Experimental law of well scaling in the production process of deepwater gas well

Offshore gas wells are characterized by large depth, complex scale removing operation and high operation cost, so it is imperative to predict and control the scaling in the wells of deepwater gas wells. In this paper, laboratory experiment and theoretical calculation were combined to evaluate the scaling risks in the wells during the production of four typical deepwater gas wells in the South China Sea Gasfield, predict scaling velocities and scaling positions in the wells of gas wells in the process of production and analyze the scaling characteristics and laws. It is indicated that the scaling type of gas well is controlled by the compositions of formation water and the scaling velocity in the production process of gas well is mainly dependent on the deposition velocity of stable scale after the surface deposition period. The scaling difference at different well depths in the production process of deepwater gas well is mainly dominated by the temperature distribution along the well, and the scale control shall focus on the middle and lower parts of the well and the conditions of high gas production rate and high water/gas ratio. Compared with onshore gas wells, deepwater gas wells are affected more by the scaling in wells, so to keep the efficient and safe production of deepwater gas wells, it is quite important to take the scale control measures in time to prevent the formation of scale and control the scale deposition in the allowable range.