HPHT Condensate Wax Characterisation

Life of field characterization of produced fluids from a high pressure high temperature (HPHT) deepwater gas-condensate reservoir.

This study showed that the wax appearance temperature of produced condensate from a large HPHT field serving a proposed LNG plant declined to below ambient temperature within the first years of producion. Drawdown of the reservoir as the fluid is produced over time leads to significant change in composition, particularly with respect the long chain paraffins that dominate wax appearance temperature and deposition rates.

This Pace Flow Assurance study showed that wax deposition rates would decline rapidly over field life, enabling a more appropriate, less conservative design. The study was also able to predict changes in condensate production rate, Joule-Thomson behaviour, and liquid management, as a result of compositional change over field life.

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