Journey from Wellhead to Plant Inlet Separator: Basic Hydraulics and Flow Assurance

Course Objective:

This course aims to equip learners with a foundational understanding of how fluids travel from the wellhead to the plant inlet separator, focusing on the essential principles of hydraulics and flow assurance. Participants will learn to interpret flow behaviour in wellhead and pipeline systems, perform basic hydraulic calculations, and evaluate pressure losses, liquid loading, and multiphase flow characteristics. The course also introduces key flow-assurance challenges such as slugging, wax deposition, hydrates, and sand production, along with mitigation strategies. By the end, learners will be able to analyze and troubleshoot flowline and trunkline performance confidently using practical engineering approaches.

Subject Description:

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the fluid journey from the wellhead to the inlet separator of an oil and gas processing facility. It explains the fundamentals of wellhead systems, flowlines, trunklines, and inlet separation, emphasizing how pressure, temperature, and multiphase flow dynamics influence system performance. Learners will explore basic hydraulic concepts including frictional pressure drop, elevation effects, and flow regimes, supported by simplified calculations. The subject also covers essential flow-assurance topics such as paraffin, hydrates, corrosion, and transient behaviour. Practical examples and field-based insights ensure relevance for engineers involved in upstream and midstream production operations.