Pipeline Flow Assurance

Prepared By: Ankur Srivastava

Chemical Engineer
ankur_2061@hotmail.com
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 What is Flow Assurance?
Flow assurance is an engineering analysis process to assure hydrocarbon fluids
are transported through pipelines in an economical manner from the source to the
destination in a given environment over the life time of the project.

Flow assurance covers the whole range of possible flow problems in pipelines such
as hydrate formation, wax & asphaltene deposition, corrosion, erosion, scaling,
emulsions, foaming, and severe slugging.

The avoidance or remediation of these problems is the key aspect of flow

assurance that enables the design engineer to optimize the pipeline system for the
complete operating envelope including start-up, shutdown & turndown scenarios.

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 Flow Assurance Concerns & Strategies-1
Flow assurance is a recognized critical part in the design & operation
of both onshore & offshore oil/gas systems.
Concerns:
• Pipeline rupture from corrosion
• Pipeline blockage from hydrates or wax
• Severe slugging can damage separator
• Large pressure drop in pipelines can cause lower flow than should
be

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Flow Assurance Concerns & Strategies-2

Strategies:
• Hydraulic Analysis – acceptable pressure drops,
pipeline size, erosion & corrosion limits
• Thermal Analysis – temperature distribution, heat loss
• Inhibition Analysis – hydrate inhibitors, wax inhibitors,
corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors

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 When to do Flow Assurance?

The bulk of the flow assurance analysis is done during the Front End
Engineering & Design (FEED) stage.

During detail engineering phase a verification process may be

undertaken based on the following:

• Changed product specifications including composition, phase

change (GOR, water cut)
• Change in pipeline routing
• Changed operating procedures
• Change in local health, safety & environmental regulations

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Typical flow chart for Flow Assurance

Establish basis of design:

• Flow rates (design / rated /min.)
• Fluid Properties
- PVT data, wax properties
- hydrate curve
- asphaltene stability and scale
- emulsion, corrosion & erosion
• Environmental Data
• Soil Data (for buried pipelines)
(Avg. Temp., Thermal conductivity)

Perform preliminary steady state hydraulic and

thermal analysis considering various cases
(combinations of flow rates, properties,
environmental & soil conditions)

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 Typical flow chart for Flow Assurance (cont.)

Establish options for conceptual design:

• Pipeline Size
• Pipeline Pressure Drop Profile
• Pipeline Temperature Profile
• Erosional Velocity Limits
• Maximum allowable slug size
• Insulation Requirements

Perform preliminary transient hydraulic and Establish the following:

thermal analysis considering the options below: • Chemical Injection Requirements
• Process startup & shutdown • Remedial design measures for flow
• Emergency shutdown blockage
• Pipeline Blowdown
• Risk analysis

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Typical flow chart for Flow Assurance (cont.)

Re-evaluation of the various Establish CAPEX & OPEX

conceptual designs to select the most for the various concept
preferred concept considering: designs
• Health, Safety & Environment
• CAPEX
• OPEX

Develop the following for the selected option:

• Operation, Control & Safeguarding philosophy
• Chemical Injection type, rates, storage facilities (if
applicable)
• Utility requirements

Floating of tender packages to EPC Contractor

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

Why Model?

Modeling is a cost effective & tested tool for flow assurance.

Some benefits are:
• Ease of studying & optimizing new and existing pipeline systems
• Facilitates rigorous screening of various options in existing and
potential systems
• Reduce uncertainty in design & operations
• Reduce downtime by giving a realistic picture of how the system
will be

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

Steady State Modeling

• Software such as PIPESIM, PIPEPHASE & Aspen HYSYS Upstream can be
utilized for steady state modeling
• Objectives of Steady State Modeling
- Determine the relationship between flow rate and pressure drop along the
pipeline and decide the size based on the maximum allowable flow rate &
the minimum allowable flow rate

- Check temperature and pressure distributions along pipeline in steady

condition to ensure that the pipeline never enters the hydrate region
during steady state operation

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

Transient Modeling
• Transient modeling of a pipeline supports a more detailed understanding
and appreciation how a pipeline will behave under operational conditions
• OLGA is the best recognized transient modeling software for pipeline
multi-phase flow
• Transient Cases or Scenarios
- Start-up and Shut-down
- Emergency shut-down
- Blow-down and warm-up
- Ramp up or down
- Pigging / slugging

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

• Objective of transient analysis is to ensure that the pipeline conditions are

maintained to prevent dangerous surge conditions and to prevent
conditions (pressure and temperature) for hydrate formation
• Startup Transient Simulation
- To evaluate the startup rates for the pipeline e.g. the startup rates
associated with reservoir and field production rate over a given time period
- To analyze the formation of undesirable slugs over a range of startup rates
• Shutdown Transient Simulation
- To evaluate the cooling down rate or drop in temperature of the pipeline
after the pipeline is shutdown and its impact on hydrate formation and
whether any hydrate inhibition measures are required.
- To evaluate whether depressurization or draining / flushing is required
during a shutdown and, if yes, then the rate at which this is required

