Abstract This paper will convey a philosophy of managing a paraffin program. The philosophy developed is a closed loop system which includes data collection, treatment selection, and performance evaluation. The key to a successful program is maintaining a focus on the problem.
Introduction An age old problem in the oil field is paraffin deposition. Paraffin control in crude oil production costs the industry millions each year. These costs are incurred directly from removal techniques and well failures; and indirectly from increased wear of equipment, increased power consumption, and decreased production.
A typical paraffin treating program is a cycle which begins with collecting and analyzing data. This is followed by selecting a treatment type and developing treatment guidelines. The cycle is closed with some method to monitor and analyze the treatment program so it can be continuously improved. This cycle is illustrated in Figure 1. Unfortunately, gathering paraffin data and developing a treatment program is not something that can be done in a week. Due to the slow nature of paraffin deposition, it may take months to evaluate treatment methods and gather data. For this reason it is important to be organized and remain focused to get a clear picture of the problem. A computer database is useful in this respect.
Monitoring a paraffin treating program is the key to its success. Too many times poor decisions are made based on little information. When developing or optimizing a paraffin treating program, the questions that need to be answered are: What type of paraffin exists? Where is the paraffin deposition? and What is the rate of deposition?
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