Appraisal and Management of Erosive Wear as a Tool for Facility Integrity Assurance Exemplified by the Oil-Gathering System of Novy Port Field, LLC Gazpromneft-Yamal

Abstract

In the current era of new materials, current technology limits and restrictions are de-bottlenecked. The application of new alloys and composite materials makes it possible to accelerate velocity, pressures and stress of mechanisms and systems. Despite apparent breakthrough technologies however, over 1 million failures of pipeline systems are reported annually. Those entail emergency situations, spillage of process fluids and oil products, corrosive media and cause irrecoverable damage to the natural environment. The interest to inline research is caused by the fact that the existing inspection pigging and gravimetric methods using pilot joints only allow one to detect general destruction of the material in flow while predominant effect of each of the impacting factors remains unknown. Parallel processes like corrosion and erosion are inseparable at the first glance especially in gas-liquid mixtures with high flow rates and existence of solids. Erosion is the destruction of material caused by the effect of dynamic flow of gas, solid particles and electrical discharges. The problem of erosive wear and consequently, the management and protection of pipeline systems and machinery elements becomes especially relevant nowadays. It often happens that a gravimetric test reports high-rate destruction of metal and a false decision is made to increase inhibitor dosage; it is an often case, however, that it is erosive wear that causes destruction. Appraisal and selection of a clear and consistent method to appraise the rate of metal erosive destruction can help us clearly delineate between corrosion and erosion, and select a tool for the management of those processes, as well as increase operation time of pipeline systems between repairs and improve the quality of hydraulic calculations. Regular alteration of the methods of lifting from producing wells is a common practice among oil companies. Minor changes in the fluid volume, physical or chemical composition of medium, or water cut when replacing pumping equipment for an oil gathering system do not, as a rule, affect the time between repairs of either the equipment, or field systems. It is a different story when part of the active producing stock is converted to gas lift which results in drastic increase of gas content in the produced multi-phase flow. This manuscript will describe existing empirical methods for the calculation of erosive destructions and values of assumed coefficients / factors; it will also provide an appraisal of erosive impact on a specific section of an active oil-gathering system in Novoportovskoe ("Novy Port") field of LLC Gazpromneft-Yamal.