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

• Emergency Shutdown
- To evaluate the optimum location of Emergency Shutdown Valves (ESD)
- To develop procedures for initiating an emergency shutdown so that any risk arising
out of the emergency shutdown is reduced to as low as practicably possible
• Restart Warm-up
- To evaluate the risk of surge at the gathering facilities
- To evaluate hydrate formation because of the Joule-Thomson effect specially across
a choke valve and if the downstream section is a cold depressurized section consisting
of lines and gathering stations
• Blowdown
- To determine optimum blowdown rate and time to prevent damaging liquid slugs
and minimizing the J-T effect causing excessive cooling which can lead to hydrate
formation and / or low-temperature brittle damage of the pipeline metal

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

• Ramp Up or Down
- To evaluate the entire range (maximum turndown to design values) of flow rates for
stable pipeline operation
- To evaluate formation of large liquid slugs during a ramp up operation. This is a
very likely scenario when dealing with pipeline transportation of gas condensates
- To establish safe ramp up and ramp down rates to maintain stable pipeline
operation
• Pigging
- To establish optimum pigging intervals for a variety of pigging operations including
flow integrity, pipeline cleaning (de-waxing, de-sludging, scale removal), corrosion
check, erosion check, pipe wall thinning etc.
- To evaluate pigging velocities in order to minimize liquid slug formation. Pigging
operations are the cause for formation of the largest liquid slugs and hence the pig
velocities play an important role during pigging.

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 Modeling of Pipeline Systems

• Slugging
- To evaluate the formation of slugs and for the entire pipeline operations including
normal operations, start-up, shutdown, ramp-up and ramp down.
- To study the various forms of slugging specifically when dealing with multi-phase
flow such as hydrodynamic slugging, terrain-induced slugging and operational surges
- To establish conditions for the various operating scenarios with the target of
minimizing slugging
Definitions:
- Hydrodynamic Slugs: These are formed during normal operations over a period of
time due to the stratification or boundary layer separation of the flow phases
-Terrain-Induced Slugs: These are caused by accumulation and periodic surging of
liquid due to the elevation profile change of the pipeline particularly at low flow rates
- Operation-Induced Slugs: These are caused due to the various operational modes
such as start-up, shutdown, ramp up, ramp down and when switching from one mode
to another

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 Hydrate Formation

Hydrates are crystalline solid compounds formed from

water and smaller molecules in hydrocarbon fluids such as
methane, ethane, propane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and
hydrogen sulfide.

Hydrates are a nuisance, since they can block pipelines

leading to stoppage of pipeline transportation operations
and hence are an important aspect of pipeline flow
assurance that needs to be addressed.

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 Hydrate Formation-(cont’d 2)

Hydrate formation in pipeline requires three conditions to

exist:
• The right combination of temperature and pressure.
Hydrate formation is favoured by low temperature and
high pressure.
• A hydrate former must be present. Hydrate formers are
the hydrocarbons mentioned in the previous slide.
• A sufficient amount of water – not too much, not too
little.

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 Hydrate Formation-(cont’d 3)

Certain other conditions in the pipeline enhance the

formation of hydrates and are listed below:
• Turbulence:
This can be either due to high velocity or agitation of the
process fluid. High velocities in pipelines can occur at
any sudden restrictions in the line such as a choke valve.
In gas flow a large pressure drop across the choke valve
causes the temperature to drop due to the
Joule-Thomson effect which favors hydrate formation

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 Hydrate formation- (cont’d 4)
• Nucleation Sites:
In general terms, a nucleation site is a point where a
phase transition is favored, and in this case the
formation of a solid from a fluid phase.
Good nucleation sites for hydrate formation include an
imperfection in the pipeline, a weld spot, or a pipeline
fitting (elbow, tee, valve, etc.). Silt, scale, dirt, and sand
all make good nucleation sites as well.

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 Hydrate Formation- (cont’d 5)

Free Water:
• Free-water is not necessary for hydrate formation, but
the presence of free-water certainly enhances hydrate
formation.
References for Hydrate Formation:
1. Section 20- GPSA Engineering Data Book, 11th Ed.
2. Natural Gas Hydrates – A Guide for Engineers by John
Carroll

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Hydrate Formation- (cont’d 6)

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 Wax Formation

Waxes or paraffin's are typically long-chain, normal alkane

compounds that are naturally present in crude oil. When the
temperature drops, these compounds can come out of the oil
and form waxy and elongated crystals. If the control of wax
deposition is not effective, the waxy deposits can build up
significantly with time and cause disruption of production,
reduction of throughput, and even complete blockage of the
flowlines.

