Flow Assurance in Pipelines: A Reference Guide

Flow assurance is critical for effective design and operation of hydrocarbon production and transmission systems. The aim is to ensure safe and economical flow of hydrocarbon fluids from the source to the markets. As future development of hydrocarbon resources moves into more challenging environments, the importance of flow assurance is becoming more asserted.

Written by an internationally recognized team of experts, Flow Assurance in Pipelines: A Reference Guide is a unique, well-researched, and comprehensive work in the flow assurance discipline that addresses the stages of a flow assurance study and identifies how they relate to the pipeline system design and operation. This book is a fundamental resource for flow assurance engineers, pipeline engineers, operators, and production chemists, providing a detailed explanation of basic flow assurance issues that can arise in the pipeline systems and discusses practical methods to solve those issues, safely and cost effectively.

• Provides a systematic understanding of the concept of flow assurance
• Discusses flow assurance challenges in pipelines and how to overcome them
• Reviews latest flow assurance technologies, engineering principles, and practices
• Describes the best operating philosophies of pipeline systems to minimize flow assurance risks
• Explores sustainable pipeline applications in the transition to a low-carbon economy

Saeid Mokhatab is an internationally recognized process technology expert in the fields of natural gas transmission, processing, and liquefaction. For over two decades, he has been actively involved in various phases of several large-scale midstream natural gas projects―from conceptual design through facility start-up and operational support. Beyond project work, he has provided strategic guidance and technical expertise to a number of international companies in Canada and Europe. He has made significant contributions to his fields of expertise through more than 300 technical papers and 4 authoritative reference books published by Elsevier. Notably, two of these books have been translated into multiple languages and are widely regarded as essential resources in both industry and academia. Driven by a passion to bridge the gap between industry and academia, he established an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to natural gas science and engineering, which has since become a leading publication in the discipline. His contributions also extend to editorial roles with top-tier journals and industry publications, as well as active participation in professional societies and global conferences.

Juan J. Manzano-Ruiz has extensive international oil and gas field development experience over the past 40+ years in shallow, Deepwater, and onshore Flow Assurance (FA), as a technical team lead, project manager, asset manager, and R&D technical contributor. He is currently Technical Director I with Fluor Corporation in Houston, Texas. He has been the President of Petro Consulting & Associates LLC in Texas, United States. Before holding these positions, he worked for over 23 years at two major integrated companies, PDVSA and BP, in various roles, including Team Lead of R&D, Manager of Commercialization, Team Lead of Process Engineering, Facilities Manager, Senior Production Engineer, and Asset Manager of an oil field in western Venezuela. He also served as Manager of Process Engineering for Jacobs Engineering, Manager of Flow Assurance for Technip-Genesis, and Flow Assurance Manager for Bechtel Oil & Gas, supporting offshore and onshore O&G field development projects on behalf of numerous major clients. His academic background includes teaching for 16 years, in graduate and undergraduate mechanical and chemical engineering courses in Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Turbulent Fluid Flow, Compressible Fluid Flow, Multiphase Fluid Flow, Advanced Heat Transfer, Numerical Methods, and Optimization of Thermal Systems, at Universidad Simon Bolivar and Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela. After being an Adjunct Professor, he was granted tenure as a Full Professor of Engineering at Universidad Simon Bolivar. Between 1991 and 1994, he was admitted to the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, as a Visiting Professor and Researcher in drag reduction of turbulent fluid flow. He has received the SME recognition from Technip’s College of experts (Paris, France) and the Bechtel Distinguished Engineer acknowledgment. He has been engaged in several professional organizations throughout his career, including the GPA Midstream, ASME Multiphase Flow Committee, SPE Flow Assurance Technical Group, and AIChE Flow Assurance Forum, and has taught a number of training courses to oil and gas industry personnel through the Fleming organization in Europe. He received his PhD, Mech. E., and MSc graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his BSc degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, Caracas, Venezuela. He also completed his MBA Minor Program from MIT Sloan Business School and holds a Professional Engineer license in the State of Texas.

Antonin Chapoy is a Professorial Fellow of the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He started his career at Heriot-Watt University in 2004, joining the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research (now the Hydrates, Flow Assurance & Phase Equilibria Research Group-HFAPE). His research interests include experimental measurement and thermodynamic modelling of fluid phase equilibria, thermophysical properties, gas hydrates, wax, and flow assurance. With over 24 years of research experience, he has managed a wide range of projects, predominately sponsored by industry. He teaches courses at postgraduate level, as well as offering several short courses to the industry. He is the author or coauthor of over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 2 book chapters, 3 patents and more than 200 technical reports and conference papers, primarily concerning gas hydrates, flow assurance, transport properties, thermophysical properties of fluids and water-hydrocarbon phase behaviour. He sits or has been involved in the editorial boards of many peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering, and Molecules. Since 2014, he is also an Associate Fellow with the Centre of Thermodynamics of Processes of Mines ParisTech, France. He holds a DEA (MSc) in Chemical Engineering from Université d'Aix-Marseille (2001), an MSc in Energy Engineering from Institut Universitaire des Systémes Thermiques et Industriels (2001), and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Paris School of Mines (2004).

Jonathan J. Wylde serves as VP of Technology and Innovation at Solugen, based in Houston, TX, United States. Immediately before this he was the Technical Director at SPL, where he oversaw the technical decision-making and recommendations made by the flow assurance testing and engineering consultancy team. Prior to this, he spent 20 years at Clariant Oil and Mining Services in the United States, latterly as the Global Head of Innovation where he was responsible for global application development and innovation. Since joining Clariant in 2002 as a senior development chemist, he successfully contributed to innovation and development advancement across multiple Clariant Oil and Mining Services channels, including technical, operational, sales, and business development. Jonathan obtained a BSc (Hons) in Geology and a PhD in Physical Chemistry, both from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Over the past two decades, he has been extensively published in the peer reviewed literature, conference proceedings, book chapters, and patents across a wide range of production chemistry topics, many of which have been highly cited by the industry and academia. His publication record of over 225 separate articles as well as activities with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, has earned him an Honorary Associate Professorship. He is a member in good standing of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for over 20 years and has served on its technical and program committees for the International Scale Conference, Oilfield Chemical Symposium, and Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE). He currently serves as an Associate Editor for SPE Journal.