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Flow Assurance
(FA) -- Overview
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The energy industry
now has a focus on finding and producing
oil and gas from reservoirs located
in deep water. The recent finds
in the Gulf of Mexico in over 3,000'
of water (and as deep as 10,000'
feet of water -- 2 miles depth !!)
will be a significant help to the
U.S. in its goal to achieve energy
independence.
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"FLOW ASSURANCE"
(FA)
(the
successful transportation of
produced fluids in pipelines
in long pipelines (many miles)
in a harsh environment) is a
major hurdle for technical and
economic success in such deep
water projects. In particular,
the challenge here is to move
the produced oil, gas, and water
from wells located at the bottom
of the sea floor to platforms
located in more shallow water.
The fluids are subjected to
cold ocean temperatures and
large pressure changes that
may cause them to be unstable
and thereby create problems.
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| Significant FA concerns
include: |
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Wax Deposition
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Viscous
Emulsions
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Inorganic
Scale
Deposition
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Pipe
Corrosion
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PROJECTS:
Project 1: Prevention of
wax deposition -- sponsored by
ChevronTexaco
Project 2: Prevention of viscous
oil-water emulsions -- sponsored
by ChevronTexaco
Project 3: Advanced molecular
dynamic calculations to develop
improved inorganic scale dissolvers
and corrosion inhibitors --- sponsored
by ChevronTexaco.
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