Adaptive Automatic Dosing System of Hydrate Formation Inhibitor into the Gas Gathering Network

The main danger for operating gas-gathering system flow line in the Far North in winter at the late-life production fields is the accumulation of field water, carried out of the well together with the gas, in the pipelines. This water forms ice or hydrate blocks that negatively impact the efficiency of the flow line due to the reduction of its cross-section and can lead to accidents. The most widely spread way of fighting this phenomenon is pumping some kind of hydrate development inhibitor, usually methanol. In order to calculate the necessary quantity of inhibitor, it is necessary to consider a number of factors that are currently not measured at all or measured very seldom, which leads to the excess consumption of methanol. This article describes an adaptive automatic methanol dosing system, whose operation logic allows to consider the volume of the water accumulated in the flow line in real time and timely adjust the specific consumption of the inhibitor pumped into the flow line. All of these raises the efficiency of gas field operation.