EUR35

THEPREDICTION
OFOILGELATION
INSUBMARINE
P PELINES
ANDTHEPRESSURE
REQUREDFOR!iESTARTl
NGFLOW

by PeterB. Smith and Rex

M; J. Ramsden,BritishPetroleum

o copyright 1978, European Offshore Petroleum C0nf8K?r7U?

endExhibition
.,
This peper wae presented at the European Offshore Petroleum Conference and Exhlbltlon In London 24-27, October, 1978. The material ISsubject
to correction by the author, Permlealon to
copy larestricted to an bbstract ofnot
more
than
MUwords,

AE!STRAC1’ mean oil temperatureis low enoughto throw out of

solutionapproximately two per cent or more of the
The paper summarisesmany years’&:perlence orudewas wax, which can form an interlocking gel
in applyinglaboratoryproceduresand heat struoture. This paperdesmlbes how the likelihood
transferCSLICUIEM.01M3
to the predictionof the of gelllngis assessed,and how the pressure
startup of flow in a gelledoil pipeline. needed to startup the flow in a gelledline is
calculated.
The importanceof simulatingthe full scale
treatmentIn the laboratorytestingis emphasised P&DICTION OF GELATION
by referenceto experiencein full scale startup
trials. , A crudeoil does not necessarilygel when it
containstwo per cent of solldwax. The gelling
INTRODUCTION point dependson the size and the shape of the wax
crystalsand so anY pretreatmentwhich affectsthis
The problemsof handlingwaxy crude oils in size and shapealso affectsthe gellingpoint.
pipelinesare well-knownto oilmen. Submarine There are other complications: most crude oils
llnes carryingcrude 011 produatlonto the shore oontainresinewhich have a naturalaffinityfor
presenttheseproblemsmore aoutelythen wax crystals. The resinsact as naturalKelling
landlinesbec!ause:- pointdepressants:whentheycolleotaroundthe wax
orystalsthey tend to preventthem from lnter-
1. The ooollng rate of the cmude oil is lockingto form a gel. Thus, any pretreatment
higher at all seasonsof the year, which preventeresinsfrom collectingaroundthe
wax also raisesthe gellingpoint.
2. Shutdownsare more frequentand may last
longer than the s-day limltwhich,except To deoiilewhetheror not a particularcrude
in remoteareas,is normallyassumedfor oil, which is at the well-testingstage,is likely
l,andlinee,
and to gel in a submarinepipellne,it is therefore
necessary.tomeasureIts gellingtemperatureafter
3. Accessto the line at intermediate
pointe a pretreatment whioh simulatesthe normal
is practicallyimpo.sslble,
unlessspeoial produaticmprooedure. It may also be ueeful to
aocesspointsare providedwhen laylng. measurethe highestgellingtemperature,ie the
the Une. worst poesibleoonditlon,in orderto make sure
that the pipellneoouldh8ndl@the orudeshould”lt
Waxinesscan causetwo problemsin crudeoil attainthis conditiondue to an auiforeseen
production. One is the formationof depositson variationin the normalproductionprooedure. If
the pipewallwhloh inoreasethe pressuredrop In the highestgellingtemperatureis lowerthan 4°C
the.plpellne.This ocourswhen the plpewall there shouldEe no gelationof that arude in a
temperatureIs lowerthan the wax precipitation North Sea pipeline.
point (knownas the oloudpoint for distillate
oils, but not so easilyidentifiedfor crrudee). The gelliiig
temperatureie normallymeasured
DepositIonw211 not be consideredin this paper, by the pour point test (IP 15, AS’IMW’). Th~S
The secondproblemis the possibilityof g(~lation test Is too well-knownto need more than a cursory “
when the produotlonLs shut down, or when the”llne desorption here. The oil containedIn a one irmh
is pumpingat a low rate. !Ms oan occurwhen the diameterpour point tube is cooledin a oarefully
speaifiedcoolingbath. me tube is examinedby
cautiouslytiltingit at >°C intervals,to find the
Referencesand illustrations
at end of paper. temperatur~at which the oil creases to flow. The
 ,.
+“’:’
,.
— ——. .
pour point is recv.tiedas 3°c above this
temperature.1P 15 and ASTM D97 Speoifya
standardpretreatment which involvespreheating
the oil to 46°c beforecoollng. 97hispretreatment
was appropriatewhen the test was appliedsimply
to fuel oils besauseit was designedto give the
pour point of the fuel oil after ageing. However,
for crude oils this is no longerappropriate,and
heatingto 46°c may give a high or a low value of
the pour point. we usuallymeasurepour point in
two ways, one using a simulatedproduction
pretreatmentwhich correspondsas’closelyas
