Page 37 - Handbook Of Multiphase Flow Assurance

References 31

or property may trigger one or more other changes. There will also be an increasing need
for the development of more cost-effective solutions for unconventional onshore and then
unconventional offshore production. Use of multiphase flow tools to optimize well geometry
would extend the time of natural depletion production and generate CapEx savings because
fewer wells would be needed. The use of realtime monitoring and multiphase flow modeling
for production and chemical deployment optimization would also optimize OpEx. This rep-
resents a total net value approach to flow assurance.
Similar to the total net value analysis, there is an integrated system or a holistic analysis.
As industrial and academic research jointly developed low dosage hydrate inhibitor (LDHI)
chemistries, so there is happening a conceptual change where keeping multiphase flow anal-
ysis and chemistry selection apart is no longer an affordable approach because project design
solutions depend on both multiphase flow and chemistry simultaneously.
One example of integrated technology innovation is that service providers are adopting a
process to provide integrated solutions for flow assurance and production chemistry.
Another example of innovation is finding new uses for existing technology: a subsea
scraper launcher historically used for pipeline dewatering after a hydrotest and for wax
maintenance scraping; now is used in GoM for hydrate mitigation by untreated produced
fluid displacement.
Some operator companies, particularly the ones with offshore assets name flow assurance
among the technologies strategically important for the growth, along with seismic explora-
tion and drilling wellwork (Murphy, 2015).
We have at our disposal the same number of solutions: chemical (alter interface), mechan-
ical (displace, scrape or jet), thermal (heat or cool), and process (separate, depressurize or
pump), but just as there can be an infinite number of melodies with only seven musical notes,
the industry can combine technologies to move to new harmonious solutions, driven by cost
in the coming decades.
When a project is borderline economic, a flow assurance specialist can act as an architect
arranging the solutions together to help find a field development concept for stable uninter-
rupted production and make the project economic. Conversely, if the project design is “gold-
plated” with multiple risk management margins and allowances even a strong project can
become uneconomic and not pass the capital allocation sanction review. It is important to
keep track of all safety margins added to the design, particularly so in flow assurance and in
production chemistry calculations.

References
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Caspersen, J.H., et al., 2011. Multiphase flow laboratory, SINTEF. https://www.sintef.no/globalassets/upload/pe-
troleumsforskning/brosjyrer/multiphase_flow_laboratory.pdf, accessed 4/7/2019; SINTEF, 2010, http://www.
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