Flow Assurance LAB
This laboratory focuses on studies of conditions and methods to prevent formation damage, reduce the need for well repairs, and facilitate the transportation of oil and gas through pipelines. Leakages of organic and mineral deposits in porous media, production tubing, and hydrocarbon pipelines, clay swelling and migration of sand particles, adsorption and retention of polymers in chemical injection processes, corrosion of equipment and pipelines, foaming, and emulsion formation all impair hydrocarbon production. Not only do they result in lost production, but they also impose repair costs and sometimes necessitate drilling side tracks in wells. The flow assurance laboratory conducts studies related to preventing the formation and deposition of asphaltenes, preventing the formation and deposition of mineral scales, preventing the formation and deposition of wax, preventing clay swelling and sand particle migration, preventing polymer damage to reservoir formations, preventing corrosion, and preventing foaming and emulsion formation in hydrocarbon extraction processes.
Therefore, one of the types of equipment needed in this laboratory is equipment that examines asphaltene and wax deposition under real production conditions. This equipment studies asphaltene deposition under production tubing conditions within the pressure range from the asphaltene onset pressure to the bubble point pressure of live oil. Another device examines asphaltene deposition in the porous reservoir environment under reservoir conditions close to the wellbore in reservoir plugs. This equipment should have the capability to investigate the effects of the presence of doses of asphaltene inhibitors and the presence of water cut on preventing asphaltene formation and deposition. Other equipment is necessary to study the deposition of mineral scale materials in natural production or chemical injection processes. Investigating wax deposition in transportation pipelines or riser pipes in continental shelf hydrocarbon fields requires other equipment.
Equipment is also needed to study formation damage due to clay and sand migration or clay swelling. Analyzing corrosion, foam, and emulsion formation and stability during production also requires other equipment. With planned arrangements, Pasargad Energy Company intends to establish the flow assurance laboratory in collaboration with the University of Tehran, where in the first phase, the asphaltene deposition study system in capillary tubes and packed columns has been designed and built.