Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Chevron Energy Technology develops and manages technology to help find and produce new oil and gas reserves, enhance recovery in existing fields, and optimize productivity of downstream assets.
“One of the advantages of being in the CERE industrial Consortium is that we get access to new simulation tools. Modern recovery takes place under complex conditions, often under very high pressures, and it is just not possible for us to measure everything,” explains Dr. Samer O. Derawi, senior flow assurance engineer at Chevron.
“Besides modelling, which is one of my job responsibilities within Chevron, we are also keen to take advantage of independent experimental results. We rely on conventional anti-freeze chemicals for flow assurance, primarily for inhibition of gas hydrate formation. Often we will be approached by the chemical vendor who claims to have developed improved versions of their products. Is this true or not? CERE can provide us with a reality check.”
Dr. Derawi follows the efforts at CERE around inorganic scale and low dosage hydrate inhibitors with special interest.
“Presently we trust the conventional products, but it would be interesting for us if alternative inhibitors can be found which will be effective in much smaller volumes.”