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Abstract—The formation of hydrates in the subsea production production system, several wells are tied into a manifold. From
of oil and gas is a well-known problem. As the unprocessed the manifold, the main pipeline is tied to a platform or to
well stream cools down, hydrates start to form around 25 ◦ C, shore. As the hot well stream cools down, hydrates may be
depending on the water cut and pressure in the pipeline. Several
solutions are available to solve this problem. Generally, chemicals formed inside the pipeline, causing a reduction in the flow
(i.e., methanol) have been used. Methanol reduces the critical and ultimately completely blocking the pipeline. Depending on
temperature where hydrates are formed. Alternatively, hydrates water cut, salt content, and pipeline pressure, hydrates can be
can be prevented by using thermal insulation in combination with formed at temperatures as high as 25 ◦ C. Furthermore, wax
direct electrical heating (DEH). Thus, the well stream is kept starts to deposit inside the pipeline at even higher temperatures,
above the critical temperature for hydrate formation. DEH heats
the pipeline by forcing a large electric current to flow through i.e., 35 ◦ C–40 ◦ C. It is therefore essential to keep the well
the pipeline steel. The system model for design and sizing of the stream above a critical temperature in order to maintain a
system is presented. DEH uses a single-phase system where the steady flow.
heated pipeline is electrically connected to the surrounding sea Process engineering has several solutions available to prevent
water. Thus, the system current is divided between sea water and the formation of hydrates during production. The choice de-
pipeline, requiring additional sacrificial anodes on the pipeline.
The anode system for a pipeline with DEH is discussed. There are pends on the length of the pipeline, the water cut, and the lower
currently more than 100 km of DEH pipelines on the Norwegian critical temperature for hydrate formation, as well as regulatory
Continental Shelf. The operating experience from these installa- requirements.
tions is discussed. This paper presents the research and develop- By injecting chemicals in the well stream at the well head
ment for application of the system for pipelines with lengths up or manifold, hydrates are formed at much lower tempera-
to 50 km.
tures. Normally, methanol is used. There are drawbacks with
Index Terms—Electrical heating, hydrates, sacrificial anodes. methanol injection. Methanol needs to be separated from the
well stream at the topside process facility, and methanol occu-
I. I NTRODUCTION pies space and reduces the capacity of the pipeline. Moreover,
it must be treated in the process facility before it is reinjected
A. Hydrate Prevention in Subsea Pipelines into well stream. Additionally, environmental regulations limit
the methanol contents in the produced water that is dumped into
T HE well stream in offshore oil production normally con-
tains considerable amounts of formation water. The volu-
metric content of water (water cut) may vary from 10% to
the sea.
Applying thermal insulation on the pipeline reduces the well-
as high as 80% in the tail production phase. In a subsea stream temperature drop between the well head/manifold and
the process facility. For shorter distances and/or high reservoir
temperatures, this may be a sufficient measure. However, during
Paper PID-06-15, presented at the 2005 IEEE Petroleum and Chemical
Industry Technical Conference, Denver, CO, September 12–14, and approved shut down and production at lower flow rates (tale production),
for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS it is difficult to maintain the well-stream temperature above the
by the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee of the IEEE Industry critical limit.
Applications Society. Manuscript submitted for review September 15, 2005
and released for publication September 15, 2006. This work was supported by By heating the pipeline electrically, the need for chemical
Statoil ASA. injection is reduced considerably. Electrical heating has shown
A. Nysveen and M. Høyer-Hansen are with the Norwegian University of to be very suitable for long pipelines since heat can be generated
Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway (e-mail: Arne.Nysveen@
elkraft.ntnu.no; Martin.Hoyer-Hansen@elkraft.ntnu.no). evenly along the whole length. Nonelectrical options, such as
H. Kulbotten and J. K. Lervik are with SINTEF Energy Research, 7465 hot water supply using pipes embedded in the thermal insula-
Trondheim, Norway (e-mail: Harald.Kulbotten@sintef.no; Jens.K.Lervik@ tion, are not dealt with here.
sintef.no).
