Perpustakaan Digital ITB

Offshore southeast sumatra is a 55-year-old field in Indonesia with production of 31,000 BOPD and 137.5 MMSCFD. Since, all production activities are carried out at offshore. The formation of solids, such as wax may form quite easily because the fluid is transported on the seabed at low temperatures. Wax deposit during fluid transportation will be disturbed production activities. Production optimization with flow Assurance is the right method that focuses on maintaining and ensuring efficient and continuous flow during which the fluid is transported. The application of this method can be done using technology, such as insulation, electric heater, separation, and heating of fluids. In this study, a simulation of 3 main cases was carried out that were included with subcases as a comparison to find the best solution in handling wax. In these three cases, the fluid is transported 2 km with the pipe material carbon steel on the seabed with a temperature of 20oC. The selection of the best handling solution will be seen from the value of wax deposition on the pipe and efficiency to maintain fluid temperature to be maintained from the inlet to the outlet. This study is intended to find the best method to minimize the formation of wax on pipes. The results of this study show that wax formation occurs when the fluid temperature is below 63 oC and insulation with a thickness of at least 3 inches is needed to avoid wax formation on pipes. The addition of an electric heater with a power of 43 W/m on the insulation results in better wax deposition and a very small value, which is 0.022 mm. Raising the inlet temperature to 75 oC fluid can be an alternative solution if there is enough space to install the boiler.