Hydrate Risk Management: Opportunities to Reduce Capital and Carbon Intensity

Traditionally gas hydrates avoidance has been pre-requisite in the design and operation of offshore gas production systems. Transformation towards a risk management paradigm requires collaboration between industry, government and academic research. With risk defined by the probability and consequence of each possible hydrate-based flow reduction, a combination of benchtop, pilot-scale (flowloop), and field-scale (simulation) insights presents a path to adoption of risk management in design and operational decision-making.

The speaker presents the evolution of the UWA Gas-Dominant Hydrate prediction algorithms, from their birth in Perth’s flowloops through recent applications in two industrially-relevant flow simulation tools. By improving the description of hydrate-based physical processes available to these tools, operators can explore whether design and operating margins (e.g. THI dosage) may be reduced without affecting the risk profile of hydrate-based flow reduction. The speaker further discusses novel benchtop techniques and systems that have produced over ten thousand hydrate formation events in the fit-for-purpose lag time apparatus, which have enabled probabilistic assessments to be drawn from such simulation tools. Finally, we have an example of a gas-based Long Subsea Tieback that combines three risk management technologies, resulting in roughly a four-fold decrease in emissions while extending the production plateau.

SPE Webinars are FREE to members courtesy of the