Thermal Design for Heavy Oil

Flow assurance to optimise the design and chemical injection requirements for an onshore heavy oil development.

Fluids and operational data from a small Early Production Facility were used to benchmark fluid testing and characterisation from the original design. Simple field tests were used to test assumptions and reduce uncertainties in fluid behaviour, with a goal of identifying savings in the chemical injection regime.

The main challenges in the field relate to thermal design, driven by the potential for high viscoity oil-water emulsion, and by wax precipitation and transport. The Pace Flow Assurance study was able to offer singificant OPEX savings over the original chemical injection recommendations, using inexpensive techniques that leveraged design work already completed.

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