Asphaltene Management Leading to Significant Reduction of Production Deferment Through New Technology Trial MFC Tool

Abstract

In Southern Oman, PDO is producing from several high pressure (500-1000 bar), deep (3-5 km) and sour fields (1-10 mol % H2S). Over time, wells from one field (S A3) started having asphaltene deposition in the wellbore. Recently, the impact on production became severe resulting in high deferment, increased HSE exposure with plugging and high intervention costs. Asset team kicked off an asphaltene management project to tackle this problem, with one initiative being a field trial of a new technology, Magnetic Fluid Conditioner (MFC) to avoid/delay asphaltene plugging in the wellbore. This paper discusses the asphaltene management strategy and field trial results from this new tool deployed to prevent/delay asphaltene deposition.