SPE Flow Assurance Technical Section
Chair’s Message
Welcome to the SPE Flow Assurance Technical Section (FTS)
The oil and gas development expanded to more challenging environments (deeper reservoirs with a large water column, longer production distances, etc.). The flow assurance community came together to provide the assurance on design optimization and high production uptime. It spanned all the traditional technical disciplines of reservoir, drilling, completions and production with an intent to provide uninterrupted operations. Topics of interests included hydrates, asphaltenes, wax (paraffin), erosion, corrosion, scale, sand among others.
Over the last decade, digitalization played an important role in the use of sensors and data analytics to help the FTS community deploy data centric and hybrid models for production optimization, among other aspects.
We are evolving as the industry evolves to incorporate additional sources of energy production such as hydrogen as well as decarbonization through carbon capture and sequestration. Our activities include re-tooling our learned skills towards the evolving industry. Join us as we continue to support the traditional oil and gas exploration and production and incorporate successful deployment of hydrogen and CCUS projects.
Nikhil Joshi
Chair, SPE Flow Assurance Technical Section
Award for Technical Excellence
Flow Assurance Technical Section (FTS) has been awarded the Technical Section Excellence Award for 2022. This prestigious award is the second-highest honor technical sections may receive and is awarded to only 20% of eligible technical sections worldwide. The award recognizes the section’s hard work and strong programs in technical dissemination, professional development, member engagement, community involvement, and operations. Thank you for continuing to fulfill SPE’s mission and serve your members.
Award in Honor of Jeff Creek
The SPE Flow Assurance Technical Section Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Honor of Jefferson Creek recognizes technical contributions from graduate students that resulted in a conference presentation and/or journal publications related to Flow Assurance, which encompasses an advancement of the state-of-the-art of the discipline.
Jeff Creek was an amazing and wonderful friend and mentor to many flow assurance scientists and engineers worldwide. Jeff will be greatly missed by the entire community and was recognized by all as a great leader in the field and incredibly humble and kind. He was always willing to help colleagues, faculty, and students around the globe. He provided his vast expertise, knowledge, and brilliance to any problem/question that any of us had and helped guide us through so many important solutions. Jeff was one of the founders of the SPE Flow Assurance Technical Section.
SPE FTS Outstanding Graduate Student Award in honor of Jefferson Creek – 2023
In recognition of technical contributions to the Flow Assurance discipline, the following students received the SPE FTS Outstanding Student Award in honor of Jeff Creek for the year 2023, which includes a cash prize of $500 each.
Barasha Deka (PhD Petroleum Engineering, ISM Dhanbad + Curtin University, Graduation 2022)
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Technical contributions: Synthesis of different polymeric, non-polymeric, and nanocomposite additives and study of their effectiveness in the control of flow assurance problems -- Pour point depressants for waxy crude oils, Propylene glycol Quantum Dots as Low-Dosage Hydrate Inhibitors. Quantum dot LDHIs concept has green compounds like Aloe Vera and Soy Lecithin also being proposed.
Published 3+ papers in leading journals as first author. Listed as First inventor on Indian patent (2020) - Development of aloe vera quantum dots as low-dosage hydrate inhibitor for petroleum industries. Contributions to both wax and hydrates - Jeff would appreciate that. A strong recommendation from Prof. Mahto.
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Gabriel Santos (PhD Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa, Graduation December 2022)
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Technical contributions: Working on the mechanism of wax deposition at the wall using microscopic investigation. Chasing new heights, such as the contribution of particulate deposition in addition to molecular diffusion. E&F publication of the work. 5 citations so far. The second publication in the works.
Topic near and dear to Jeff's heart. Strong support from Prof. Sarica. 4.0 GPA, 1st place in TU research contest.
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Marshall Pickarts (PhD Chemical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Graduation August 2022)
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Technical contributions: Hydrate deposition management during transient restart operations. Hydrate deposition reduction with surface treatment. Improving conceptual picture for hydrate plugging mechanisms at play during transients. Experiments + Modeling. Scale up from benchtops to flow loops.
Topic near and dear to Jeff's heart - what influences hydrate deposition, and how do we create/mitigate a plug? Strong support from Prof. Koh. 4.0 GPA. Published 3+ papers in leading journals as first author.
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