Singing Mitigation in an Export Riser via Liquid Injection: A Field Case Study

Abstract

Flexible Risers are prone to the generation of high amplitude tonal noise, i.e. a so-called singing riser. Recently, severe vibrations and high noise levels were encountered on the turret of an FPSO in the Norwegian Sea, resulting in significantly reduced production. The vibrations could be attributed to pulsations generated either by a flexible jumper (connecting topside to turret), the gas lift riser or the gas export riser. Field measurements showed that the most likely source was the 10 inch gas export riser. Due to the vibrations, a reduced production limit was set. A field measurement campaign was started to inject liquid into the export risers to provisionally increase production, while in the meantime permanent solutions were evaluated and installed. Liquid was injected batch wise and continuously. The main field trial was initiated by a batch of MEG (mono ethylene glycol) (2 times 500 liters) followed by continuous injection of small amounts of MEG. Between settling periods, the gas export rate was increased in steps until vibrations were detected. At detection, the MEG injection rate was increased until vibrations/pulsations disappeared, after which gas export was increased again. This process was repeated to maximum gas flow rate, after which the liquid injection and gas export were similarly stepwise decreased. During this test, the gas export could be increased tenfold with moderate liquid injection rates (up to a maximum of 25 l/hr). Similar tests were done with TEG as injected fluid. However, TEG was far less efficient in suppressing the singing. This is attributed to the higher viscosity of the TEG at the injection temperatures and the method of injection.