OTC-26578-MS

Active Heated Pipe Technologies for Field Development Optimisation

E Louvet, S. Giraudbit, B. Seguin, R. Sathananthan, Subsea 7

Copyright 2016, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference Asia held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2225 March 2016.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Active heated pipe technologies are enabling solutions for field developments allowing cost effective
management of flow assurance to overcome specific challenges like longer distance tie-backs and
greater water depths.

This paper introduces wax and hydrate issues and conventional approaches to manage them. It
highlights the need for other approaches, such as active heating technologies, to reach longer tie-back
distances and greater water depths.

It reviews Direct Electrical Heating (DEH), Electrically Heat-Traced Flowline (EHTF), and active
heated flowline bundles comprising Hot Water Circulation (HWC) and EHTF in bundle. A general
presentation of these systems is given, including design, fabrication and installation methods, as well as
the maturity of the technology. Typical field architecture is proposed to illustrate the benefits of each
active heating technology in terms of field development optimisation.

This paper provides global information and an understanding of different available solutions for active
heating pipeline systems, with technical and economic perspectives, and concludes with elements for
selection of optimised field architecture.

Wet DEH is a field proven technology with large track record that has already been installed on a 43km
pipeline in 1070m water depth. It fits production fields not requiring high thermal insulation
performances and thus allowing wet insulated pipe (U-Value >2W/m.K). The system presents high
electrical power requirement (50-150W/m). Therefore, infrastructure capacities in terms of footprint and
power supply available have to be checked against specific project power requirements.

EHTF fits production fields requiring high thermal insulation performance provided by Pipe-in-pipe
(down to U-Value < 0.5W/m.K). Thanks to its high efficiency, the system has low power requirement
(typically below 50W/m). Therefore, it can also be an alternative to DEH when topsides capacities
cannot meet footprint and power supply requirements. Pipeline heat tracing is a known technology for
onshore plants and by extension applicable for subsea applications. The implementation of EHTF is
completing qualification of this technology for deepwater applications.
2 OTC-26578-MS

HWC within bundle is a field proven technology. It fits production fields requiring high thermal
insulation performance provided by bundle arrangement (down to U-Value < 0.5W/m.K). The
technology requires power and equipment to heat water thus impacting topsides space. These
requirements vary considering project specific needs and selection of direct or indirect heating. For
example, re-use of the produced water as an indirect heating medium can highly limit required power
generation.

Introduction
Within the past 10 years, the number of long tie-backs doubled [1]. Indeed, long tie-backs to existing
infrastructures (e.g. higher than 10 miles for oil fields and 30 miles for gas fields) are strategic, from a
cost perspective, as they give access to far reserves avoiding new topside installation.

Table 1 below is based on Offshore magazine posters [1] respectively issued in 2005 and 2015. This
table illustrates the increase of tie-backs lengths and also of water depths:

Tie back experience limit for Water depth Length

Year 2005 2015 2005 2015
Oil subsea tie back 1 626m 2 934m 46.7km 69.8km
Gas subsea tie back 2 307m 2 934m 109.4km 149.7km
Table 1: Increase of tie backs length and water depth

Oil and gas production is inherently a risky business and how this risk is managed will effectively
determine the success of any venture. Flow assurance issues are part of these risks, for instance:
Hydrate crystals appearance, eventually leading to a plugging of the flowline
Wax deposits aggregation on the flowline walls and thus flow restriction, potentially until a
complete jamming

There are conventional flow assurance methods for hydrate and wax prevention. They include high-
performing thermal insulation, depressurisation, dead oil circulation and chemical injection. However,
more cost-effective technologies are required in the current context of low oil price and even more for
meeting the thermal and economic challenges present in deep water and long distance tie-backs.

In this context, heating systems of flowlines can be enabler technologies for field development
maintaining or raising the temperature of the flow above the critical wax and/or hydrate temperatures.