A. H. Børnes is with Statoil ASA, 4035 Stavanger, Norway (e-mail: atlb@
statoil.com). B. Electrical Heating of Pipelines
J. J. Bremnes is with Nexans Norway AS, 1751 Halden, Norway (e-mail:
jarle.bremnes@nexans.com). The pipeline can be heated electrically by several meth-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. ods. Two of these are illustrated in Fig. 1. The embedded
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2006.887425 cables constitute a three-phase system. At the manifold end of
0093-9994/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
NYSVEEN et al.: DEH OF SUBSEA PIPELINES—TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATING EXPERIENCE 119
Fig. 1. Heating methods of pipelines. (a) Using cables as resistive heat system, anode design, and corrosion protection. Further, new
elements. (b) Using cables for heating the pipeline wall by induction. Currents
are induced in the pipeline wall. developments for long pipelines (> 40 km) are presented. Long
pipelines lead to excessive cable screen-to-ground voltages.
Different methods to handle this effect are discussed. Currently,
the pipeline, the cables are wye connected (short circuited). a new cable with semi-conductive sheath is under development.
The heat is generated by ohmic loss in the cable conduc- The test program and some results are presented. At the end,
tors [Fig. 1(a)] or in the pipeline wall by induced currents operational experiences from several field developments on the
[Fig. 1(b)]. Norwegian Continental Shelf are given.
When using power cables as heat elements [Fig. 1(a)], the
distance between the pipeline wall and the cables must be small.
Otherwise, a large portion of the heat is dissipated into the sea. II. DEH
Furthermore, the voltage needs to be low in order to allow for A. System Description
thin cable insulation. For this method, the electric and magnetic
properties of the pipeline wall material only have moderate In DEH, the pipe to be heated is an active conductor in a
influence on the dissipated heat in the cables. single-phase electric circuit, with a single core power cable as
For inductive heating, the loss dissipation in the pipeline wall the forward conductor (see Fig. 3). Power is typically supplied
depends on the electric and magnetic properties in the pipeline via a rise cable from the platform main power.
material. Normally, a magnetic steel quality is required. The One of the two riser cable conductors is connected to the near
heat generation can be optimized by tuning the power supply end of the pipe. The other is connected to the piggyback cable,
frequency. which is again connected to the far end of the pipe.
A problem with both of the above methods is how to embed The pipeline employs cathodic protection with sacrificial
the cable inside the thermal insulation. During offshore pipe anodes. Normally, aluminum anodes are used. The heating
laying, the separate pipe joints (pipe lengths of typically 12, system is thus galvanically connected to the surrounding sea
24, or 48 m) are welded into a pipeline on the installation water through sacrificial anodes, and the sea water acts as an
vessel in a continuous process (S-lay and J-lay techniques). electric conductor in parallel with the pipe. In other words,
The cable length is much longer than the length of the pipe the current flowing in the piggyback cable will be divided
joints. Therefore, the cable is laid down in slots in the thermal between pipe and sea water. Two main consequences are listed
insulation. The slots are made either when applying thermal as follows:
insulation or subsequently by cutting [1]. 1) reduced pipe heating for a given cable current (un-
A large advantage with the methods presented above is the wanted);
galvanic insulation between the electric power circuit and the 2) no significant voltage difference may occur between the
pipeline. The risk of stray currents and corrosion is absent as near and far end of the pipe (wanted).
long as the cable insulation remains undamaged. At the far-end cable connection point, the cable current enters
However, the alternative method where current is flowing in the steel pipe, while part of the current leaves the pipe and is
the pipeline wall has shown to be the most economical and transferred to the sea through the anodes. The electrical current
reliable ac solution. The direct electrical heating (DEH) system in the sea water enters the pipe again at the near-end connection
consists of a single-phase ac supply where the current flowing point. Typically, 40% of the total current flows in the sea water.