possibl>with the thermaland mechanicaltreatment
which the crudeoil will receivein production,
8nd the otherusing a procedurewhich is designed
to g~ve the maximumpour point.
MAXIMUMPOUR POINTTEST
In the maximumpour point test, the crudeoil
is firstheatedin a scale<bomb to a temperature
in the range80” - 90’C,wlich is sufficiently
,,.. high to dissolveall wax, asphaltenesand resins.
The oil Is then shock-chilled to a low temperature,
around -200C. This causesthe precipitation of a
largenumber of tiny wax crystals,each wtth its
associatedresins,if they are present. The oil
is then split into severalparts,antieach part
is reheatedfor ~ minutesat a certain“reheat”
temperature,followedby a determination of the
pour point. In a typicaltest, reheattemperatures
of ~“, 40°, 50° and 600C might be used for the
differentparts,in order to determinethe reheat
temperaturewhich gives the maximumpour point.
The maximumpour point Is obtainedwhen the reheat
temperatureis high enoughto dissolvethe wax,
but not high enoughto dissolveor disassociate
the resin sheathsaroundthe wax crystals. Thus,
on cooling,the wax repreclpitates, but the resin
moleculesare too tied up to reassociatewith the
newly-precipitated wax, which gives a high pour
point. Reheatingto a higher temperaturefrees
the resinsso that they are once mere able to
performas pour pointdepressants.
Althoughthe procedureused in the maximum
pour point ‘testmay seem ratherremotefrom what
is likelyto happen in the productionof a North
Sea crude,the maximumpour point may be achieved
in other ways which are operationallypossible.
Any processwhich createsa number of smallwax
crystalsand which preventsthe naturalpour point
depressantsfrom collecting.roundthem will result
in a high pour point condition. Turbiilent
shearingover an appropriatetemperatu~erange
while coolingis one suoh processand this may
well occur at productionflow rates in a North
Sea pLpeline. Anotherway in which the high pour
point conditioncan be attainedis by mixingof
hot and cold stream when crude from a remote
platformjoinsthe main stream. Here the
mechanismis closerto that of the maximumpour
point test.
It Is possibleto test for the effectof
shearingon the measuredpour pointdireotly.
‘Ibisis done by pretreatingen appropriatevolume
of the crude in an AutomaticShearingDevice,in
L
which the orude Is forcedthroughholes in a
seriesof discs at such a rate as to elmulatethe
shearingIn the full scale line. This shearing
1s continuedwhile the sampleis cooledfrom the
well-headtemperatureto a temperaturewhich is the
mee.ntemperatureof the crude in the flowingpipe-
line. The cn?udeis then transferredto the pour
point tube,and furthercoolingcontinuesuntil the
pour point is resched.
The lowestpour point for a North Sea crude is
normallyobtainedby coolingslowlyand without
shear frcm a high temperature, around80”c. This
pour point can be as much as 50°~ lower than the
pour point obtainedin the maximumpour point test.
This range illustrateshcw meaninglessit is to
quotea singlepour point for a North Sea crude,
unlessthis is specifiedas the maximumpour point.
Typicalresultsfor a maximumpour point test are
shown in Figure1.
PREDIcTIONOF COOLINGRATE
The principlesfor calculatingthe coolingof
oil In flowingpipeltneshave alreadybeen
described(l). For trenchedsubmarinepipelines
the wet conductivityof the sea bottommaterial
must be used, and allowancemust be made for any
concretecoatingon the pipeline. Where the line
is exposed,naturalconvectionin the sea water
must be allowedfor, in additionto forced
convectiondue to tidal currents. The internal
heat transferfrom the oil to the pipewallcan
normallybe regardedas infinitewhen the oil is
in turbulentflow,but it shouldbe taken Into
accountif the oil is in streamlineflow as it may
be in a slow startup.
In the shutdownconditionof a submarine
pipeline,the coolingrate of the oil Is very rapid.
Even with 2 inchesof insulationwrapping,a
20 inch line can lose half of its excessabove sea
temperaturein 2* days. ‘l?his contrastswith a land
pipeline,where the loss is much lowerdue to the
%arm ball” of soil aroundthe line in equili%ium
operation. Even when the submarineline is
trenched,the warm ball is small becauseof the
high conductivityof water-saturated material.
Becauseof the rapid coolingrate, startup
predictimm for North Sea pipelinesare basedon