Hydrates and wax issues

Hydrates

Hydrates can appear either during production or during shutdown. Their formation inside production
lines requires three conditions to be met:
Low temperatures or relatively high pressures (e.g. 4C and 10bar or 15C and 80bar) as
shown in Figure 1
Free molecules of water
Gas molecules: CH4, C2H6, C3H8, C4H10, N2, CO2, H2S

In deep waters, hydrates issues are more present than in shallow waters due to the following factors:
Low seawater temperature
High pressures due to fluid column
OTC-26578-MS 3

When the conditions are fulfilled, hydrate particles appear and they agglomerate which increases slurry
viscosity and, eventually, plug the line.

Figure 1: Wax and hydrate zone illustration

Wax

Wax deposition on flowline walls can occur during production as fluid flows through the lines. Waxes
are hydrocarbon chains in solution in the crude oil that crystallize when the temperature drops.

Wax deposition can be a potential issue even in crude oils or condensates with low wax content due to
low ambient temperatures. For a deposit to occur the wall temperature needs to be lower than both the
Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT) and the flowing temperature.

As soon as the deposit forms on the wall, a process will begin whereby its thickness will increase over
time. This process has an impact on the pressure profiles since pressure increases due to reduction in
cross-section, and on temperature because thermal insulation is improved by the deposit. The impact of
the restriction in the passage may be substantial and a blockage can form.

Wax issues can be avoided by a combination of thermal management, to control temperature

differential, and mechanical solutions such as pigging.

Conventional approaches to manage hydrates and wax

Not all field developments require hydrate or wax management. It depends on production fluid, well
characteristics and the surrounding environment.

When there is a risk of hydrate or wax formation, the implementation of suitable technical solutions is
strategic to avoid plugging, which requires a long time to dissociate (several days to several months) and
can be costly as it impacts production. The most widely employed technologies, which are often used in
combination, are described below [8].
4 OTC-26578-MS

Thermal insulation

The production fluid comes from wellheads at a given temperature that decreases along the flowlines
due to low ambient temperature. The objective of thermal insulation is to prevent produced fluids
temperature from dropping below hydrate and/or wax appearance temperature by limiting heat
exchanges with the (cold) ambient environment.

Depending upon the thermal performance requirement, different insulation materials are available. Wet
insulation [6] could be deemed sufficient typically for short tie-backs and high temperature production
fluid. If not sufficient, Pipe-in-pipes (PiP) are efficient solutions [7] with very high thermal
performances.

For the definition of the whole thermal insulation, potential cold spot locations (spools, manifolds...)
need to be analysed in detail for possible particular treatment.

This passive solution is interesting but, during a shutdown, the temperature is maintained only for a
limited period and thus a combination with other solutions is required. A key design driver is the
allowable fluid residence time inside the pipeline. This duration is the addition of the flow-through time
and the time for performing mitigating measures in case of a shutdown. Typically, wet insulation is
acceptable for residence times up to 12 hours, whereas Pipe-in-pipe with high performance insulation is
required for residence times of 24-48 hours.

Even in flowing conditions, a very good thermal insulation could be insufficient to maintain
temperature, in particular, in degraded production conditions (at the end of field life or in turndown
conditions) or for difficult production fluids (e.g. with little temperature margin between production
conditions and WAT or HAT).

Depressurisation

A conventional method to remain outside the hydrate formation region during shutdown is
depressurising the lines. Injection of chemicals such as MEG or MeOH is then required during the
restart phase while the pressure increases in the lines, to avoid entering the hydrate region. During full or
partial depressurisation, gas and liquid may be sent to topsides flare system, where allowed.

Using depressurisation to bring back the system outside the hydrate stable zone is efficient but not
always feasible. Indeed, there can be down sloping geometry at the riser base or a fluid composition
with low gas to liquid ratios. In this case, the remaining liquid column in the riser could maintain an
important hydrostatic pressure on the system hence remaining in the hydrate zone.

With higher water depths, the risk of hydrostatic pressure limits the efficiency of depressurisation.

