OS4C-6：Natural Gas Hydrate Deposition in Liquid Systems: Measurements and Modeling

Douglas ESTANGA 
Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, TX 77002 United States of America

    With the increase of off-shore oil production, the petroleum industry and scientific research groups have been searching for field evidence of gas hydrate plugs. The lack of documented incidents linked to this obstructive phenomenon for systems above bubble point, limited or no free gas environments, has leaded the author to investigate its occurrence. Accordingly, this work presents experimental data together with the techniques deployed to document natural gas hydrate deposition in liquid dominated systems. The techniques presented include fluid sampling, pressure and temperature analysis, in-situ velocity and gamma ray technology. In addition, the work discusses the incorporation of a low dosage  hydrate inhibitor (LDHI)  -anti-agglomerant (AA)-  to create controlled experiments (free-of-hydrate deposits). The usage of anti-agglomerant in these experiments not only allowed exploring deposition and accumulation but also the performance verification of the chemical. Finally, the author includes a brief analysis on how hydrate deposition data could address some of the short-comings of Colorado School of Mines Hydrate Kinetic model (CSMHyK) and the transient multiphase flow simulator OLGA.