Flow Assurance Study for a Waxy Crude Oil A Case Study from Bara Field, Sudan

Abstract

Flow assurance is a relatively new term in oil and gas industry. It refers to ensuring successful and economical flow of hydrocarbon from reservoir to the point of sale. The term was considered by Petrobars in the early 1990s. Beside network modeling and transient multiphase simulation, flowassurance involves effectively handling many solid deposits and also includes thermal investigation of pipelines, making sure the temperature is above the wax appearance temperature and hydrate's formation temperature. Crude oil flow in Bara filed is restricted by wax deposition during production, resulting in complex production operations, pipelines detraction and eventually complete well shut-down. This project aims toimprove production performance by guaranteeing flow assurance of crude through well tubing, Flow lines and Trunk line. In this study wax deposition problem was evaluated by laboratory analysis of a crude sample from the field and analyzed in Central Petroleum Laboratories; Field performance model constructed and studied using Multi-Flash & OLGA Software. Thermal treatment of crude above the Wax Appearance Temperature using Down-Hole Heater found to be effective in preventing wax accumulation and deposition and in improving production performance. This is the first study of its kind to be applied in Bara field. In addition, the network model by using OLGA software was created for the first time for this field. Finally down-hole heaters application is relatively new techniquein Sudanese fields. Down-hole heaters found to be very effective in solving wax deposition problems both technically and economically. It is recommended to be used to overcome flow assurance hindrances.