Loop arrangement

If depressurisation with chemical injection is not able to protect the system against hydrates formation,
live hydrocarbons displacement is to be considered as a solution. This consists in displacing production
fluids in flowlines using externally treated liquid: dead oil (product treated on the production facility to
remove most of water and gas) or diesel, if dead oil cannot be used due to wax risk.
OTC-26578-MS 5

The solution requires a loop arrangement. Different architectures have been used:
Two production flowlines laid alongside and connected at the far end to form a production
loop
One production flowline connected at the far end to a service line to form a hybrid loop. This
service line can be pre-filled with treated liquid. The architecture is less expensive thanks to
the use of an uninsulated service line instead of a production line but, it also provides less
operability because the production fluid cannot circulate through the service line.

Start-up is done with dead oil/diesel in the lines. The wells are opened while chemicals such as MEG or
MeOH are injected, for instance into locations remote of the circulating loop. The loop arrangement
allows round trip pigging of the production lines from topsides and thus wax removal. However, pigging
can also be done from subsea to subsea with adequate equipment. Pigging from topsides can also be
achieved with a loop using a non-production line as return line (e.g. water injection line or bottom gas
lift line).

Production displacement requires two looped lines, pumps to replace the live hydrocarbons with treated
liquid and associated storage tanks as well as pigging equipment. This does not exclude efficient thermal
insulation of the production lines to reach cool down criteria and to avoid wax. This architecture also
requires all the means to inject chemicals at specific locations as well as the capacity to treat live
production fluid in any situation (e.g. black out).

Figure 2: Illustration of conventional approaches

The loop provides operational flexibility, though less with hybrid loop, but it is an expensive
architecture and potential length is still limited. Indeed, as the distances increase, the volumes of
production fluid may increase, as well as the velocity required to displace the fluid without entering the
hydrate zone. As a consequence, the sizing of equipment used for the displacement might exceed
existing topsides capacities. Time required to restart production impacts overall field availability.
6 OTC-26578-MS

Continuous chemical injection

Another solution for hydrate/wax management is the continuous injection of chemicals such as Mono
Ethylene Glycol (MEG) or Methanol (MeOH). These Thermodynamic inhibitors decrease hydrate
formation conditions to lower temperatures/higher pressures.

Continuous injection cannot be considered as a standalone solution against wax in the absence of
additional periodical pigging.

It is economically viable against hydrates only for gas fields. If the quantity of water to be inhibited is
too important, the amount of chemical required for continuous use is unrealistic. For both gas and oil
fields, injection of MEG or MeOH is often to be considered at specific locations (cold spots).

The injection of chemicals requires pumps located on topsides to inject the chemicals and tanks with
sufficient storage capacity. The amount of required chemicals could represent important volumes which
impact procurement, transportation and storage costs. Downstream process sensitivity to such chemicals
must also be considered. This could exclude their use or require specific separation process to remove
chemicals from production fluid.

Conclusions

This section highlights that other solutions have to be explored for important water depths where
depressurisation is not efficient because of the large static head, for long distances, in order to avoid
costly loop or huge amount of chemicals to be injected, for field development to a (very) crowded
existing infrastructure but also for viscous production fluids or fluids that is already cold at wellhead.
Heating technologies are enabling solutions for these situations. Direct Electrical Heating, Electrically
Heat-Traced Flowline, and Active Heated Flowline Bundles comprising hot water circulation and
electrical heating, are described in the following paragraphs.

Figure 3 below illustrates the different approaches to manage hydrate risk during shutdown:
OTC-26578-MS 7

Figure 3: Illustration of the different hydrate management approaches

Heating solutions - Systems description

An efficient way to manage hydrates, wax and viscous production fluid is heating the lines to stay above
respective appearance temperatures. For most fields the objective is above the region of 15C to 40C.

Active heating is defined as injecting heat from some external source into a production system. Different
operational modes of active heating technologies have to be considered to size the selected system:
Continuous heating during production, in particular in turndown scenarios and during tail end
production periods with high water-cut
Preservation mode: heating during shutdown to maintain the fluid temperature outside the
hydrate region
Re-start mode: heating to warm-up the production fluid and quit the hydrate region after a long
shutdown where the production fluid cooled down to ambient temperature, and then allowing a
safe restart. Indeed, during production shutdowns passive thermal insulation limits temperature
losses but cannot maintain it above hydrate appearance temperature for long durations
Remediation in order to remove plugs

