THE REVIEW OF FLOW ASSURANCE SOLUTIONS WITH RESPECT TO WAX AND ASPHALTENE
This study examines mechanisms of wax and asphaltene precipitation and deposition, effects of the depositions on oil reservoir characteristics and performance, deposition prediction methods, deposition mitigation and removal techniques. Estimation results of several thermodynamic models of wax appearance temperature and subsequent deposition agree with each other. These estimations along with the limited field data comparisons suggest moderate success in modelling wax deposition, mainly because wax deposits depend on temperature. Asphaltenes' nature is unclear. Its mechanisms of precipitation, flocculation, and deposition remain unclear. So, the reliability of any forecast and simulation models can be questionable. Although there is a lack of documented evidence of any reliable method for predicting asphaltene deposition with high confidence, probably due to unrepresentative crude oil samples, there is reasonably good chemicals performance. These chemicals show that, if the deposition prevention is impossible, at least it can be controlled and managed. The lessons learned from different development projects and the best practices were used to define the flow assurance mitigation strategies. Since this study contains the necessary information on wax and asphaltene deposition, it can be used as a reference for further exploration of this field.