Asphaltene management

Asphaltenes deposition remains the most challenging flow assurance issue in oil production processes. Asphaltene-related problems such as formation damage, deposition in pipelines, stabilization of water-in-oil emulsions, and catalyst deactivation are the results of asphaltene structure, crude oil composition and operating conditions. In this chapter, we discuss the chemistry of asphaltenes and advancements related to the structure and mechanism of asphaltene aggregation, laboratory testing and modeling efforts to predict and select chemicals for field implementation and case studies of technologies applied to prevent or remediate asphaltene deposition issues in oil fields around the world.