If heat is needed for wax and hydrate management, wax scenarios should be the governing ones
considering WAT compared to HAT (Hydrate Appearance Temperature). In addition, to design the
system and evaluate the power requirements, the whole life of the field must be analysed. Indeed, in
many cases, the governing scenarios are found at the end of field life with higher liquid phase and lower
temperature but, in some cases, they are found at the beginning of field life due to high fluid viscosity.
8 OTC-26578-MS

Different heating systems exist. This article focuses on three:

Direct Electrical Heating (DEH) wet insulation
Electrically Heat Traced Flowline (EHTF)
Hot Water Circulation (HWC)

Direct Electrical Heating

In DEH systems [9], the pipe wall is used as the conductor of electric current which directly heats the
flowline. The principle is an electrical loop. Power is generated from a generator on topsides which is
directly connected to both ends of the pipeline.

In this system, Alternating Current flowing into the pipeline wall generates Joule heating effect that is
the heat source: the electrical resistance of the metal causes the steel to heat up. Then heat is transferred
to the production fluid by conduction.

Figure 4: DEH (wet) Overview and cross section

DEH system receives power from topsides via a specific heavy riser cable continued by an electrical
cable which is piggybacked onto the flowline. This cable carries the total DEH current to the far end.
The current return is split, as shown is the previous figure, between the flowline and seawater.

Figure 5: Typical architecture with DEH (wet)

Pipelines up to 30 (Ormen Lange) can be considered for DEH applications.

The technology can be installed by Reel-Lay or S-lay as illustrated by DEH installation experiences
listed in the following table:
OTC-26578-MS 9

Pipe Pipe
Project Client Year Pipe size Depth
Length install
Lianzi Chevron 2015 43km 12" 1070m Reel-Lay
14.2km 14
Skuld Statoil 2012 380m Reel-Lay
11.5km 12
Skarv BP 2010 15km 12" 375m Reel-Lay
Morvin Statoil 2009 20.7km 10.5 360m Reel-Lay
Tyrihans Statoil 2007 44km 18" 285m S-lay
Table 2: DEH installed by Subsea 7

A typical installation sequence could be summarised in three main steps:

Flowline laying (Reel-Lay or S-Lay) with Piggyback cable attached upon it
DEH riser cable installation with topside junction box termination
Subsea Junction Box installation to connect the DEH riser cable to the DEH cable

Figure 6: DEH Typical reel-Lay arrangement

Wet DEH is a field proven technology that can be used both for preservation and remediation, if
specifically designed for such objective. This technology, with large track record, has already been
installed on a 43km pipeline in 1070m water depth (Table 2).

The wet DEH solution fits production fields not requiring high thermal insulation performances and thus
allowing simple wet insulated pipe (U-Value > 2W/m.K).

The system has high electrical power requirement (50-150W/m) linked to this type of thermal insulation
and to electrical losses. Topsides power requirements increase with distances to be reached and several
megawatts may be required depending on project specific requirement. Therefore, infrastructure
capacities in terms of footprint and power supply available have to be checked against specific project
power requirements (power generators and fuel storage tanks).

Avoidance of short circuits is critical to ensure optimised subsea system functioning and magnetic
properties impacts have to be carefully assessed, for example to manage risk of Dynamic Positioning
(DP) loss during vessel intervention in the vicinity of activated DEH.

Note that DEH-PiP has also been installed [10]. In this configuration, current is provided in the middle
of the flowline to the inner pipe and comes back through the outer pipe. The better thermal performance
10 OTC-26578-MS

enhances heating efficiency but electrical efficiency remains relatively low. When comparing wet DEH
and PiP DEH, benefits in terms of topsides footprint have to be compared to PiP costs and to longer
power cables to reach middle of the flowlines.

EHTF PiP (Susbea 7 / ITP technology)

The EHTF subsea technology is used to heat a pipeline section using Joule heating effect created by
current passing in heating wires triplets. The system is usually powered via an umbilical from topsides.

Figure 7 presents the EHTF components and sub-systems.

