2nd Scientific Conference Of Oil And Gas-Agdabya

5-7February2018

Study of Effectiveness Of Chemical Inhibitor Dosage

Rate On Corrosion Rate At Wafa Oilfield –Libya

Salah.M.Algoul*a, Bin Nasir Alib

a
Chemical Engineering Department . The Higher Institute of Engineering Technology
-Zliten, Libya . golsasa40@yahoo.com 00218924491409
b
Mellitah Oil&Gas company -Libya

Abstract
Corrosion is a common problem encountered in the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas
pipelines, refineries and petrochemical plants have serious corrosion problems. The
main reason of Internal corrosion in gas and oil industry is generally caused by water,
CO2 and H2S, Corrosion inhibitors continue to play a vital role in controlling internal
corrosion associated with oil and gas production and transportation. The motivation of
this work is to investigate the extent of the effect of injection of corrosion inhibitors
on the corrosion rate values . Real data were collected from corrosion coupons for
random 12 gas wells from different satellites at Wafa oilfield over two years period
(2015-2017) .The study revealed that the inhibitor dosage were decreasing from
25ppm to 15ppm in this period, The results showed that the corrosion rate was
decreasing from 1.25mpy in 2015 to 0.2mpy in 2017 in well N21. While remained at
same low value (˂1mpy) in wells (N22,N23,N27,S3,A9,N20,N33,N24,N30) . In
contrast, there was high corrosion rate in wells A42 and A44 before and after
changing the dosage rate . The cost of chemical consumption due to the reduction of
dosing rate was estimated too which decreased from (150,000€/year) in 2015 to
(75,000€/year) in 2017.

Key words: Corrosion inhibitors, Internal corrosion; Dosage, Real data , Wafa oilfield

1. Introduction

Pipelines are required to transport oil and gas products from the well, sometimes over
long distances. In addition to oil and/or gas, it is common that wells produce other
products that are likely to cause corrosion, such as water and carbon dioxide. As the
pipelines often have design lives in the order of decades, steps need to be taken to
ensure integrity over the life of the plant and therefore, steps need to be taken to
manage the levels of corrosion. Chemical corrosion inhibitors can be very effective in
reducing corrosion rates, with the potential to reduce corrosion rates by 99% or more
given a suitable concentration of an appropriate inhibitor. Inhibitors work by forming
a film on the surface of the steel, preventing corrosive attack. With corrosion rates
being so much lower in the presence of corrosion inhibitor, the key in determining the
overall rate of corrosion over the life of a pipeline becomes the proportion of time for
which the corrosion inhibitor is available at the correct concentration.
Carbon steel has been commonly selected as building material for gas and oil
transportation pipelines. Internal corrosion has been encountered with carbon steel for
sevreal years in oil and gas production[1]. Internal pipeline corrosion is principally
associated with the presence of free water, which is probably corrosive with the
existence of corrosive species, such as CO2, H2S, organic acids, etc. If the water
phase is fully entrained in the flowing oil phase, problems due to internal corrosion
could be avoided. The BP ‘Corrosion Inhibitor Guidelines’ report [2] shows a basic
table listing some of the process parameters which can affect corrosion rate. It is
significant to find whether the corrosive water phase will be in contact with the steel
surface which cause internal corrosion in an oil-water pipe flow under many flow
conditions[3]. The effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors on surfaces with pre-existing
corrosion would appear to be mixed. Kowata and Takahashi have found that some
inhibitors were able to penetrate deep into rusted layers [4]. while Dougherthy and
Stegman have even found an improved inhibitor performance on pre-corroded
surfaces [6]. In other hand, Hausler et al have found negligible effect [5] and
Kapusta et al study revealed a negative effect [6]. Swidzinski et al studied the effects
of flow velocities [7]. The research observed that in multiphase flows, the corrosion
rate declined with increases in gas velocity. The highest corrosion rate were recorded
in their tests was at 7.5 m/s gas velocity.The optimum inhibitor concentration might
vary according to flow conditions, with higher concentrations generally required for
many conditions, such as high shear stress flow..However, Zvandasara [8] has shown
that increasing the inhibitor dosage beyond the optimum level might have a
detrimental effect on the effectiveness of the inhibitor and therefore the corrosion rate.
Tarik Mohammed investigated the effect of corrosion rates in the oil well flow lines
of an oilfield in the North African desert and factors that inhibit corrosion[9] This
study is an attempt to investigate the relation between the corrosion inhibitors dosage
rate with the corrosion rate values.

