TABLE OF CONTENTS Flow assurance is an engineering analysis process to assure hydrocarbon fluids are transmitted economically from the reservoir to the end user over the life of a project in any environment, in which the knowledge of fluid properties and thermal-hydraulic analysis of the system is utilized to develop strategies for controlling the solids such as hydrates, wax, asphaltenes, and scale from the system.
The term "Flow Assurance" was first used by Petrobras in the early 1990s, it originally only covered the thermal hydraulics and production chemistry issues encountered during oil and gas production. While the term is relatively new, the problems related with flow assurance have been a critical issue in the oil/gas industry from very early days. Hydrates were observed causing blockages in gas pipelines as early as the 1930s and were solved by chemical inhibition using methanol by the pioneering work of Hammerschmidt.
Flow assurance analysis is a recognized critical part in the design and operation of subsea oil/gas systems. Flow assurance challenges mainly focus on the prevention and control of solid deposits which could potentially block the flow path. The solids of concern generally are hydrates, wax and asphaltenes. Sometimes scale and sand are also included. For a given hydrocarbons fluid these solids appear at certain combinations of pressure and temperature and deposit on the walls of...
