Title: Development of empirical correlations for predicting formation of gas hydrate

Authors: Olusegun Omole, Olugbenga A. Falode, A. Olatunde Arinkoola

Addresses: Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. ' Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. ' Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract: Gas hydrates are a recurring problem in the oil industry where they plug production and transmission lines resulting into flow impairment. In order to avoid costly losses due to the formation of these hydrates, several methods which include thermodynamic modelling and empirical correlations can be employed to predict the conditions for hydrate formation. This study employed Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) to develop a new correlation for predicting the hydrate-formation temperatures for both pure and mixture of hydrocarbon systems using gravity method. The method correlates the hydrate-formation temperature against specific gravity, pressure and water-vapour pressure. The correlation has been developed based on 252 datasets obtained from review of literature, validated with some data not included in the optimisation and compared with some existing ones. The results show correlation coefficient (R² = 0.995), Pearson|s correlation coefficient (r = 0.997), average absolute percentage relative error (AAPRE = 1.5°F) and an average absolute temperature deviation (AAD = 0.73°F). [Received: June 26, 2008; Accepted: November 7, 2008]

Keywords: gas hydrate formation; correlations; gravity method; empirical; prediction; gas hydrates; oil industry; statistical analysis; hydrate formation temperatures; hydrocarbon systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2009.023628

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2009 Vol.2 No.1, pp.24 - 43

Published online: 03 Mar 2009 *

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