2. Material And Methods

2.1 Wafa Oilfield (Case Study).

The field is located around 540 KM southwest of Tripoli and about 160 KM south of
the city of Ghadames in the NC169A concession, along the Libyan – Algerian border.
The southern part was discovered in 1964 by Shell – Libya with well D1, and the
northern culmination, was discovered by Sirte Oil Company in 1991 with well A1
The field is a gas-condensate reservoir with a thin oil leg.
The average daily production from Wafa field is 37,290 Bbls of crude oil and
condensate,22.503 Bbls of NGL[10].
2.2 Process description

Usually, coupon (metal beam) made of the same material with pipeline is used to
measure. These coupons are installed in the pipeline and after the period of time (one
to three months) were removed. In our study, They were retrieved after two months
and transported to laboratory for examination and evaluation. Consequently,
measurements for corrosion coupons were conducted in accordance with API RP 45.
To investigate the extent of the effect of corrosion inhibitors dosing rate on the
corrosion rate values, real data were collected over a certain period. In this period the
inhibitor dosage for those gas wells were decreased from 25ppm to 15ppm since
January 2016 for economic reasons. The variations in corrosion rates during these
periods provided valuable data on the effect of inhibitors on corrosion rate.

3. Results And Discussions

Corrosion inhibitors are chemical compounds which are added to a fluid to reduce the
rate of corrosion. In these gas wells, the inhibitor dosage had been decreased from 25
ppm to 15ppm for costs saving purposes. The results from corrosion coupon
measurements showed not clear correlation between corrosion rate and dosage rate
values. As it can be seen from figure(3-1)for well N21 the corrosion rate declined
sharply from1.25 mpy in 2015 where the dosage rate was 25 ppm to 0.2 mpy in 2017
after decreasing the dosage rate to 15 ppm. In fact, the effects of the characteristic
persistence of inhibitor remains unclear even though the reduction in corrosion rate
In the other hand, two of gas wells A42 and A44 at Wafa oilfield observed high
corrosion rate before and after changing the dosage rate as is presented in Figure
(3-2). The increased corrosion rate is commonly attributed to the interaction between
incident local wall shear stresses (high droplets concentration, micro-turbulences, etc)
and the characteristic inhomogeneous protective scales formed at high inhibitor
concentrations. Whilst the data from the corrosion coupons showed that the corrosion
rate was remained at the same low (˂1mpy) values for most of wells, despite of the
reduction of the dosage rate. For instance, well N23 registered low value 0.7 mpy in
2015 and recorded low values too 0.31 mpy,0.22 mpy in years 2016 and 2017
respectively. The effect of 10 ppm of corrosion inhibitor which saved from decreasing
the dosage rate had experienced no significance effect on corrosion rate . Therefore
this value considered as useless addition. In addition, the mechanisms involved in
inhibitor over-dosing leading to raised flow induced localized corrosion rates still
remain a mystery. According to .study conducted on October 2013, the over-dosing
inhibitor rate than ‘optimal’ inhibitor dosage rates lead to increasing the CO2
corrosion rates of carbon steel lines [11].
 1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
2015 2016 2017

Figure(3-1) corrosion rate for N21 well

12

10

6 Well A44
Well A42
4

0
2015 2016 2017

Figure(3-2) corrosion rate Vs Time

4 .Cost of Corrosion inhibitors

It is almost impossible to prevent corrosion, however it is possible to control it [12]. A
Corrosion inhibitors is a chemical substance that is effective in very small amounts
when added to a corrosive environment to decrease the corrosion rate of the exposed
metallic material. Corrosion should be given a huge attention in crude oil industry as
its cost constitute a major part of production cost [13]. The production of the field
currently produces about 37,290 Bbls of crude oil and condensate,22.503 Bbls of
NGL. Data was collected from the corrosion department ,production engineering
department and anyone directly involved in carrying out corrosion activities to
calculate the corrosion inhibitor consumption due to the reduction of dosage rate in
mentioned period. According to the NACE , the amount of dosage rate can be
estimated by equation
Quantity= total volume * concentration /10e6

The price of each barrel from chemical inhibitor was 600$ and the consumes declined
from (150,000€/year) in 2015 to (75,000€/year) in 2017.
.