the gelledoil temperaturebeing that of the sea
bottom. The”calculationof equiltbri.umcooling
duringpumpingis howeverrequiredin order to
assessan appropriatepretreatmentfor application
to laboratorysamplessimulatingfull scale
productionconditions.
MEASUREMENTOF FLON BEHAVIOLI&
The flow behaviourof waxy crude oils has been
studied:..full scale pipelines,,h pilot plant
scalelines,in laboratoryscalemodel pipelines
and in 100 mi samplesusing laboratoryviscometel?s
of the concentriccylindertype. It is normally
essentialin this work to baee all the predictions
of full scalebehaviouron laboratcy samples. At
the time that the full scale line is being designed
for an offshoreproJectand the proJecteccnomics
are betng evaluated,one may be fortunateto have
as much as a 25 litresample.
 Above a certaintemperaturewhere the wax is
fully dissolved,the oil has a flow behaviourlike
many other simplefluids. This temperature, which
is usuallya few degreesabove the gelling
temperature,is lmownas the non-Newtonian
temperaturelimit. Above this temperature,the
oil has a coefficient.
of visoositywhlchdecreases
with increasein the temperatureand which is
Independentof the rate of shear beingappliedin
the vlscometer. This behaviouris described&s
“Newtonian”. ‘
cIt shouldbe recalledthat the coefficientof
viscosityis definedas:-
Shear Stress
Shear Rate
For laminarflow of a Newtonianfluidin a tube:-
‘hear stressatthe @pewall “e
P - is the pressuredifferenceacrossthe ends of
the tube
D- 1s the tube diameter
L- is the tube length
Shear rate at the pipe wall =—32Q
7TD3
Q- is the volume flow rate
A plot of shearstressagainstshear rate
using linearscaleswould appearas a straight
line throughthe orlgi%.ofslope equal to the
coefficientof viscosityfor a Newtonianfluid~
For variousprac’bicalreasonsa concentric
cylindervisaometeris used for most shear stress
end shear rate measurementson crude oils below
the non-Newtoniantemperaturelimit in order to
obtainviscositymeasurementsat selectedrates
of shear. Figure2 shows a typicalset of
viscositydata obtainedon slowlycoolinga waxy
crudeoil from above Its non-Newtoniantemperature
limitat variousratesof shear.
It can be seen that the viscosityIncreases
rapidlyas the temperaturedecreasesespecially
at the low shear rates belowthe non-Newtonian
temperaturelimit, For any particulartemperature,
say lb”c in Figure2, a plot of shear stress
againstshear rate for the pointsA, B, C, D
gives an “equilibrium consistencycurve”as shown
ir Figure3 (peckedline).
The firstpoint to note about this plot is
that It is not a straightline throughthe origin;
it has an intercepton the shear stressaxis.
!me interceptis knownas a yield stress. The
secondpoint Is that it is not a true consistency
curve. A true consistencyourve is the
instantaneous relatlonbetweenshearstressand
shear rate whioh migQt be observedwith an XY
plotteron changingthe shear rate rapidly. Oil
which has only been shearedat a low rate at the
‘testtemperaturemighthave a true consistency
curvesuoh as Al Ln Figure3, while oil which has
been shearedat a higherehear rate would have a
lowertrue oonslstencyourvesuch as D\. However
If the oil which is in the conditionrepresentedby
A\ is now shearedcontinuously at the high shear
rate, its true consistencywill graduallybreak
down to approaohthe curveD~. A homely example
of this type of ~ehaviouris tomatoketchup,whose
conaistenuybreaksdown rapidlyon shakingthe
bottle. The significanceof the equilibriumcurve
ABCD Is that It representsthe plot of shear stress
versusshear rate when the shearrate is very
graduallyincreasedfrom a low value. It is not a
true conslsten~cycurvebut a locusof the broken
down consistencywhichwould be obtainedduringa
81OW flOw buildUp. The methodshownhere for
obtainingthis equilibriumourve is a short aut
whloh has the advantagethat equilibriumcurvesat
severaltemperaturescan be obtainedfrom the set
of viscometercurvesin Figure2, This short cut
can be appliedif the ooolingrate used in
obtainingthe viscometerdata is low (es 9°C/hour)
and if the oool.tngrangewit;linthe non-Newtonian
regionis not too htgh, say n~t more than 10°C.
Otherwisethe equilibriumcurye must be obtained
by loadlngthe vjscometerwith oil which has
receivedthe appropriatepipelinetreatment,
coolingit staticallyto the t?st temperature,and
then startingup and recordingthe equilibrium