in the pipeline wall returns in a cable in parallel with and in In order to control the added ac corrosion of sacrificial anodes
close proximity (“piggyback”) to the heated pipeline (Fig. 2). at the cable connection points, additional anodes of the same
Here, the cable can be strapped onto the pipeline during the type are used in these current transfer zones of typically 50 m.
installation process. It is also possible to install the piggyback Fig. 4 shows the circuit diagram for the DEH system. The
cable separately on the sea bed, but this results in a larger current in the piggyback cable (Icable ) returns back in the pipe-
distance between the cable and the pipeline and hence in a line (Ipipe ), the cable screen (Iscreen ), and the sea water (Isea ).
larger power requirement. In designing and dimensioning a system for the given
In this paper, the DEH of single pipelines is presented. This pipeline, the portion of the total current returning in the
paper starts with a description of the concept, rating of the pipeline, the ac resistance of the pipeline, and the total system
120 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007
Fig. 3. Outline drawing of the DEH system. The efficiency of the system has a maximum value in a piggybacked installation.
Fig. 6. DEH system circuit diagram with topside power supply, DEH transformer, DEH load-balancing equipment, and DEH load.
Fig. 7. Phasor diagram for a perfectly balanced load (assuming fully compen-
sated load).
Assuming a fully compensated load current (I0 purely re- Fig. 8. Conductor-to-ground voltage in the cable decreasing linearly toward
sistive), the single-phase DEH load can be perfectly balanced the connection point to the pipeline.
between the three phases of the mains by tuning C1 and L1 so
that the following condition is met: to adjust the supply current. If the transformer is equipped with
√ off load tap changer, this necessitates de-energizing the circuit
IL1 = IC1 = I0 / 3 . (4) in order to change the output voltage of the transformer.
IA = I0 + IC1 The overall safety requirement for the DEH system is that a
cable failure is detected and located without causing damage to
IB = IL1 − IC1 the pipeline.
IC = −I0 − IL1 . (5) The requirements for fault protection differ from a conven-
tional cable installation as the DEH system, by its inherent
The purpose of RA , RB , and RC is to limit inrush currents design, is operated with two “ground faults” present. Due to the
when the DEH system is energized. grounding of the cable system, the conductor-to-ground (i.e.,
Instead of using a load-balancing circuit, a static frequency sea water) voltage is linearly decreasing from full voltage at the
converter can be used. The cost of a converter is significantly topside terminal to zero voltage at the far-end cable connection
higher than a circuit based on passive components, and this point to the pipeline (see Fig. 8). Conventional overcurrent and
has to be evaluated against the flexibility the converter offers impedance protection will provide adequate protection against
in terms of current regulation. A system based on passive faults for the major part of the pipeline. For the far end of the
components requires tapping of the DEH transformer in order pipeline, supplementary protection is under development.
NYSVEEN et al.: DEH OF SUBSEA PIPELINES—TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATING EXPERIENCE 123
Fig. 11. DEH cable conductor voltage and screen-to-ground voltage are
plotted versus distance. 1 kA is applied to a 50-km 10-in carbon steel pipe
and calculated according to [5].
Fig. 10. (a) Cross section of a cable with an insulating outer sheath and a
metallic ground screen. (b) Per-length circuit equivalent for the DEH system.
Zc : cable impedance; Zs : sheath impedance; Zg : ground impedance; Cd : cable
insulation capacitance; Cs : sheath capacitance.
Fig. 13. (a) Both ends connection of the piggyback cable. (b) DEH with two
half-way-connected sections. (c) Intermediate grounding of the screen.
Fig. 14. Screen voltage distribution for a 50-km 18-in pipeline intermediately
grounded every 5, 7.5, or 10 km.
The screen voltage could be reduced by using a copper screen
(lower resistivity), but this would reduce the DEH efficiency
since a smaller part of the total current will flow in the pipeline.
The high screen voltage can be reduced by introducing
sectioned DEH. The simplest method consists of connecting
the cable close to the midpoint of the pipeline, as shown in
Fig. 13(a). The length of each section is reduced to one-half.
