Subsea Flow Assurance Engineer

Position Overview

The Subsea Flow Assurance Engineer ensures that hydrocarbons can flow safely and efficiently from the reservoir to the host facility through subsea systems. This specialist role addresses hydrate formation, wax deposition, scale, asphaltene, sand transport, slugging, and thermal management — all of which can stop production. As tieback distances increase and subsea processing becomes more prevalent, flow assurance expertise has become one of the most critical and scarce skills in subsea.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform steady-state and transient multiphase flow simulations for subsea production systems (OLGA, LedaFlow, PIPESIM).
• Assess and mitigate flow assurance risks including hydrates, wax, asphaltenes, scale, sand, and slugging.
• Develop thermal management strategies for subsea flowlines (insulation, electrical heating, bundling, PIP).
• Design and optimise subsea chemical injection systems for production chemistry management.
• Perform startup, shutdown, and restart simulations to define operational envelopes and procedures.
• Evaluate subsea processing technologies (boosting, separation, multiphase pumping) from a flow assurance perspective.
• Develop hydrate management strategies, including kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI) and thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor (THI) dosing.
• Perform slug catcher sizing and slugging mitigation analysis for host facility design.
• Support subsea system design decisions (pipe sizing, insulation type, routing) based on flow assurance analysis.
• Provide operational flow assurance support, including production optimisation and troubleshooting of flow-related issues.

Qualifications

Required

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Chemical, Petroleum, or Mechanical Engineering (Master's or PhD in Flow Assurance preferred).
• Certifications: BOSIET/FOET with CA-EBS (if offshore visits required); Offshore Medical.
• Experience: 8–15 years in flow assurance engineering with subsea-specific project experience.
• Technical Skills: Advanced proficiency in OLGA, LedaFlow, PIPESIM, HYSYS; deep understanding of multiphase flow, thermodynamics, and production chemistry; knowledge of subsea thermal management systems.

Preferred

• Experience with long-distance subsea tiebacks (>50 km) and associated flow assurance challenges.
• Familiarity with subsea processing and multiphase boosting from a flow assurance perspective.
• Published research or conference papers on flow assurance topics.
• Experience with CCS flow assurance (dense-phase CO₂ transport).