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 Wax Formation- (cont’d 2)

Depends on Composition:
➢ Cloud Point
➢ Wax Appearance Temperature
➢ Pour Point
Thickness of wax layer depends on:
➢ Composition of Oil
➢ Temperature
➢ Pressure
➢ Fluid Velocity

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 Corrosion

Some of the parameters affecting the rate of corrosion inside the

pipeline are:
• CO2 to H2S ratio, and the CO2 partial pressure and operating
temperature
• Oxygen ingress
• Location and quantity of water (at stagnation points)
• Condensate-to-Water Ratio
• Velocities and shear rates
• Concentration of chloride ions in the pipeline fluids
• Presence of solids and elemental sulfur
• Flow Regimes (slug, stratified, annular dispersed etc.)

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow

• Total Pressure Loss =

Hydrostatic + Friction + Kinetic
• Flow Regime
• Input liquid fraction
• Generally most multiphase flow correlations model 2-phase flow and
not 3-phase flow

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow –
(cont’d 2)
Temperature:
• Fluid properties (density, viscosity) depend upon multiphase
composition, pressure and temperature
• Fluid temperature depends on:
> Surroundings temperature
> Surroundings conductivity (soil, sea-water, air)
> Insulation
> Inside film conductivity
> Residence time

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The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 3)

Adequately ventilated locations surrounding equipment

that has a continuous flame source e.g. ‘Flare Tips’ need
not be classified (non-hazardous area) solely by the
reason of the fuel gas being considered as a source of
release.

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The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 4)

1. Pipe Rack need to be classified, if required, considering

secondary grade release i.e. Zone 2 only.
2. Area classification for pipe rack need to be considered
only for the portion where there are flanges & valves. A
Zone 2 envelope considering R = 3 m from the
flange/valve packing should be considered for the pipe
rack.

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The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 5)

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The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 6)

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 7)

Hydrostatic Pressure Loss - A curious phenomena

• Under low flow rates, large pipes going uphill will have
LARGER pressure losses than smaller pipes

All elevation changes need to be considered

sequentially for the entire pipe routing.

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 8)

Horizontal and Inclined Flow Empirical Models

• Flanigan (1958)
Drastically underpredicts pressure losses for more than 50
bbl/MMSCF of liquids
• Beggs and Brill (1973)
It was developed for tubing strings in inclined wells and
pipelines for hilly terrain

➢ A reasonably good performance is obtained over a

broad range of oil gravities

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 9)

Horizontal and Inclined Flow Empirical Models

• Beggs and Brill (1973) (cont’d)
➢ In general, an over predicted pressure drop is obtained
with increasing Gas-Liquid Ratio (GLR). The errors
become especially large for GLR above 5000.

➢ The accuracy of the pressure profile prediction is

generally good up to about 10% water cut

➢ Not recommended to be used for gas-condensate flow

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 10)

Horizontal and Inclined Flow Empirical Models

• Eaton (1967) for holdup and Oliemans for frictional pressure loss
➢ Eaton does not include angle of inclination and can underpredict
holdup in hilly terrain

➢ Eaton-Oliemans recommended for gas-condensate or gas-water

systems

➢ Can be used for gas-oil

➢ Flanigan head factor can help for hydrostatic pressure losses in

hilly areas

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 11)

Horizontal and Inclined Flow Empirical Models

• Hughmark (1962) and Dukler (1964)
➢ Hughmark overpredicts holdup for gas-condensate but is OK for
gas-oil

➢ Recommended for oil-gas systems but overpredicts for

gas-condensate

• Lockhart and Martinelli (1949)

➢ Best correlation for laminar flow

➢ Overpredicts in turbulent flow

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 12)

Horizontal and Inclined Flow Mechanistic Models

• Oliemans (1987)
➢ Includes angle of inclination

➢ Should be used only for stratified or wave flow

➢ Better at liquid holdup than Eaton

• OLGAS from Scandpower

➢ Handles all angles of inclination

➢ Excellent liquid holdup prediction

➢ Especially good for hilly terrain

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 The Basics of Multiphase Flow – (cont’d 13)

Importance of Fluid Properties

• Multiphase correlations are very sensitive to density, viscosity
and surface tension

• Presence or absence of liquid is the most important, not the

relative amounts

• Significant liquid is 5.6 m3/MMSm3

• For gas-water, the percentage of water in the gas phase and in

the liquid phase needs to be determined

• For gas-condensate, flash calculations are required to determine the

presence and quantity of condensate

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 Conclusions

• Calculating composition, pressure and temperature is

necessary to determine if there will be hydrates, wax,
corrosion, and excessive pressure losses, etc.

• Elevation is very important

• Fluid properties are very important

• Presence or absence of liquid is more important than relative

volumes of liquids

• Use correlations only for which they were designed

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 Literature

• “Subsea Pipelines and Risers” by Yong Bai & Qiang Bai

• “Pipeline Rules of Thumb Handbook” by E. W. McAllister

• “Liquid Pipeline Hydraulics” by E. Shashi Menon

• “Gas Pipeline Hydraulics” by E. Shashi Menon

• “Fundamentals of Natural Gas Processing” by Arthur J. Kidnay

& William R. Parish

• “Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing” by

Saeid Mokhatab, William A. Poe and James G. Speight

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Thank you for valuable time
and
your presence

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