5.Conclusion

injection of corrosion inhibitors is employed to decrease internal corrosion rates in

carbon steel equipment. The aim of this work is to study the evaluation of the
performance of corrosion inhibitor, specially formulated for rate of dosage, with
different concentrations in the range 15 ppm and 25 ppm to assess their performance
on corrosion rate.. The study revealed that there is no relationship between corrosion
rates and the inhibitor dosage under such conditions even when decreasing the dosage
rate by 60 % from 25 to 15 ppm. The above results can be taken as demonstrative of
system behavior , but not as a conclusive representation due to the limited time span
over which they were taken. In order to conclusively investigate many factors which
affecting on inhibitor dosage rate should be studied carefully.The cost of chemical
consumption due to the reduction of dosing rate was estimated too which decreased
.from (150,000€/year) in 2015 to (75,000€/year) in 2017

Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank all members in Wafa Oilfield for their assistance
during the course of this study.

References

[1] L. Smith, “Control of Corrosion in Oil and Gas Production Tubing”, British .
Corrosion Journal, vol 34, pp 247-253, 1999.
[2] A. J. McMahon and S. Groves, “Corrosion Inhibitor Guidelines, A practical guide
to the selection and deployment of corrosion inhibitors in oil and gas production.
facilities, Report No ESR.95.ER.050,” 1995
[3] K. Kowate and K. Takahashi, “Interaction of corrosion inhibitors with corroded .
steel surface in Corrosion 96, Denver, Colorado, 1996.
[4] J. Dougherthy and D. Stegman, “The effects of flow on corrosion inhibitor
performance in Corrosion 96, Denver, Colerado, 1996.
[5] R. Hausler, D. Stegman, C. Cruz and D. Tjandroso, “Laboratory studies on flow
induced localized corrosion in CO2/H2S environments. III. Chemical corrosion
inhibition,” in Corrosion 90, 1990.
 [6] S. Kapusta, P. Rhodes and S. Silverman, “Inhibitor testing for CO2
.environments,” in Corrosion 91, 1991.
[7] M. Swidzinski, B. Fu, A. Taggart and W. P. Jespon, “Corrosion inhibition of wet
gas pipelines under high gas and liquid velocities,” in Corrosion 2000, 2000.

[8] T. Zvandasara, “Influence of hydrodynamics on carbon steel erosion-corrosion

and inhibitor efficiency in simulated oilfield brines,” PhD Thesis, University of
Glasgow, 2009.
[9] Tarik Mohammed. "Factors increasing corrosion rates of oil fields pipes and their
inhibition" Petroleum & Coal 52 (3) 215-219, 2010.
[10] https://mellitahog.ly/en/sites/wafa-field.
[11] D. Peng, I. Annan, A. Salami, T. Wood, A. Taylor, H. Ndione" Inhibitor Dosage
Rates and Corrosion - A CFD Model Investigating Inhibitor Over-Dosing and
Increased Corrosion Rates in Subsea Pipelines" the Offshore Technology Conference
Brasil 29–31 October 2013.
[12] D. Brondel, R. Edwards, A. Hayman, D. Hill, S. Mehta, T. Semerad, Corrosion
in the oil industry, Oilfield Rev. 6 (1994) 4–18.
[13] Akinyemi.O,Nwaokocha.N,Adesanya.A.O." Evaluation of corrosion cost of
crude oil processing industry" Journal of Engineering Science and Technology
Vol. 7, No. 4 (2012) 517 – 528.