Flow Assurance in Pipelines: A Reference Guide

Flow assurance is critical for effective design and operation of hydrocarbon production and transmission systems. The aim is to ensure safe and economical flow of hydrocarbon fluids from the source to the markets. As future development of hydrocarbon resources moves into more challenging environments, the importance of flow assurance is becoming more asserted. Written by an internationally recognized team of experts, Flow Assurance in Pipelines: A Reference Guide is a unique, well-researched, and comprehensive work in the flow assurance discipline that addresses the stages of a flow assurance study and identifies how they relate to the pipeline system design and operation. This book is a fundamental resource for flow assurance engineers, pipeline engineers, operators, and production chemists, providing a detailed explanation of basic flow assurance issues that can arise in the pipeline systems and discusses practical methods to solve those issues, safely and cost effectively.

Table of Contents:
Part I - Fundamentals 1. Pipeline Transportation of Hydrocarbons 2. PVT and Phase Behavior of Petroleum Fluids 3. Hydrocarbon Flow 4. Flow Assurance Concept Part II - Fluid Related Risks 5. Hydrates 6. Petroleum Waxes 7. Asphaltene 8. Scale 9. Naphthenates and Carboxylates Part III - Flow Related Risks 10. Flow Stability 11. Flow Integrity 12. Flow Deliverability 13. Pipeline Operations Guidelines 14. The Role of Pipelines in Decarbonization Appendix A – Critical Properties Estimation Methods Appendix B. Goossens Correlation for Molecular Weight Measurement Appendix C. Acentric Factor Estimation Methods Appendix D. PNA Based Estimation Methods Appendix E. Splitting Schemes Appendix F. Whitson Lumping Scheme Appendix G. Flow Assurance Software Tools

About the Author :
Saeid Mokhatab is a distinguished process technology expert in the field of natural gas transmission and processing. Over the past two decades, he has been actively involved in various phases of several large-scale projects in the natural gas midstream sector, from conceptual design to facility startup and operational support. In addition to his project work, Saeid has also provided consulting and advisory services to a number of technology-driven and operating companies in Canada and Europe. He has made significant contributions to his field through more than 300 technical papers and four reference books, published by Elsevier, two of which have been translated into multiple languages and are recognized globally as essential resources in both industry and academia. Driven by a commitment to bridging the gap between industry and academia, Saeid founded an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to natural gas science and engineering, which is now recognized as one of the foremost publications in the field. He has also contributed to the natural gas industry through editorial roles in respected journals and industry magazines, along with active participation in prominent global organizations and conferences. Juan J. Manzano-Ruiz has extensive international oil & gas field development experience over the past 40+ years in shallow, deepwater, and onshore Flow Assurance (FA), as a technical team lead, project manager, asset manager, and R&D technical contributor. He is currently President of PetroConsulting and Associates LLC in Katy, TX, United States. Prior to this, he worked for over 23 years at two major integrated companies, PDVSA and BP, in a variety of roles as Team Lead of R&D, Manager of Commercialization, Team Lead of Process Engineering, Facilities Manager, Sr. Production Engineer, and Asset Manager of an oil field in western Venezuela. He also served as Manager of Process Engineering for Jacobs Engineering, Manager of Flow Assurance for Technip-Genesis, and Flow Assurance Manager for Bechtel Oil & Gas, supporting numerous offshore/onshore oil & gas field development projects, on behalf of Clients such as BP, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Chevron, Pemex, CNOOC, ADNOC, Petrobras, Enterprise, Enbridge, Burlington Resources, Lukoil, Newfield Exploration, Oiltanking, PTTEP, Schlumberger, and West Engineering. While working at PDVSA, he taught for 16 years several graduate and undergraduate mechanical and chemical engineering courses in Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Turbulent Fluid Flow, Compressible Fluid Flow, Multiphase Fluid Flow, Advanced Heat Transfer, Numerical Methods, and Optimization of Thermal Systems, at Universidad Simon Bolivar and Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela. After some time as an Adjunct Professor, he was granted Tenure as Full Professor of Engineering at Universidad Simon Bolivar. In the period 1991-1994, he was admitted into the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, as a Visiting Professor and Researcher in drag-reduction of turbulent fluid flow. He has received the SME recognition from Technip’s College of Experts (Paris, France) and the Bechtel’s Distinguished Engineer acknowledgment. He has been engaged in several professional organizations throughout his career, including the GPA Midstream, ASME Multiphase Flow Committee, SPE Flow Assurance Technical Group, and AIChE Flow Assurance Forum; and has taught a number of training courses to oil & gas industry personnel with the Fleming organization. He received his PhD, Mech. E. and MSc degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his BSc degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, Caracas, Venezuela. He also completed his MBA Minor Program from MIT Sloan Business School and holds a Professional Engineering license in the State of Texas. Antonin Chapoy is a Professorial Fellow of the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He started his career at Heriot-Watt University in 2004, joining the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research (now the Hydrates, Flow Assurance & Phase Equilibria Research Group-HFAPE). His research interests include experimental measurement and thermodynamic modelling of fluid phase equilibria, thermophysical properties, gas hydrates, wax, and flow assurance. With over 24 years of research experience, he has managed a wide range of projects, predominately sponsored by industry. He teaches courses at postgraduate level, as well as offering several short courses to the industry. He is the author or coauthor of over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 2 book chapters, 3 patents and more than 200 technical reports and conference papers, primarily concerning gas hydrates, flow assurance, transport properties, thermophysical properties of fluids and water-hydrocarbon phase behaviour. As of September 15, 2024, he has more than 7,228 citations with an h-index of 49. He sits or has been involved in the editorial boards of many peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering, and Molecules. Since 2014, he is also an Associate Fellow with the Centre of Thermodynamics of Processes of Mines ParisTech, France. He holds a DEA (MSc) in Chemical Engineering from Université d'Aix-Marseille (2001), an MSc in Energy Engineering from Institut Universitaire des Systémes Thermiques et Industriels (2001), and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Paris School of Mines (2004). Jonathan J. Wylde serves as the Technical Director at SPL, based in Houston, TX, United States, where he oversees the technical decision making and recommendations made by the flow assurance testing and engineering consultancy team, serving as the in-house subject matter expert for flow assurance and production chemistry. Prior to this, he spent 20 years at Clariant Oil and Mining Services in the United States, latterly as the Global Head of Innovation where he was responsible for global application development and innovation. Since joining Clariant in 2002 as a senior development chemist, he successfully contributed to innovation and development advancement across multiple Clariant Oil and Mining Services channels, including technical, operational, sales and business development. Jonathan obtained a BSc (Hons) in Geology and a PhD in Physical Chemistry, both from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Over the past two decades, he has been extensively published in the peer reviewed literature, conference proceedings, book chapters, and patents across a wide range of production chemistry topics, many of which have been highly cited by the industry and academia. His publication record of over 225 separate articles as well as activities with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, has earned him an Honorary Associate Professorship. He is a member in good standing of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for over 20 years and has served on its technical and program committees for the International Scale Conference, Oilfield Chemical Symposium, and Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE); and currently serves as an Associate Editor for SPE Journal.