A hydrate plug forms where free water, gas and the right pressure and temperature meet. In a producing system that usually means at a restriction, a cold spot, a riser base or anywhere fluid stops moving and cools. The most dangerous times are shutdowns and restarts, when the system cools to seabed or ambient temperature and pressure remains high.

Prevention is a design decision made early. Insulation, burial, active heating and system architecture set how long the system can sit before entering the hydrate region, which is the cool-down time. Chemical inhibition then covers the remaining exposure. Methanol and glycol are effective but needed in large volumes, with storage, pumping, recovery and disposal implications. Low dosage inhibitors, both kinetic inhibitors and anti-agglomerants, work at much lower rates but have limits on subcooling and hold time that must be respected.

Remediation is the part where people get hurt. A hydrate plug can hold large differential pressure, and depressurising from one side can launch it through the pipe at high velocity. Safe practice is two-sided depressurisation where possible, patience, and never applying heat that traps pressure inside a melting plug. This course covers the engineering and the procedures that keep both production and people safe.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Describe hydrate structures and the conditions under which they form.
• Calculate hydrate formation curves from gas composition, water and salinity.
• Identify hydrate risk locations in wells, flowlines, subsea systems and processing plant.
• Assess hydrate risk during steady production, shutdown, cool-down and restart.
• Design thermal prevention, including insulation, burial and active heating.
• Select and dose thermodynamic inhibitors such as methanol and glycol.
• Apply low dosage inhibitors and understand their subcooling and hold time limits.
• Specify dehydration and water management requirements.
• Write operating procedures covering no-touch time, shutdown, restart and blowdown.
• Plan safe remediation of hydrate plugs.

Participants will:

• Understand hydrate formation and be able to calculate hydrate curves.
• Be able to identify hydrate risk in a production system.
• Be able to select and dose inhibitors correctly.
• Understand cool-down, no-touch time and restart requirements.
• Know how to remediate a hydrate plug safely.

Participants will:

• Understand hydrate formation and be able to calculate hydrate curves.
• Be able to identify hydrate risk in a production system.
• Be able to select and dose inhibitors correctly.
• Understand cool-down, no-touch time and restart requirements.
• Know how to remediate a hydrate plug safely.

• Flow assurance engineers
• Production engineers
• Subsea and pipeline engineers
• Facilities and process engineers
• Production chemists
• Operations engineers and supervisors in cold or deepwater systems

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.