1. Eni Ecuador “Smart Foam Pig” first application
Alberto Di Lullo, Keith C. Hester
eni e&p Flow Assurance Eng. Techn.
– Rev.0

2. Agenda Approach Sensors Preliminary results for pigged pipelines:
Villano A – CPF
Villano B – Villano A
CPF – Sarayacu
Sarayacu – Baeza 2

3. Application of e-splora™ tools:
Approach
Application of e-splora™ tools:
Autonomous sensors traveling with plastic pigs to gain insight on flowlines.
Pressure (absolute, dP across pig), temperature, acceleration.
Easily applicable in a number of pigging situations.
Minimal pig modifications required.
Able to detect potential problems
Including flow restrictions from solids accumulations, dents, etc.
Unable to determine the cause of a restriction (dents, deposits, …)

4. Sensor Types HT/HP Sensors HP Sensors Acceleration Sensors
Pressure (up to 300 bara)
Temperature (up to 80oC)
HP Sensors
Pressure (up to 200 bara)
Temperature (up to 40oC)
Acceleration Sensors
Pressure (up to 100 bara)
Temperature (up to 60oC)
3-axial accelerometer
Syntactic foam protective case

5. Villano A – CPF (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Acceleration sensors: 2 front + 2 rear
As received
Front and Sensors:
1 protected, 1 “naked”
Front sensors
torn from the
pig
Rear Sensors
in place and
functional
Pre-launch

6. Villano A – CPF (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Unstable flow
The rear pig pressure (the only available sensor data)
matches well with the hydrostatic pressure (elevation profile given).
Corrections were applied for variable pig speed & unstable rate. 6

7. Villano A – CPF (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Pig velocity profile along flowline
Comparison of values inferred from flowrate with values derived from sensor analysis 7

8. Villano A – CPF (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Unstable flow
Possible feature?
By subtracting hydrostatic pressure from the rear pig pressure,
the frictional pressure component was extracted showing good linear behavior. 8

9. Villano A – CPF (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Preliminary conclusions:
The measurement was significantly affected by flow instabilities. Some were tentatively corrected, but some uncertainties remain, both in feature detection and position
Front sensors were missing, so that the pressure differential across the pig is not known
One possible feature to be checked at about m from VA, potentially where the front sensors might have been torn from the pig
Features have a number of potential causes, including dents, solids (sand) accumulations, and diameter changes 9

10. Villano B – Villano A (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
HT/HP sensors, 1 rear + 1 front, due to high temperatures
Pig OD = 32.5 cm
Intact Sensors
Front
Sensor
Rear
Sensor
Rear plug expelled
Plugged
Holes
Pre-launch
As received

11. Villano B – Villano A (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Comparison of Pig Speed
obtained by the measured field flow-rate and by matching pig pressure with hydrostatic pressure 11

12. Villano B – Villano A (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Possibly due to the unplugging of rear pig hole
Possible feature
to be checked
Rear pressure matches the shape of the hydrostatic pressure computed from the elevation profile
(Corrections applied for variable pig speed). 12

13. Villano B – Villano A (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
The delta pressure across the pig provides additional indications of possible small restrictions in the line
(exact origin of which cannot be inferred from the pig data) 13

14. Villano B – Villano A (launched on 24 Jun 2014)
Preliminary conclusions:
The measurement was affected by flow instabilities during start-up. Some of these effects have been corrected. However, some uncertainties remain both in feature detection and position,
One possible feature detected at about 130 m from VB,
Other smaller features at approximate distances from VB:
230 m
310 m
400 m
525 m
890 m
995 m
1440 m
1670 m
1775 m 14

15. CPF – Sarayacu (launched on 25 Jun 2014)
HT/HP sensors (2 front+rear) and Accel sensors (2 front+rear)
Pig OD = 32.5 cm
As received
Acceleration Sensors
HT/HP Sensors
Intact Sensors
(except for front acceleration sensor)
Pre-launch

16. (Corrections applied for variable pig speed).
CPF – Sarayacu (launched on 25 Jun 2014)
Rear pressure matches the shape of the hydrostatic pressure a part from a specific section, which represents an unknown anomaly
(Corrections applied for variable pig speed). 16

17. CPF – Sarayacu (launched on 25 Jun 2014)
Wax deposits
The frictional pressure drop shows anomalies which indicate
possible deposits or restrictions.
The red arrow indicates a localized anomaly
(exact origin of which cannot be inferred from the pig data) 17

18. CPF – Sarayacu (launched on 25 Jun 2014)
The deltaP across the pig shows anomalies which indicate
possible deposits or restrictions. In blue, valve-induced anomalies.
In red, the less explicable ones.
(exact origin of which cannot be inferred from the pig data) 18

19. CPF – Sarayacu (launched on 25 Jun 2014)
Preliminary conclusions:
The pressure data show anomalies which might be attributed to wax deposition, but also inexplicable anomalies were detected (30-35 km)
The pressure drop measured across the pig correlates well with the position of several valves, but some other features are to examined more carefully, notably at 92900m approximately
The pig stopped at arrival in Sarayacu for several hours. Apparently this is where also the pig recovered in 2004 stopped. This may represent a criticality.
The average pig velocity is 0.23 m/s, and about a half of this value before valve#5. This represents another pigging criticality. 19

20. Sarayacu – Baeza (launched on 27 Jun 2014)
HP Sensors: 3 front + 3 rear (Pressure), 1 front (Temperature)
Sensors all present
and functional
Front
sensors
Rear
sensors
Pre-launch
As recovered, with about 20kg of deposits

21. Sarayacu – Baeza (launched on 27 Jun 2014)
The frictional pressure drop shows anomalies which indicate
possible deposits or restrictions
(exact origin of which cannot be inferred from the pig data) 21

22. Sarayacu – Baeza (launched on 27 Jun 2014)
End of wax
Deposition? ?
Onset of wax
Deposition?
The delta P across the pig shows further features
such as start of wax deposition and other deviations
(but pipe welds are never visible) 22

23. Sarayacu – Baeza (launched on 27 Jun 2014)
Preliminary conclusions:
The pressure data show anomalies which might be attributed to wax(?) deposition, but also other inexplicable anomalies were detected (e.g. at about km 35)
The frictional pressure drop profile is linear overall, but shows localized anomalies
The pig velocity was about 0.3 m/s (which is below the typical ILI expected speed but closer to it than the speed in the CPF-Sarayacu section) 23