Offshore gas operators ‘must team up to defeat salt deposits’

A new report says these deposits can cause production losses of up to 20%

Gas operators in the Southern North Sea (SNS) must work together to reduce production losses caused by salt building up on equipment.

That’s according to the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), which says this is caused when sea spray deposits salt within the wellbore or the process plant of offshore structures.

The organisation says this causes restrictions in flow and in extreme cases can result in blockages.

It suggests at least a fifth of all producing fields in the SNS are likely to be affected by salt deposition, with production efficiency in the region estimated at 64%, the lowest of the UKCS areas.

The report claims a fifth of these losses are attributable to salting.

Eric Marston, Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea Area Manager at the OGA, said: “The SNS Salting Study is a great example of how the OGA is able to draw deep insights from our interactions with operators.

“In turn, we are able to use these insights to provide guidance on the collaborative measures that might be taken by industry to improve performance.”

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