Prediction of wax deposition problems of hydrocarbon production system

Crude oil exploration and production has extended into deep-waters and extreme environments, its cold temperature would make wax deposition problems almost inevitable during crude production. Wax deposition had demonstrated a significant concern in the quest to increase oil recovery from producing reservoirs. The unforgiving effects of wax deposition has the ability to disrupt effective crude oil production, ultimately leading to reduction of the internal diameter of the tubular and results in prolific negative consequences. Conventional curative approaches have not proven good alternative to high production losses and profit uncertainty in the petroleum industry. However, a good predictive model is vital in the quest for solution to production risk or intervention strategy for handling waxy crude. An empirical model is developed for predicting wax deposition of hydrocarbon production systems. The model exhibited good prediction ability in comparison with the laboratory measurements. Advanced neural network using feed forward technique was formulated to further validate the relationship of the variables studied in this work.