Figure 7: EHTF Typical system arrangement

EHTF power umbilical ends with a subsea termination (SUTA) connected to the PLET by flying leads.
The heated pipe section is comprised between two PLETs, one connected to Xtrees or manifolds and the
other, to the riser going to the FPSO or to an existing structure in subsea tie-back case.

Figure 8: Typical active PLET for EHTF

EHTF cross-section consists of a Pipe-in-Pipe with electrical wires installed in the annulus between the
inner and outer pipes. The annulus also contains efficient proprietary solid insulation material and partial
vacuum to enhance thermal performance (down to U-Value < 0.5 W/m.K). Wire cables are installed in
multiples of three all around the cross section, as illustrated in Figure 9. This configuration ensures a
good distribution of the heat input.
OTC-26578-MS 11

Figure 9: EHTF Typical Cross Section

There is no requirement for return line to complete the circuit with the three phase circuit in a star
configuration [12].

Figure 10: Typical architecture with EHTF

The system is fit for 6 to 12 typical inner diameter range (main bore) by Reel-Lay and larger inner
pipe diameters considering other type of installation methods.

The points below give a high level overview of main fabrication/installation phases considering Reel-
Lay method:
The heated PiP section is manufactured in long length stalks stored in a spool base. Electrical
and optical systems are continuous on each stalk therefore presenting no internal connection.
Inner pipe stalks comprising the wires, cables and insulation system are inserted into outer
pipe stalks. The assembly is stored. During the temporary storage, annulus in between inner
and outer pipes is dried with vacuum pumps.
At vessel arrival, stalks with termination bulkheads are spooled on the reel and jointed to each
other. Jointing operation is electrical and optical connection and welding of inner and outer
pipes. Final pressure reduction inside the annulus is done after the last stalks junction.
The continuous PiP section is installed offshore. Structures are welded to the PiP section via a
bulkhead to bulkhead assembly. The umbilical and the topsides equipment are separately
installed. Extremities of the umbilical are connected to the inlet structure and topside
equipment.
12 OTC-26578-MS

Figure 11: Reel-Lay Vessel

Figure 12 illustrates the low power consumption (typically below 50W/m) as a consequence of the very
high performance insulation product (described above) with different PiP cross sections and associated
U-Values:

Figure 12: EHTF efficiency Typical topsides power requirement for different cross sections

This efficiency allows the EHTF [11] to reach important tie-back lengths with a minimum impact on
topsides. It is also possible to consider several inlet power points to increase the length of heated pipe
section, simultaneously increasing the length of the power cable.

Pipeline heat tracing is a known technology for onshore plants and by extension applicable for subsea
applications.

The technology also provides high redundancy and high flexibility with separate activation of the
triplets considering real need hence allowing a refined control of the level of heat input provided to the
production fluid. Online monitoring of the temperature can be included in the system.

Active heating in Bundle

A Pipeline Bundle is a carrier pipe within which any combination of individual pipelines and umbilical
components is carried. The individual components terminate in Towheads within which manifolding
may take place. Carrier pipe up to 60 OD can be fabricated and installed.
OTC-26578-MS 13

Figure 13: Typical bundle architecture

Figure 14: Towhead illustration

The bundles are fabricated onshore in a single length up to 7.6km. They can be towed in a single length
up to 15km. Bundles can also be connected subsea to any total length required; this has previously been
conducted by joining 4 bundles in series to 27.8km [4].

The bundle is towed to site suspended between two tugs, using Controlled Depth Tow Method, as
shown Figure 15. After arrival on location, the bundle is gradually lowered to the seabed. Once in
correct position, the nitrogen within the carrier pipe is vented of and replaced with biocide dosed
seawater to sink the bundle onto the seabed and provide permanent on-bottom stability.

Figure 15: Bundle towing illustration

Deepest Water Depth reached in North Sea with this method is 410m (BG Knarr). Current works are
ongoing to increase the reachable water depth. Other towing methods and designs have allowed
installing bundle in 1400m water depth (Girassol).
14 OTC-26578-MS

Bundles are highly efficient insulation systems uncorporating dry insulation with U-Values down to
0.5W/mK. The towed production system can incorporate the benefits of a high performance insulation
system with circulation of hot fluids as well as electrical heating technologies [5]. The use of a high
performance insulation system significantly reduces the heat load for the active heating system.

