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Flow Assurance

Practical Experience and Expertise

Flow assurance is one of the earliest and most crucial activities to be undertaken in any subsea project. Selection of the optimal line size, hydrate strategy and definition of the myriad operational constraints and requirements is key to maximising overall project value.

Atteris has the expertise and practical experience to address the most complex flow assurance problems at any stage of an asset’s life cycle, be it during concept development, FEED, detailed design, operations or in support of the decommissioning phase. This includes decontamination assessments.

Atteris can assess all Flow Assurance issues including:

  • Liquids management / slugging / surging
  • Condensation and corrosion
  • Hydrate management
  • Wax deposition
  • Emulsions
  • Asphaltene onset / deposition
  • Scale deposition
  • Sand transport and erosion
Service Area Specialist
Rex Hubbard facing the camera
Rex HubbardFLOW ASSURANCE & SUBSEA MANAGER

Rex is the discipline lead for subsea field development engineering, subsea engineering, and flow assurance.

Fluid Sampling and Characterisation

Correct definition of equipment sizes and operating strategies can only be based on sufficient fluid sampling, analysis and characterisation. Sampling opportunities usually occur during the exploration and/or appraisal drilling stages of a development, which in many cases occurs before flow assurance engineers become involved with the project.

Atteris can assist operators to define programs for:

  • Fluid sampling and downhole/offshore (rig) testing
  • Laboratory testing
  • Sample storage (for future use).

Once lab testing has been completed, Atteris can characterise the fluids and tune them to match laboratory data using software such as PVTsim® or Multiflash®.

Steady State Analysis in a Digital World

Atteris uses both OLGA® and LEDAFLOW® proprietary softwares, subject to each of our clients’ preferences.

Atteris is focussed on the strategic development of emerging digital technologies to support our delivery of intelligent, high-value pipeline engineering. Quality and precision are achieved more efficiently through the automation of engineering tasks and analyses – developed by flow assurance engineers, for flow assurance engineers.

Our in-house scripts greatly enhance the productivity of the proprietary flow assurance software. We can generate and run a very large number of parametric cases, automatically extract key data and present in MS Excel within hours. This allows for detailed insights into the full spectrum of possible operating conditions throughout the operating life.

Our analysis and theoretical knowledge are always tempered with significant practical experience to avoid expensive over-engineering or over-reliance on theoretical safeguards.

Transient Analyses

Due to our enhanced understanding of the steady state parametric datasets, Atteris can focus its Transient Modelling effort on scenarios that really matter, maximising knowledge of the system while also constraining engineering costs.

  • Full transient sequences including cold start-up, ramp-up, ramp-down, shutdown, cooldown, depressurisation
  • Liquid management, slugging and surge assessments
  • Wax deposition transient analyses
  • Pressure protection systems’ analyses.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Atteris is highly experienced in full transient multi-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. This has particular benefit in estimating sand erosion rates in complex piping geometries experiencing transient multiphase flow conditions.

Our approach to CFD is much more realistic than many CFD analyses in the industry which apply greatly simplified steady state conditions with a greatly simplified homogeneous single fluid.

Systems Engineering & Operating Procedures

Atteris is highly experienced in full transient multi-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. This has particular benefit in estimating sand erosion rates in complex piping geometries experiencing transient multiphase flow conditions.

Our approach to CFD is superior to many CFD analysis methods commonly used in the industry. The latter typically apply greatly simplified steady state conditions with a simplified homogeneous single fluid.

Decontamination / Decommissioning

Atteris has significant experience with several operators planning pipeline decontamination programs. This includes assessing and measuring a range of contaminants (including Mercury), and then defining decontamination methods to address any issues.

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Case Studies
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