OSRR-1005-Rapidly Deployable Thermal Hydrate Preventer for Subsea Oil Spill Mitigation

The objective of the research was to demonstrate the feasibility of a Thermal Hydrate Preventer (THP) system that will provide spill response teams with a tool that can be used to quickly mitigate subsea oil spills.

Task 1 - Definition of Downhole Environment to Use for System Design:
The Contractor worked with the THP to arrive at a set of deep sea conditions that were used for scoping, developing, and designing the THP system. During this task, the project team explored which well types are particularly likely to have hydrate issues associated with mitigating an uncontrolled release and the conditions the THP should provide within the Isolation Bell that interfaces with the failed wellhead.
The outcome of this task was a set of requirements that can be used as a basis from which the analytical and chemical feasibility study was conducted to assess the feasibility of a THP system with regard to conditions that will likely exist at the damaged well head, the design of the THP system, and the design of a deep-water THP demonstration.

Task 2 - Hydrate Prevention Feasibility Study:
In this task, CTD and the Colorado School of Mines Center for Hydrate Research (CHR) considered the hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, and chemistry of hydrates as they relate to the THP system. The objectives of this task were to:
a. Prevent formation of hydrates during the process of interfacing and initially capturing oil flowing from a damaged well on the sea floor;
b. Maintain a hydrate-free environment once the THP is successfully engaged with the damaged well; and
c. Develop approaches and system requirements on how the THP system may be able to dissolve hydrates that may form prior to, during, or after the THP system has been engaged with the damaged well.
The outcome of this task was a determination of the feasibility of the THP concept from a hydrate chemistry standpoint. The concept is a practical application and makes recommendations on mitigating subsea oil hydrate prevention.

Task 3 - Develop Scaling Rules for THP Systems for Different Size Wells:
Sub-sea wells vary considerably in size, depth, oil chemistry, oil release pressure and temperature, and mechanical design of the wellhead on the sea floor. In this task, the Contractor developed a set of scaling rules that were used to scope and size the THP system to address these variations.

Task 4 - Thermal Hydrate Preventer System Preliminary Design:
The Contractor and the THP system design team considered all of the data generated in Tasks 1, 2, and 3 and developed a preliminary THP system design. The system design was divided into 3 major sub-system tasks, including: 1. the well Isolation Bell, 2. the umbilical, and 3. surface support equipment.

Task 5 - Design of a Deep Water THP Demonstration:
The Contractor established test goals and objectives, design of the demonstration system, preparation of a test plan and procedure, and identification of a test facility (or facilities) at which the test can be carried out. The outcome of this task was a well-conceived test plan that can be performed immediately following the completion of this project.

Task 6 - Commercial Implementation Plan:
The outcome of this task was a commercial implementation plan, which defined pathways and possible commercialization partners, as well as potential funding opportunities to support the commercialization and implementation of the THP tools.