Gas hydrate plugs in subsea flowlines create complex challenges in plug-remediation operations and can result in significant operational expenditures. This work chronicles a series of operational activities in detection of a hydrate blockage, modeling assessment, and safe and successful plug-remediation efforts in a 12-in. inner diameter (ID) flowline in Vega, a Norwegian Sea gas-condensate subsea asset. The operational experiences from hydrate-plug detection and melting, as well as modeling activities, provide valuable input for future hydrate-remediation operations.
Field Description
Field layout consists of three daisy-chained subsea templates [South (S), Central (C), and North (N)]. At production startup in 2010, all templates housed two wells each.
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