Hydrocarbon Hydrate Flow Assurance History as a Guide to a Conceptual Model

This work reviews major hydrocarbon hydrate advances in flowline applications of 25 international hydrate organizations. After a review of hydrate history and the current state-of-the-art, four conclusions were drawn: (1) engineers must take risks and cannot always afford the luxury to await scientific developments, (2) industry is more likely than academia to suggest hydrate needs and solutions, (3) the best hydrate blockage prevention practices are evolving and (4) a stepwise conceptual model can be proposed for a transient restart flowline hydrate blockage.