Comparison of methanol and ethylene glycol effectiveness as chemical inhibitors in the prevention of gas hydrates in well testing barge DT-05 well Z Mahakam field

Gas hydrate is one of the production problems that are often encountered in the management of natural gas wells. Well Z is a natural gas well in the Mahakam field which routinely be tested periodically to determine the ability of flow rate and the production parameters using well testing barge. However, there are often for the formation of gas hydrate formed in several test components in well testing barge. This study aims to determine the effectiveness use of 2 inhibitor chemicals, which are methanol and glycol in handling gas hydrate in the testing barge. Natural gas flow originating from wellhead / upstream 5 MMScfd and temperature 122 °F and the operating pressure 2187 psia. From the simulation results, gas hydrate will form at 46.33 °F and it is obtained that the gas hydrate formation was predicted at the choke manifold. Fluid stream passing through the choke manifold had decreased the pressure into 254 psi and there is also a decrease in temperature from 122 °F to 41.88 °F. Methanol injection develops free of potential hydrates to form in flowlines. The temperature at which hydrates are formed changes to 33.88 °F. In the other hand, after Ethylene glycol injection in flowline, hydrates formation temperature dropped to 0.48 °F. From these results it can be resumed that the application of Ethylene Glycol injection on the process is more effective lowering the temperature of the formation of hydrates in well testing barge.