readingat a successionof increasingshear rates.
MEASUREMENTOF YIELD STRESS
,.
Any pipeline,includinga submarinepipeline,
has a limitto the shearstresswhich it can apply
and if the availableshearstressis less than the
oil’s yield stressthere is, in principle,no way
in which the oil can be moved.
The yield stressof North Sea crudeunder
shutdownpipelineconditionscan be studiedin the
laboratoryusing model pipelines. A 15 m x 6 mm
bore stainlesssteel pipe is a fairlylargepiece
of apparatusto Immersein a temperaturecontrolled
bath and has the disadvantageof using a sampleof
about half a litre“foreach test. Nonethelessthis
is a very suitableinstrumentfor measuringpipe-
line yield streasee. Additionalapparatusis
needed to shear tb,?oil sampleto simulatethe
kind of turbulentshear experiencedby oil being
pumped in a fullscalepipeline; the oil thus
treateddwn to its “intermediate &hearing
temperablre”is then chargedinto the test model
pipelinewhere coolingis continuedstatically
down to the test temperature.A periodof at
least10 hours soak:ngat the test temperatureis
then requ?redand the yield stressof the gelled
oil is then testedby applyingpressureat one end
of the pipe startingat a law pressureand
inoreaslngin stepsup to tin. po!ntwhere flow Is
detectedfrom the open end of the line.
Yieldstressesmeasuredby thesemeans have
been shownto correlatecloselywith yield
stressesmeasuredin full scale pipelinesunder
full saaie test conditions. Thereare howevera
numberOf factorswhich all too easilylead to
errcneousreeults(usuallythe yield stressis
overestimated)which are worthyof some discussion
now.
TREATMENTOF OIL SAMPLES
The conditionof the sampleis all important
and laok of experiencein drawing,storingand
reconditioning of the sampl(:
is a major sourceof
potentialerror. It goes wLthoutsayingthat
contamination of the samplemust be avoided,but
this is not alwayseasy. we have had barrel
samplesfrom individualwildcatwells which
oontainedrathermore of what the drillerhad put
down thehole than what was down therealready.
In most casesdevelopmentdrillingproduces
sampleswhich genuinelydifferin qualityacross
the pay zone especiallyin termsof wax, resinand
asphaltenecontentsand gas/OilratiO,all of
which greatlyinfluenoethe low temperatureflow
kehaviourof a waxy crude. We have also shown
from full scale trialsthat the severe shear
experiencedby ‘thesampleon beingdrawn through
a valve from a high pressure‘,lne has an adverse
effecton the low temperatureflow properties
which is not normallyshown in the full scale
pipelineitself.
At a-low temperaturein the non-Newtonian
regiontkfe>oll’s flow behaviouris largely
determinedby the stractureand the quantityof
wax which has come out of solution. The size
and shapeof the wax orystalsand the forcesof
attractionbetweenseparatecrystalsare very
dependenton:-
1. Solventpower of the liquidphase
(includinglightends)
2. Previousrate of cooling
3. Temperature
4. Shearhistory
5. Crystalform modifiersincludingnatura%
asphaltenes,resinsand artificialflow
improveradditives.
In associationwith full scale pipeline
trials,the opportunityhas arisento samplefrom
a pipelineat temperatt-,reswell above the non-
Newtoniantemperaturelimitand to test the
samplesimmediatelyIn a fieldlaboratory.
Having establisheda volumeof data on fresh
eamplesand having latercheckedfor agreement
with‘thefull saale behaviour,we have then been
able to buildup a fair body of knowledgeon how
to reconditionaged sampleswhen testingback at
the home laboratory. In normalcircumstances the
bulk of the work must be done back at the home
laboratoryand in this ease we are forcedto allow
samplesto cool. Loss of lightends must be
preventedand precipitatedwax, resinsand
asphaltenesmust be put back into solutionby
reheatingto high temperaturein a pressure
vesselbeforecoolingto the requiredtest
temperatureunder correotcond.tttons of shearand
coolingrate”.
YIELDINGTHE FULL SCAM PIPEL~&
Let us thereforeassumethat we pre able to
obtainmeasurementsof yield stressfrom a model
pipelineand coneistenoyourvesusing a
concentricaylindervlscometerfor the various
thermaland shearhistorieswhich we expeotour
gelledoil to have had beforestartup in the
pipeline.
Let us then go on to d.scussthe startup
bdwiwr On the fVll scale. In orderto do this,
referenaeis made to a full scale pipelinetrial
which is one of a seriescarriedout by the authors’