From Fig. 12, it can be observed that splitting a 30-km pipeline
into two 15-km sections reduces the screen-to-ground voltage
from 4.3 to 1.2 kV.
For longer pipelines, two half-way-connected sections can
be used, as shown in Fig. 13(b). The advantage of this solution
is that a “traditional” cable design with high resistance metal
screen is applicable.
The drawback of this solution is cost for the extra length
of feeder cable to the junction boxes. Further cost increase is
caused by the following:
• additional cable terminations to the pipeline and additional Fig. 15. Tyrihans DEH cable with (1) semi-conductive outer sheath, (2) outer
sacrificial anodes; insulation screen, (3) XLPE insulation, (4) inner insulation screen, and
• increased active and reactive power loss due to the extra (5) conductor with semi-conductive strand sealing.
length of feeder cable; this requires larger power supply
equipment. sheath capacitance between the screen and the ground. Rs
The large cost increase of a system divided into sections denotes the resistance in the semi-conductor sheath. For a
compared to a simple one has trigged a search for alternatives. sheath resistivity lower than 100 Ωm, the current through the
The cable screen of the piggyback cable can be grounded at sheath capacitance (Cs ) can be neglected compared with the
intermediate points along the heated section [see Fig. 13(c)]. current in Rs . For calculations of topside conductor voltages
This solution has lower costs since it does not require addi- and currents, the per-length circuit equivalent can be simplified
tional feeder cables. The screen-to-ground voltage profiles of a to the circuit in Fig. 16(b). Here, Z is the system impedance,
50-km-long cable grounded every 5, 7.5, and 10 km, respec- calculated by FEM as in Section II-A. I1 and I2 are the currents
tively, is shown in Fig. 14. at the host and far end, respectively, U1 is voltage drop at the
The alternative solution for the Tyrihans DEH pipeline host, k is the propagation constant, and l is the length of the
(43 km, 18 in) is to use a semi-conductive outer cable sheath pipeline.
(Fig. 15) and thereby draining the charging currents contin- From Fig. 16(b), the following equations are derived:
uously to the sea. This is the most feasible solution for long
pipelines. I1 /I2 = cosh(kl) (6)
A circuit equivalent is shown in Fig. 16(a). Zc denotes the
cable impedance, Zs the sheath impedance, and Zg the ground U1 = I2 · Z · sinh(kl) (7)
(sea water) impedance. Cd is the cable insulation capacitance
between the conductor and the cable screen, while Cs is the k = jωCd Z . (8)
126 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007
Fig. 16. (a) Per-length circuit equivalent for the DEH system with semi-
conducting sheath. (b) Simplified per-length circuit equivalent for the DEH
system.
B. Operational Experience
Until now, DEH has been installed on four projects with an
accumulated cable length exceeding 100 km. Both Åsgard and
Huldra have gained operational experience, while Kristin and
Urd are currently being commissioned (mid 2005).
The Huldra DEH system has been in use approximately
40 times since commissioning, May 2002. The Åsgard DEH
systems were commissioned September 2003 and have been
operated at around ten times.
Generally, the experience with DEH is good. Most of the
problems encountered originate from the installation and com-
missioning phase of the projects. In this phase, some rectifi-
cation and improvement works have been required. After the
systems have been handed over to the operation group, no major
problems have been experienced.
During the first three months after Huldra DEH was put in
service, some problems with shut-down of DEH due to inad-
vertent protection relay trip were experienced. All these trips
Fig. 18. Piggyback cable ready for welding to the cable termination plate. were caused by the overcurrent protection system. When these
incidents were further investigated, it was concluded that the
setting of the overcurrent protection was too narrow to handle
Raising the temperature from ambient (typically 4 ◦ C) to above
voltage fluctuation during start and stops of large motors in the
hydrate formation temperature requires higher current than the
power network. The setting of the overcurrent protection set-
case of maintaining the temperature above hydrate formation
tings was revisited and adjusted based on measurements of the
temperature. The current demand will increase with shorter
fluctuations, and no shut-downs have taken place since. The de-
“heat-up” times. The specified “heat-up” times for the DEH
sign and operation of Huldra DEH are further described in [8].
systems in Table I are typically 48 h.