Two types of Hot Water Circulation (HWC) used in shallow water are direct heating by annulus
circulation and indirect heating circulating through dedicated hot water lines.

The direct hot water circulation system incorporates the production flowline contained in an insulated
sleeve pipe with hot water flowing in the annulus. The hot water can either be injected into any water
injection wells or returned to the topsides through a separate return line.

Figure 16: Direct Heating Hot Water System

The indirect hot water circulation method operates by using the heat supplied by dedicated hot water
supply and return flowlines to maintain the temperature in the production flowlines. The production and
hot water lines are contained within the insulation layer, which is filled with a low pressure gas such as
nitrogen.

Figure 17: Indirect Heating Hot Water Systems

Comparing the two solutions, the direct heating is more efficient in terms of heat transfer. However,
other criteria are less favourable. Among others, the volume of water would actually be greater with
direct heating and thus the size of required tanks at topsides level as well as pumping requirements. The
OTC-26578-MS 15

indirect hot water heated bundle has also the advantage that the heating lines can be multipurpose and be
used for water injection or for produced water re-injection.

The Apache Bacchus bundle, installed in 2011, was an industry first to utilise produced water re-
injection as a heating medium. This solution reduced heating needs for water, as it was already hot, and
allowed removal of produced water treatment before disposal.

High performance described for EHTF with low topsides power requirement and thus limited footprint
are applicable to bundle-included electrically heat traced technology.

Figure 18: Electrically traced active heating illustration

To date, there is a strong track record of successful bundle design, fabrication and installation with over
75 bundles including several heated bundles with Hot Water Circulation.

In addition to highly efficient insulation and versatility, bundles present advantages such as:
Installation loads taken by carrier pipe therefore minimal installation fatigue on internal
flowlines and no plastic deformation of internal flowlines
Welding conducted in controlled environment
Fully Pressure/Strength tested and Full Site Integration Test (SIT) done onshore
No specialist installation vessels (reduced costs)

Discussion on active heating for the overall system

Need for wax and hydrates management is not limited to the flowlines. The whole subsea system must
be considered for heating requirement from well to riser as well as potential cold spots, for example, at
structures and spools.

Regarding wells, some fields are characterised by low reservoir temperature. In those cases, in addition
to heating flowlines a good insulation of wellhead/downhole tubing is to be considered as well as
technologies such as steam injection or active heating of the water injection system to increase the
mobility of the crude oil and to decrease the risk of wax deposition.

Then considering a heated flowline, focus must be given to cold spot locations. Temperature loss can be
limited at structures and spools by a good insulation but this is not sufficient for long shutdown periods
and chemical injection such as MeOH or MEG is required. It will also be required at wellheads and
manifolds locations in order to avoid plugging. It must be noted that EHTF is a continuous heating
system which includes structures that are also traced thus improving global system efficiency.
16 OTC-26578-MS

To close the system, the riser system is to be analysed. The figure below shows the temperature
profile versus line geometry and highlights that temperature loss is concentrated in the riser:

Figure 19: Illustration of temperature profile versus geometry (with gas)

Considering Figure 19, the idea of applying active heating in the riser appears as obvious. An internal
study was carried out to evaluate the stakes of heating the riser both during shutdown and in normal
operation.

The study clearly highlights that the energy brought to the riser by the heating system during production
is not sufficient to completely compensate important heat losses mainly due to Joule-Thomson cooling
and to potential energy difference between seabed and surface. As an example, for a riser in 4000m
water depth, losses are between 10 and 25C considering different compositions (main driver of losses
as Joule-Thomson effect increases with GOR) and different U-Values. With an input power of 50W/m,
gain due to the heating system is around 3-4C. With a riser installed in 1000m water depth, the gain
drops to 0.5C. In conclusion, interest for heated riser in production is poor (in particular with gas). Only
very specific cases, in very deep water fields, could be considered to stay outside wax or hydrate
regions.