companyusing a 93 km pipelineof 300 mm diameter.
The pipelineis buriedand, a~the tire,? of the
trial,the groundtemperatures were between13° and
14”c; the oil used had an 1P 15 pour point of 16*c
and a non-Newtoni~ temperaturelimit01’23”C, in
fact the oil characterised .tnFigures2 end 3.
This test crudewas in fact a 70/30 by volumeblend
of a waxy North Africancrudewith a diluentMiddle
Easterncrude; the blendhf.da wax contentof d
nearly20 per cent by weigW;. The stock tank
temperatureof the crude bl{ndwas aboutko”c. me
oL1 enteredthe pipelineat that temperature.On
shutdownthe temperatureprcfilealong the line was
as shown In Figure4, which &lso shows the final
temperatureof the oil at the end of a two week
shutdownperiodwith groundtemperatures also as
shown. It shouldbe noted that the pressureheld
in the line on shutdowngraduallyfallsdue to the
coolingof the oil until vo’idspacesbegin to form
at the mountainpeaks in the pipelineprofile. The
residualpressureprofile,after the two weeks’
shutdownis shown in the Figure5 (peckedline).
The pressuresare correctedfor hydrostatic
pressuredifferencesdue to changesin elevationof
the pipelineand it will be noted that our pipeline,
unlikea subseapipeline,has its two ends at the
lowestpoints -in this case very nearlyOrdnance
Sii.’VeY
Datum. The two ends of a sub-seapipeline
are normallyat high pointsin the pipellneprofile
very much llke the.50km secticnof our own
pipellnefrom 6 to 56 km. It ntaybe.noticelalso
that the shut in pressureprof~leis not abeolut.ely
flat and this ic became the oil, on ooolim. has
acquireda yield stressand is aile to”supp~ita
pressuregradientacti.gagainstthe normal
hydros+,atichead.
In order to startup the pipeline,#e
pressureat the inletend was rapidlysteppedup to
the flallPump pressure. The wasfIn whloh this
pressurestep propagatesalong ihe pipelineIs also
shown In F@ure 5. In the trial desoribed,it was
almostan hour beforethe pr?ssurebegan to rise
at the outletend of the pipeline- note. for test
purposes the outlet valve r.ema~ed Shut. A
furtherfourhours later,a pressuregradientstill
remainedin the pipelineshowingthat the gelled
oil had a r$eidualyield stresseven afteryieldin&
From the i%ssuregradientsIt is possibleto
calcula$f the pipewallshear stresses~PD/4L,being
applie~.:duringthe startup and the flow rate,
althoughextremelylow, oan be convertedInto the
rate Gf shear oonslstenc!y
variable,32Q/~D3,
givingthe consistencyourvesshown in Figure6.
This yieldingprctcesscaueeasome breakdown
of the gel struoture,but only to a limitedextent.
By the time the pressurestep hae reaohedthe
outletof the pipelineall the oil in the pipeline
is still exhibitingvery ~teep oonsistenoycwves
typioalof thosemeasuredin the laboratory
Immediatelyfollowinga long soak at the test
 temperature,For the test blend the yield stress
measuredIn the laboratorymodel pipelineafter
coolingthe oil staktcallyto the test temperature
(the stat.loyield strees)was 5.6N/m2; the model
pipelineyield stressmeasurementsperformedon
the same oil at the same temperatureshearedon
coollngto 20”c and subsequentlycooledstatically
to the test temperatureof 14°C gave 1 N/m*. Over
a seriesof full scale trials,etartup has alwaye
been possibleusing a shear stresebelow the
staticyield stressand In most caees the static
yield stressand the yield stressafter shearing
have not been as far apart as in the examplegiven
above, It is possiblethereforeto predictwith
some confidencethe pipellnepressurenecessary
to yield a gelledslug of oil.
‘YieldlngIs not the %nd of the start up
problem; a gell(?d line must not only be yielded
but then cleared, In the olrcumstancos of full
scale startup the outletvalve to the pipellne
wouldnormallybe open and the whole lengthof
the gelledslug would begin to move once the
pressuregradienthas been set up along the whole
lengthc!fthe plpellne- in this ease about
one hour after applyingthe full pump pressure
at the Inlet. Lookingat the line clearingphase
of the full scale trial referredto above~we see
a pictureas shown in Figure7. The flow rate is
very slow at the beginningand increasein the
flow 1s dependenton:-
1. The shear stressappliedacroesthe
gelledslug,
2. The.degreeof breakdownof the gel~s
structure,ie the consist.enoy
curve of
the oil.
The fasterthe fiow becomes,the fasterthe gel
—
breaksdown,and the smallerthe proportionof the
