Study on Methane Hydrate Detection in Gas Containing Oil Pipelines by Electrical Resistivity Test

Oil and gas pipelines operate under low temperature and high pressure, hydrate is easy to form and then block the pipelines, which poses a great threat to the safety of oil and gas storage and transportation. Our laboratory built a test system for hydrate formation in the loop, and tested the resistivity changes of hydrate formation in four sets of 85% methane and 15% propane systems and two sets of pure methane systems. The time of resistance sudden change to relative stability is estimated, and the average value of 100s before and after the resistance sudden drop is compared. The experimental data show that the formation of hydrate will lead to a sudden drop in resistance, and with the continuous formation of hydrate, the resistance will have a certain trend of rise. And that is an early warning signal of hydrate formation.