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Precipitation and Deposition of Asphaltenes in Production Systems: A Flow Assurance Overview

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Asphaltenes, Heavy Oils, and Petroleomics

Abstract

The movement of production systems to deepwater and subsea environments in recent years has increased the importance of fluid property related flow assurance issues. Asphaltene precipitation and deposition is one of these potential problems. While not as common as wax or scale, the impact of asphaltene is often catastrophic. Asphaltene can cause reservoir impairment, plugging of wells and flowlines through deposition, separation difficulties, and fouling in facilities. Offshore, the cost of remediating an unexpected asphaltene problem is excessive. It is imperative that the behavior of asphaltenes in an offshore production system be understood in the design stage of the project. Proper control and remediation strategies must be built into the system from the beginning. In this chapter, we will review the current process of sampling and analysis that provide the initial assessment of asphaltene stability in the reservoir fluid. We will relate these measurements in the laboratory to expected behavior in the field and address uncertainties. We will then discuss how improved characterization and deposition measurements will decrease uncertainty and allow less conservative design and operation strategies. Finally, we will briefly review the types of asphaltene precipitation models and discuss their respective underlying assumptions.

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Authors
  1. Ahmed Hammami
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  2. John Ratulowski
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Schlumberger-Doll Research, 36 Old Quarry Road Ridgefield, Connecticut, 06877, United States

    Oliver C. Mullins

  2. Vanton Research Laboratory, Inc., 7 Olde Creek Place, Lafayette, California, 94549, United States

    Eric Y. Sheu

  3. Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Edmonton, Alberta, T6N 1M9, Canada

    Ahmed Hammami

  4. Chemistry and Biochemistry, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University, 1800 East Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32310-4005, United States

    Alan G. Marshall

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Hammami, A., Ratulowski, J. (2007). Precipitation and Deposition of Asphaltenes in Production Systems: A Flow Assurance Overview. In: Mullins, O.C., Sheu, E.Y., Hammami, A., Marshall, A.G. (eds) Asphaltenes, Heavy Oils, and Petroleomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-68903-6_23

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