Testing on the installed DEH systems has verified the rating
Huldra DEH is, in addition, designed to keep the arrival
and thermal performance of the systems. Measured parameters
temperature above hydrate formation and wax precipitation
have shown to be in good accordance with basic theory and
temperatures during low production rates. During tail produc-
system calculations.
tion, the temperature drops in the production pipeline such that
the arrival temperature of the fluid is below a critical value
without heating. C. New Projects and Further Developments
All pipelines, except Huldra, are partly trenched, partly Since the general qualification of the DEH concept was
rockdumped, and partly exposed to sea water. The trenching performed prior to the project Åsgard, a more or less continuous
and rockdumping are performed in order to reduce pipeline development of DEH has taken place. The combination of new
free spans on the uneven seabed. The exposed area determines technology elements not covered by the initial DEH qualifica-
the current demand, while the trenched area governs the cable tion and of work initiated to improve the concept has caused
sizing. subsequent projects to perform further DEH development.
The Huldra pipeline is trenched to 0.7 m and covered by Currently, the project Tyrihans is being developed. DEH for
back fill and/or gravel dump. The coverage ensures thermal Tyrihans is a significant technology step compared to previous
insulation, protection against external loads such as trawling, projects. Parts of the technology development for Tyrihans
and provides resistance against upheaval buckling. DEH have been described in this paper. Installation of Tyrihans
Since the pipelines will experience thermal expansions dur- DEH is scheduled for 2007.
ing operation, the piggyback cable may be subject to tensional Further DEH development will focus on widening the appli-
forces as well as abrasion against the seabed and/or rock cover. cation area for the system. Development programs have been
Furthermore, the pipelines are installed in areas with fishing defined and partly initiated to cover the following.
activity and possible interaction with trawl boards. In order to • Deep water application—Projects on the Norwegian Con-
meet these mechanical load conditions, the piggyback cables tinental Shelf and elsewhere in world require DEH cables
for Åsgard and Huldra were designed with a polymer outer for greater water depths than currently qualified (500 m).
coating having resistance against abrasion and impact. For • Longer pipelines—Tieback of subsea developments to
Kristin and Urd, a continuous mechanical protection profile shore or nearby platforms may employ DEH pipelines
was developed and installed for the complete cable length. with lengths of several hundred kilometers.
Moreover, both piggyback cable and terminations must with- • Larger pipe diameters—Application of DEH for pipelines
stand the axial load due to elongation of the pipeline of the with diameters of 30 in or more is expected.
order of 0.1%–0.2%. This may correspond to an axial load at • Retrofit installation—Installation of DEH on existing and
the terminations exceeding 10 tons. The termination design for future pipelines in case of an emergency situation (plug
Kristin DEH is shown in Fig. 18. removal operations). For future pipelines where heating is
128 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007
Atle Harald Børnes received the M.Sc. degree in Jarle J. Bremnes received the M.Sc. degree in
electrical power engineering from the Norwegian electrical power engineering from the Norwegian
Institute of Technology (NTH), Trondheim, Norway, Institute of Technology (NTH), Trondheim, Norway,
in 1990. in 1992.
Prior to his current position, he was with the hy- From 1992 to 1997, he was a Research Scientist
droelectric power industry. Since 1992, he has been with ABB Corporate Research, Oslo, Norway. He
with Statoil ASA, Stavanger, Norway. He is currently has been working with offshore and subsea motor
a Specialist in pipeline heating and has been a key drives and power systems since 1996 and DEH
person in all pipeline heating projects since 1997. systems since 2000. Since 2003, he has been a
He has written several papers on electrical motor Senior Engineer with Nexans Norway AS, Halden,
drives and pipeline heating and holds patents within Norway.
the field.