Multiphase Pipe Flow - a key technology for oil and gas industry - Murat Tutkun Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) and University of Oslo 1
Institute for Energy Technology www.ife.no Norway s largest Energy research lab Oil & gas, new energy systems, nuclear technology and safety Extensive experimental R&D 600 employees + ~100 Ph.D./PostDoc/Visitors Contract research: ~900 MNOK The JEEP II reactor at Kjeller The Multiphase flow lab Extensive international collaboration With R&D Centers and universities Income from companies in 30 different countries Focus on technology spin-offs JEEP The II Reactor Halden Kjeller reactor
IFE Petroleum Technology Tracer technology Close co-operation with international R&D and markets Core competence within Multiphase flow and flow assurance Corrosion and material technology Tracer technology Model and software development Integrated operations and work processes Advanced experimental R&D facilities International leader in corrosion, tracer and multiphase flow Multiphase flow and Flow Assurance Corrosion technology 3
Subsea technology development in Norwegian waters New technology Subsea & floating Subsea to shore Snøhvit Ormen Lange Statpipe 1985 - Platform based Gullfaks 1986 Statfjord satellites 1994 Troll 1996 Norne 1997 Åsgard 1999 Glitne 2001 2006 Significant step changes A 25-year history of successful technology implementation 2007 Time
What is multiphase transportation? Transport of gas, oil, water, chemicals and possibly solid particles in the same pipe. Why? Reduces need for new production platforms More cost efficient and safer How? Gather production from many wells and send to existing platform or shore Subsea separation and pumping/compression may be required Often requires chemicals to prevent corrosion and solids precipitation that can possibly restrict or stop the flow 5
Flow map of horizontal two phase flows based on superficial gas and liquids Reynolds numbers (by G Hajar) 27.10.2015
Even more complicated if it we have a oil-water-gas mixture Trevisan and Bannwart (2006)
Multiphase transportation challenges Capacity problems due to viscous oils, emulsions etc. Solids precipitation can restrict or stop the flow Liquid accumulation during low flow rates in gas condensate pipelines Large flow transients during production ramp-up Slugging and other instabilities can give problems in the receiving facilities Erosion/corrosion 8
Application of multiphase flow models Tool for system design Piping and equipment dimensioning Heating and thermal insulation Chemical choice and dosage Part of system simulator Integrated system design Subsea solutions Operator training Operation support system overview Surveillance: Compute non-monitorable parameters - Liquid content, leak detection 9
Challenges in Multiphase (MP) Flow Modeling MP flows are complex, 3D, and show many different flow regimes which may vary along the pipe and in time All MP flow models are based on experimental data but field predictions imply extrapolations beyond data basis Thus, reliable field predictions require more basic MP flow models & integrated 3D flow assurance models Improved flow regime, flow transition and components models And we need more accurate reliable predictions of flow assurance problems! gas INTSOK Paris October 1, 2007 IFE Lab data o il Top: 0 deg, Usg=2.0m/s, Usl=0.4m/s Bottom: 1 deg, Usg=3.5m/s, Usl=0.3m/s
Challenges in Heavy Oil Transport Heavy oil constitutes a large part of remaining reserves Conventional oil Heavy oil 11
Engineering models show large differences for these oils. As we move downstream, cold oil collects near the bottom of the pipe. 12
Multiphase flow research Improved understanding and simulation of multiphase flow Lab experiments Detailed simulations (e.g. LES/DNS) Modelling of flow phenomena Oil fields with high water production Fluid characterization, emulsion properties Heavy, high viscosity oils and non-newtonian fluids (e.g. drilling fluids) Liquid accumulation Corrosion 13
Upscaling from lab to the field needs more unknown parameters to be modelled. Mechanistic model Lab Field We need mechanistic models in order to improve scaling properties
Multiphase flow experiments and modelling at IFE a moving target! IN THE BEGINNING. pressure drop (1980 s) and liquid holdup in two-phase gas-liquid flow THEN.. oil/water slip (1990 s) AND NOW. (since 2000) dispersion details tomographic imaging velocity profiles turbulence 15
What base knowledge is needed? Mathematics Partial differential equations Fluid mechanics Fundamentals/Physics Multiphase flow/turbulence Waves Experiments & CFD Computer science Programming Applied numerical methods Thermodynamics/physical chemistry Statistics 16