During shutdown from production conditions, the decrease in temperature is only due to heat losses
through the insulation. The heating power required to maintain the fluid at a given temperature is mainly
dependant on U-Value and temperature difference between the fluid and ambient. In such cases, there
could be an interest for heated riser to maintain a temperature and avoid hydrates formation, particularly
for fluid with significant liquid fraction and in deep water. Indeed, the high liquid column maintains a
non-negligible pressure, at least on part of the riser, even after depressurisation.

After a full shutdown, a heat up from ambient (4C) to 20C can be performed using heating power at
riser level. The amount of power provided will influence the time to reach 20C and it can be interesting
to temporarily apply a higher heating power to accelerate the heat-up before decreasing the power to the
minimum required and maintain 20C. Then depending on overall constraints including re-start time
requirement, heating technologies could provide an effective solution at riser level.

The heating system installed on the riser can also be used as a remediation means in case of plugging.
For example, DEH PiP has been installed both on flowlines and SCR on Na Kika field [10]. The heating
system is not planned to be used as a preventive solution but is in place ready to be used for
remediation in case of hydrate plug.
OTC-26578-MS 17

In this study, different combinations between riser systems (SCR, SLWR, SHR, HRT, BSR and TCR)
and electrical heating devices (DEH and EHTF) have been evaluated considering the following criteria:
Component integration
Installation
Main concerns and Opportunities
Cold spot management
Maturity of riser system

Four combinations appear to be more interesting for potential further developments:

SCR with DEH.
SCR with EHTF
SLWR with EHTF
HRT with EHTF (see Figure 20)

Figure 20: EHTF arrangement on HRT

It should be noted that heated risers have already been installed using combinations not assessed in this
study. This is the case for Dalia production risers (in operation for nearly 10 years) where traced heating
system is installed in the 12 flexible risers ending the 4 production loops [2]. The system is used after 8
hours of shutdown if restart is not possible. Another example is Papa Terra field with a 6 EHT-IPB
considered to minimize the downtime time in case of shutdown [3].

In conclusion, heating the riser can be beneficial and is feasible but, design constraints including
dynamic issues are not negligible and need to be explored for the different combinations of technology.

Heating solutions - Cost discussion

Heating systems are a game changer within the industry: it opens the door to different field architecture
and operating philosophy leading to significant global cost reduction of project.
18 OTC-26578-MS

As illustrated in Figure 21, benefits achieved on SURF CAPEX cost are linked to the removal of riser
and pipeline of the loop arrangement. Tie-back to existing subsea infrastructure is a possibility that
avoids the creation of a new riser and thus enhance cost reduction. Removal of topsides equipment,
necessary to manage for example dead oil injection (tanks, pumps), improves topsides CAPEX.
Considering chemical consumption (MeOH / MEG), even if it is often still required, the volumes are
restricted to identified locations (e.g. cold spots) leading to OPEX costs reduction.

Figure 21: Comparisons of architectures

The energy required to provide heat to the production fluid is project-dependent (fluid characteristics,
temperatures and cool-down criteria, distances to be reached) and relies on thermal insulation
performance as well as technology efficiency.

Electrical heating systems impact the topsides through the sizing of necessary power generators and fuel
storage tanks. Hence, the more efficient is the system, smaller is the impact on topsides for space
requirement and OPEX. That gives an advantage to EHTF compared to the wet DEH. However, these
benefits have to be balanced with overall CAPEX costs including umbilical and PiP for EHTF compared
to single line for DEH.

For hot water circulation, impact on topsides is through the sizing of tanks, pumps (critical parameter)
and water heating system (including power generators and fuel storage tanks). Topsides required space
and CAPEX will define and limit the acceptable length to target with HWC technology.
OTC-26578-MS 19

Whatever the selected heating means is, bundle configuration reduces offshore costs, thanks to onshore
fabrication, testing and commissioning and thanks to installation with no specialist vessels.

Conclusions
There is neither one architecture nor one technology that fits all fields. To choose the best solution,
numerous data has to be analysed considering the different operation phases and specific Company
objectives and constraints as illustrated in Figure 22 below.

Figure 22: Concept selection illustration

This article illustrates that other solutions than conventional approaches have to be explored for
important water depths, long distances, and field development to crowded existing infrastructure and
also for difficult production fluids (viscous, cold at wellhead). It highlights that heating
technologies are enabling solutions for these situations. High level overview of the three heating systems
described is given below.