total line still ocaupiedby the gelledoil, the
higherthe pipe wall shearstresswhich can be
appliedto the gel. The flow rate therefore
graduallyacceleratesup to the normaldesigned
throughputwhen all the gelledoil has been
displacedfrom the line.
The full scale consistencydata from this
line clearingphaseare shown in Figure8. Notice
that there Is a djfferen%curve for different.
sectionsof the gelledslug of oil~ the oil at
the inletend of the pipeline,which had
expe~.tentedle s shear on coolingthan the oil
at the outlettnd of thepipe,showeda much
slowerbreakdo~ in consistency.
RELATION N LABORATORYAND FULL SCALE DATA
The laboratorymeasuredconsistencydata
was given earlierin FQUreS 2 and 3. These show
generallygood agreementwi~ch‘theconsistency
data measuredin the full soale onoe breakdown
had ocourredand this providesa basts for
predictingthe time it would take for clearing
the gelledline.
287
Surprisingly, ignoringthe breakdowneffect
and assumingthat the oil’s aonslstencyourve is
the final brokendown equilibriumcurveehown
(peeked)in Figure3, the calculationof the
progressof line olearingdoes not greatlyover
estimatethe aotualfull scale line olearlngtime.
‘IWs is shown in Figure9, where It will be noted
that most of the error oocursin the early stages
of the lineclearingand, once about20 per oent
of the line has been cleared,the calculateddata
oloselyfollowsthe’fUllscale data. Not much more
sophistication is requiredto build In to this
theoreticalmodel the breakdowndata obtainedfrom
laboratorymeasurements.
Curing.theactualyieldingproaessthe
progressof the pressurewave can also be
calculated,using “brokendown” consistencydata
insteadof the initialsteep consistencycurves.
‘Thissignificantly underestimatesthe time required
for the pressureto travelalong the whole length
of the pipelineas shown in Figure10. Again,
Calculationmethodscan be improvedby using
breakdowndata, but a secondlook at the time
stialeswill perhapsshow that this extra
sophistication is not reallynecessary, Yielding
took about one hour whereasline clearingtook
threedays. This kind of experiencehss led the
authorsto plaaemore emphasison the measurement
of equilibriumconsistencycurvesand not simply
to rely on yieldstressmeasurements.From the
Fipelineoperator’spoint of view it Ie perhaps
academicto lmow that the availableshear stress
will producedetectablemovementof gelledoil in
his pipeline; he reallyneeds to know whetherthe
pipelinecan be restartedand ac”lieve normal
throughputswithina practicaltime saale.
It is perhapssoberingto be remindedthat the
startup trialwhiahhae been referredto involved
startingup the oil at a temperatureof merely2°C
below the oil’s1P 15 pour point. StIll more
soberingwas an earl~.-$rial in the same ptpeline,
using an 80/20 blend by volume insteadof the
70/30 blenddescrtbedabove,whichnot only proved
impossibleto yieldafter a two week shutdownat
the same temperature,but also provedimpossible
to keep flowingwhen the line was being filled.
On line fillingthe flow rate was initiallyhigh
and proceedednormally,but subsequentlythe flow
rate was experimentally reduced; the temperature
drop of the oil and consequentIncreasing
consistencywere so great at the low flow rate
that regainingthe fUll flow rate of the pipeline
was impossible- the oil continuedto cool and
the flow rate continuedto drop until the pipeline
shut Itselfdown. The authorshastento add that
this particularfull scalepipelinehad a pipeline
adjacentto It with cross over aonneotions
enablingthe till pump pressureto be appliedat
severalpointsalong the line; withoutsuch
safeguardswe wouldnever have dared to approach
the test conditionsexperienced.
CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Proceduresfor predictingoil gelation,
ooolingratesand pipelinestartup ha$e now been
testedMWgh by fullscale applioattonto give
aonfidenaein their use.
 Care is requiredin takingthe samplefrom a w~ RENcE
test well for the laboratorytestingand in its
treatmentif the oorrectsimulationof full soale 1. Davenport,T.c.~ and Conti,V.J.: “Heat
productionbehaviouris to be obtained, TransferProblemsEncounteredin the Handling
of Waxy Crude Oils in Large Pipelines”,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Journal.of the Instituteof Petroleum,v. 57,
no. 355,May 1971, PP. 147-164.
Permissionto publishthis paperhas been
given by the BritishPetroleumCompanyLimited.

