Ethylene glycol injection for hydrate formation prevention in deepwater gas pipelines

Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa No. 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia

Corresponding author: sanggono@che.itb.ac.id

Abstract

The presence of hydrates in deepwater oil-gas-field operations is a fairly frequent issue. It is very important to have a hydrate management strategy for normal operation and while shutdown. The objectives of the work were to mitigate the hydrate formation in the deepwater operation conditions. This study analyzed the sensitivity of the hydrate compound formation process in flow line system with diameter 9.5" with a length of about 22 Km in deep water gas-field, based on actual condition and production rate assumption. Based on the simulation results for the actual production flow rate, hydrate is formed at a distance of about 17991 ft from the wellhead that is in the first segment of the well head to the Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM). For a higher production flow rate, hydrate formation occurs at a distance approaching the wellhead which is part of the first segment. This is because the temperature at the bottom of the deep-water is as low as 40 °F. The addition of MEG to prevent the formation of hydrate compounds was further investigated. Fluid flow modeling was performed under steady state with CH4 levels of about 87%, pressure of 1900 psia, 125 °F temperature and 85 MMSCFD production flow rate as the basic conditions. The data used in this research is taken from one of the deepsea gas field in Makassar Strait. Adding MEG dose of 0.175% mole, lowering the hydrate-forming temperature from 67.8 °F to 3.2 °F. Similarly, for increasing MEG doses, the greater the decrease in hydrate formation temperature. The addition of MEG dose of 0.175% mole at each production flow rate gives different working fluid temperature with hydrate formation temperature of 5.5 °F to 18 °F, so it is safe from the risk of hydrate formation.