Chemical Injection System Design, Optimization & Troubleshooting

Complete Field Integrity Project including wells, gathering lines, and facilities.  Corrosion and Chemical Optimization and Development of a Viking Proprietary Tool for integrity.

GATE was requested to determine the potential risks involved in waterflood for the Neptune and Shenzi fields as a means to determine whether waterflood was a viable option for enhanced oil recovery. Based on this, GATE developed a waterflood philosophy document that details the problems and possible mitigation procedures for BHP’s use in determining whether or not to waterflood.

GATE provided in-house production chemistry support for the Horn Mountain, Atlantis and Thunder Horse assets.

GATE undertook a chemical vendor qualification process on behalf of Noble to procure the best suited chemical and chemical support for both the Aseng and Alen assets based on their fluids, and system along with their specific operational needs.

GATE leverages each chemical vendors based on performance of chemical, lab, ability to meet supply demands and upsets, price, experience and key criteria important to contractor and operator.

GATE undertook a rigorous qualification process on behalf of the client to BHP to procure the best suited chemicals and chemical support for both the Neptune and Shenzi assets based on their fluids, and system along with their specific operational needs.

BP Pipeline oversees the operation of 9 total oil and gas export systems from more than 20 different platforms in the GoM. The pipeline systems transport almost half-million barrels of oil and hundreds of MMSCF of gas daily from the producing platforms to onshore processing facilities.

The FAMP has been developed for BP Pipeline assets to ensure proper working of the high volume systems by organizing and delegating between operators, facilities, laboratories and onshore offices. By facilitating the review of system performance and operation, this information provides the basis of a continuous improvement approach.

GATE was responsible for formulating a detailed flow assurance strategy for the successful operation of Juniper production system. The project involved extensive cross-functional interaction, detailed study of the lessons learnt from similar fields in the region (offshore Trinidad), simulating a wide variety of what-if scenarios (both steady state and transient) to draft the flow assurance strategy and operability logic for optimized production.

GATE was involved in formulating the strategy for hot oil circulation and pigging operations for Chissonga. The hot oil circulation study involved optimization of the hot oil injection pressures and temperatures required to displace the cold dead leg in the pigging loop following an extended shutdown. The pigging study involved optimizing the pigging frequency, topsides injection pressures and pig velocities taking into account the production function for the entire life of the field.

The project involved detailed steady state and transient modeling and analysis of gas and oil production systems. Strategies were developed for pigging based on the liquid dropout pattern and fluid velocities.

Phase envelopes of the individual gas streams and gas-mixtures were studies in detail using the software PVTSIM and optimum operating pressures and temperatures were suggested to minimize the liquid drop out.

GATE was responsible for the flow assurance modeling to support Detailed Engineering, Final Commissioning and Startup and Operations Readiness for the Aseng Development. This included steady-state and transient modeling of the production, gas injection, and water injection systems.

GATE was approached by Tullow to provide a detailed view of the several options available in the industry for remediation of hydrate plugs in oil and gas lines, merits and demerits of each strategy and their applicability to the Jubilee field. The project also involves developing detailed procedures for hydrate remediation/removal for Jubilee considering the available topsides and subsea infrastructure.

GATE was involved in performing studies on the gas export line at different flowrates and platform pressures using the transient analysis software OLGA®. This includes calculation of the gas compressor requirements considering the characteristic curves and limitation on the compressor power) was calculated for a fixed export pipe ID.

After an in-line inspection of a pipeline in West Africa, a client discovered significant wall loss in the first three miles of the line. The tool also returned significant wax deposits, casting doubt on the current wax management efforts in place.

The wells producing to the pipeline historically produced H2S; however, the worst offenders were shut-in quickly after it was discovered that they were producing extremely high concentrations of the sour gas.

Developed standalone tool for operator to proactively monitor flow assurance risks based on the field specific reservoir fluids, subsea infrastructure and current operating conditions.