Wet DEH:
Fits production fields not requiring high thermal insulation performances (U-Value > 2W/m.K)
and thus allowing wet insulated pipe
High electrical power requirements (50-150W/m)
Infrastructure capacities in terms of footprint and power supply available have to be checked
against specific project power requirements
Flowline diameters up to 30
Field proven technology with large track record
Already installed on a 43km pipeline in 1070m water depth but needs improvements to reach
significant water depths and lengths
Installation by Reel-Lay and by S-Lay

EHTF:
Fits production fields requiring very good thermal insulation performances (down to U-Value
<0.5 W/m.K) thanks to PiP with efficient proprietary insulation material and partial vacuum
Low power requirement (typically below 50W/m) and limited topsides footprint thanks to high
system efficiency
20 OTC-26578-MS

Flowline diameters up to 12" for inner pipe in Reel-Lay and larger inner pipe diameters
considering other type of installation methods
Significant water depths can be reached, typically 2000m
Any flowline lengths (from short lines of few kilometers up to very important lengths > 60km)
by adjusting cross section design, power supply and positioning of power inlet(s) point(s) at
relevant location(s)
Installation by Reel-Lay,by S-Lay and with bundle towing also
High redundancy and high flexibility with separate activation of the heating wires triplets
Pipeline heat tracing is a known technology for onshore plants and by extension applicable for
subsea applications. The implementation of EHTF for subsea development is completing
qualification of this technology for deepwater applications

HWC within bundle:

Fits production fields requiring very good thermal insulation performances (down to U-Value
<0.5 W/m.K) thanks to bundle arrangement with carrier pipe
System requires power and equipment to heat water thus impacting topsides space. These
requirements vary considering project specific constraints and selection of direct or indirect
heating
Flowline diameters up to 32 can be considered
Up to 15km single length bundles can be installed. Bundles longer than this are achievable with
subsea connections
Usual water depths up to 500m but possibility to reach 1000m water depth
Installation by towing with no specialist installation vessels
Carrier pipe (up to 60") can include any combination of individual pipeline and umbilical
components
Field proven technology

To conclude, as discussed before, whatever is the chosen technology, the whole system from wellhead to
top of riser must be considered to propose the most efficient design considering field characteristics and
company philosophy.

From a cost perspective, heating systems, enabling new philosophy for field architectures, induce scale
change in the overall project costs. By allowing access to remote reserves without need for new topside
installation and by improving the flow of production fluid during the whole field life, they open up areas
of development not otherwise considered viable.

In addition, heating solutions, by their efficient hydrates and wax management, avoiding plugging and
associated costs, allowing extended shutdowns and enhancing availability and time to restart are
beneficial even for already viable fields.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Subsea 7 for permission to publish this paper.
It is emphasized that the conclusions put forth reflect the views of the authors alone, and not necessarily
those of Subsea 7.
OTC-26578-MS 21

Nomenclature
BSR Buoyancy Supported Riser
CAPEX CApital EXpenditure
DEH Direct Electrical Heating
EHTF Electrically Heat Traced Flowline
EHT-IPB Electrically Trace Heated Integrated Production Bundle
FPSO Floating Production Storage and Offloading
GOR Gas Oil Ratio
HAT Hydrate Appearance Temperature
HRT Hybrid Riser Tower
HWC Hot Water Circulation
ILT In Line Tee
ITP InTerPipe
MEG Mono Ethylene Glycol
MeOH Methanol
OD Outer Diameter
OPEX OPerating EXpenditure
PiP Pipe-in-Pipe
PLET Pipe Line End Termination
RAM Reliability Availability Maintainability
SCR Steel Catenary Riser
SHR Single Hybrid Riser
SIT Site Integration Test
SLWR Steel Lazy Wave Riser
SURF Subsea Umbilicals Risers & Flowlines
SUTA Subsea Umbilical Termination Assembly
TCR Tethered Catenary Riser
WAT Wax Appearance Temperature
WD Water Depth

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