C)

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Wax diffusion towards cold surface

Correlation or wax deposition measurement Heat transfer model

n =

!"
i

Di

dCi dT

dT dr

Correlation or measurement

Thermodynamic wax model or measurement

Tells how fast dissolved wax molecules are transported towards the wall. Seems to be useful functional form to describe rate of deposition on the wall.

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Wax deposition by molecular diffusion

Laminar boundary layer Heat loss Turbulent core Temperature gradient WAT

dT/dr
Dissolved wax

dC/dr = dC/dT * dT/dr

Wax concentration gradient

dC/dr
Pipe wall

Velocity profile

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What happens in the pipeline?

7 6 wax thickness (mm) 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Length (km)
Wax after 1 day

40

Wax after 7 days

35 Temperature (C) 30

Wax after 2 days

25 20 15

Temperature

10 5

0 110 120

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Outline

Statoil and Flow Assurance

Wax deposition

Wax control strategies

The future

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Various pig types

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Wax deposition challenges

Stuck pigs HSE Inspection tools Plugged pipelines

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Methods for controlling wax deposition

PP-Solid

Pipeline insulation External insulation coating on single pipes Pipe-in-pipe systems Pigging Chemicals Inhibitors Dispersants Dissolvers Hot oil flushing Heating Bundles Electric heating (primarily hydrate control)

PP-Solid PP-Syntactic PP-Solid PP-Adhesive FBE

PP-Foam

Wax inhibition

PPD treated oil; this work

P P D t r e a t e d o i l ; t h i s w o r k

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Wax control strategies

1. Single phase oil/condensate pipelines:
Wax control normally by regular pigging

2. Medium length multiphase oil and gas condensate pipelines:

Normally insulated (or heated) Prevents wax deposition and hydrate formation

3. Long-distance multiphase pipelines:

a) Low-wax gas condensates (Snhvit): Wax deposition will normally not be an issue
FBE PP-Solid PP-Foam PP-Solid PP-Solid PP-Syntactic

PP-Adhesive

b) Oils and waxy gas condensates: No general, proven way to control wax deposition

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Outline

Statoil and Flow Assurance

Wax deposition

Wax control strategies

The future

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Ambition: Produce anywhere in the Arctic by 2030

SGARD

KIRKENES MURMANSK

MELKYA NORDKINN

SNHVIT

SPITSBERGEN

SHTOKMAN

PECHORA SEA NOVAYA ZEMLYA VARANDEY KARA SEA

YAMAL

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Is cold flow the solution?

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Thank you for your attention!

Questions ?

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Back-up

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Importance of wax control

2002: Vale on stream
Huldra

2003: Pressure increase

Vale Vale Skirne
Heimdal Export Pressure (bara)
200 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 120 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Courtesy: Hydro ASA Time (days) 400
WAT (C) WAX in STO (wt%) Volume rate (Sm 3 /d) 3,2 4,2 1000 24,6 7,3 700 -22,3 0,5 300 13,1 4,9 2000 Heimdal Vale Huldra Mixture

2004: Pigging program ! August: 6 pig stuck ! 32 m3 wax pumped back

Heimdal

Brae

Statpipe

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25

Mar-05 Deposit thickness on wall (mm) 20

Mar-06

15

Remediation actions time-consuming and challenging

10 5

Wax control strategy must be in place!

0 20 000 40 000 60 000 80 000 100 000 120 000 Distance from Heimdal (m)

2005: Chemical wax removal program 2006: Wax deposition layer increased (!) New pigging program launched, +50 pigs 2007: New stuck pig incident

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Pigging for wax control

Frequent pigging is a common method for wax control. The situation can very quickly get out of control if the pigging
frequency is too low.

Cleaning a blocked pipeline is time consuming if at all possible. Heimdal-Brae, more than 50 pigs used so far in a progressive
pigging program...

Several pipelines abandoned worldwide due to wax blockage. Selection of pig type will depend on both wax properties and
operating parameters, and is currently more an art than a science.