-7
x
-5 &

o.7a99-1

3.2a8-l
I
\
\

/ I
x x

I
,

1 1 , 1
20 30 60 50
REHEAT TEMPERATURE I*C I

16 10 1? w 19 20 al 22 22 z~o01
Ffg, 1- l!eximu! pour potnt test data. lEMPERAWRE (’C I

Ffg. 2-Viscosity
varsus temperawre at various shear rates.

288
 40
,. @ OIL TEMPERATuRE AT STARTOFSHUT IWN

@ OIL TEkW@RAIURE AT EtlD OF SHUT ~WN

L I
@ OROUNO TEMPERATu~

.~~
----- —----
______
& 3

10 20 30 ho so 60 70 80 w Iwo
OISTANCE FROM INLET [k,,, )

FIG,4 - Temperature prcfi ~es during the shutdown.

I
10 20 30 40 600
SHEAR RATE IS- “$

Ffg. 3- instantaneous and eouf I ibrium consistency curves,

,>

10

h
MINuTES FRUM
FIR8T APPLICATION -- —— K+#u# FRESSURE BEFORS e

‘fpRBsuRE
TIME SINCE FIRS1
APPLICATION CIP PRESSURE s

21mln
7 -;
z

/ ~- 6s
~
m
58min I PRESSURE R18S IU OUTLET I 5U
1%

- 4W %
5

-’ 3

Lha2mln IOUTLE1 VALVE OPENEDI ‘2

1
o
C+STANCE FROM INLET I km)

5- Prsssure profflas durtng 1 1

Fig. the line packtng. 0 !0 20 so &#’
RATE OF sHEAR CONSISTENCY VARIABLF ,$20 lms !S- ‘ )

Fig, 6- Flow da?a for f frst egction during I ine packtng.

 NUMBERS REFER 10 SECTIONS OF
TK OELLED OIL WMCH COOLEO BETWEEN
1. INLEI ANO km 20
2. km 20 ANO km 40
S. km 40 ANO km ao
4. t,meo ANO kmSO
a. km! SO ANO km W

.-
-# ,“’ \__
10 20 30 60 w 60 70 so ~
DISTANCE FROM INLSH I km I

Fig. 7- Pressure profiles during the 1f ne clearing. L I

o 10 20 so 48
RATE OF S!iEAR CONaWTENCY VARIAaLS, 32Q /no%-l I

Fig. 8- Flow data f~ Ifna clearfng.

-%—— ;0 eo So
I
1000
PSRUN, W OF LINE CLEARH2

Ffg. 9- L6served and calculated 1tne clearfng data.

L--- OISrANCE F~M INLET I km]

Ff~. 10- Frocass of pressure fronton yfeldtng.