Clariant Oil Services Prevents Naphthenate Deposition in Norwegian Oil Facility
Benefits
- Reduced production outages caused by naphthenate deposits
- Cost reduction compared to traditional acid treatment
- Improved crude oil dehydration
- Reduced likelihood of corrosion failures
Background
An offshore platform operated by a major producer in the Norwegian North Sea had been experiencing significant operational issues due to the deposition of calcium naphthenate throughout the process facilities. The platform produces 26,000 m3 of API 25° crude oil together with 13,000 m3 of produced water; the oil export specification is <0.5 % BS&W.
The operator’s original approach was to control the naphthenate deposits by injecting a strong acid at 300 ppm into a high water cut well. This method was relatively successful in managing the solids; however, there was a significant increase in corrosion risk to the process facilities and it caused a detrimental effect on the crude oil dehydration.
Clariant Oil Services Solutions and Value Delivered
Clariant Oil Services has extensive experience in treating naphthenic crudes and, in conjunction with the operator, fluid separation experts were mobilized to the field to perform bottle tests to screen potential candidate products. Clariant Oil Services developed PHASETREAT 7604 demulsifier specifically for this application, and deployed it on a continuous basis after several successful field trials.
Clariant Oil Services continued to work with the operator to ensure product optimization for the process conditions, as they have changed over the years due to increased water cut. Next generation products PHASETREAT 7606, PHASETREAT 7609 and the current product, PHASETREAT 7615, have been successfully developed and deployed in the field resulting in improved export BS&W and oil-in-water figures.
PHASETREAT 7615 is currently injected at 9.5 ppm on water-producing wells, which provides a significant cost savings and volume reduction compared to the previous acid treatments. Furthermore, the operator has not experienced operational outages as a result of naphthenate deposition since the PHASETREAT products have been deployed, and PHASETREAT products are not corrosive so therefore present a significant integrity management benefit over standard acid treatments.
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