Review and Perspectives of Technological Advances in Prediction, Prevention, and Management of Natural Gas Hydrates in Flowlines

Abstract

Gas hydrate formation in oil and gas flowlines can result in severe operational, economic, and safety hazards. Therefore, advanced knowledge of hydrate nucleation and growth kinetics is a dire need in operations wherein thermodynamic conditions are favorable for gas hydrates. This review delivers an account of the research efforts put forth toward innovative technologies and instrumental advancements with special emphasis on their governing mechanism and methods to understand the risk of hydrate formation in subsea multiphase oil/gas pipelines. Further, a detailed section on the effect of underinhibition on hydrate plugging potential has been included due to its significance in improving the economic feasibility of offshore gas fields, particularly those in deepwater and/or with long subsea tiebacks. Moreover, to understand hydrate plugging at pilot scale and in actual subsea conditions, we summarized the state of the art in hydrate flow loops (including those with integrated jumpers) and their advancements in terms of instrumentation, development of new hydrate models, and integrated flow assurance framework, which eventually improve the prediction, prevention, and management of hydrates in flow assurance.