Abstract

A challenge facing offshore oil production is wax deposition. This has been a major issue for flow assurance in offshore fields, as it leads to increases in operational and remedial costs while suppressing oil production. Wax mitigation technologies including thermal management, wax inhibitors, and pigging were investigated and classified by their approach and application. The mechanism of factors affecting wax deposition, which are related to mitigation technologies, are also presented. Five offshore applications of these technologies are investigated.

Keywords:
wat, crude oil, asphaltene remediation, heating, inhibitor, pipeline pigging, asphaltene inhibition, insulation, pour point, production chemistry
Subjects:
Production Chemistry, Metallurgy and Biology, Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers, Flow Assurance, Facilities Operations, Inhibition and remediation of hydrates, scale, paraffin / wax and asphaltene, Precipitates (paraffin, asphaltenes, etc.), Pipeline pigging
This content is only available via PDF.
2014. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.