Title: Flow Assurance in Onshore Hydrocarbon Production: A Review of Challenges and Modern Mitigation Strategies
Authors: Oluwaseun Taiwo. Evans Ughulu . Okon Samuel
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-9
Publication Date: 2026/01/28
Abstract:
Flow assurance has emerged as a critical discipline in hydrocarbon production, ensuring the safe and uninterrupted transport of fluids from reservoirs to processing facilities. While historically emphasized in offshore operations, onshore petroleum systems face equally significant flow assurance challenges due to climatic diversity, aging infrastructure, and increasingly complex production conditions. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the major flow assurance issues in onshore hydrocarbon production, including wax deposition, asphaltene precipitation, hydrate formation, mineral scale, emulsions, and corrosion. Conventional mitigation strategies such as thermal management, pigging, solvent treatments, and chemical inhibitors are discussed alongside recent advances in environmentally friendly inhibitors, nanotechnology, and digital predictive tools powered by artificial intelligence. Particular emphasis is placed on mature and marginal fields, where high water cuts exacerbate flow assurance risks and demand cost-effective solutions. The review highlights current knowledge gaps and outlines research directions toward integrated, sustainable, and digitally enabled flow assurance practices. Ultimately, ensuring effective flow assurance in onshore operations is not only essential for operational continuity and safety but for extending field life and optimizing production economics.