Joint slug receiving technology for parallel gathering system of deepwater pipeline

When deepwater oil & gas is developed, multiple mixed subsea pipelines are generally tied back to one processing center platform from different subsea production systems. Different subsea pipelines are different in running state. Slug of great volume can be induced by transient operation, such as pigging, re-start and ramp-up, and consequently the operation on the topside of platform is impacted. According to the surge volume calculation formula, two joint slug receiving strategies were proposed from the point of flow assurance for two parallel gathering systems of deepwater pipelines. Firstly, slug receiving mode is optimized. All slug receiving equipments on the topside of platform are combined to cope with the severe slug flow of a certain subsea pipeline by coordinating the slug receiving process. And secondly, various running states of subsea pipelines are optimally combined. Operation parameters, procedures and timing of subsea pipeline systems are planned rationally to reduce the total surge volume. Finally, a certain deepwater gas field was taken as an example to compare surge volume and slug receiving equipment size before and after the application of this joint slug receiving technology. It is indicated that this technology can save greatly platform space and engineering investment while receiving of slug flow is kept safe and stable.