Company History
The history of Hydrafact dates back to 1986 when, prompted by increasing industry interest, research into gas hydrates first began at the Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University.
Initially, hydrate studies were undertaken by the well-known Reservoir Fluids Group. However, hydrate research activities grew steadily, and soon the Hydrates team became a recognised research group in their own right.
During the 1990s, the Hydrate Group successfully undertook a variety of Joint Industry (JIP) and Government sponsored research projects; the primary focus of these being avoiding hydrate problems in offshore oil and gas operations. Over the course of this period, the team firmly established itself within the industry and academic community as a leader in flow assurance research, with a reputation for quality experimental work and advanced theoretical studies. Sequential JIPs supported the generation of a vast in-house library of hydrate equilibrium data, and development of the commercial hydrate predictive software, HWHYD (Heriot-Watt Hydrate), which is currently used by a number of major hydrocarbon production and service companies in planning their flow assurance strategies.
In June 2000, the Hydrate Group was awarded a prestigious Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (now Scottish Funding Council) Research Development Grant (RDG) with the aim of creating a 'Centre of Excellence' in gas hydrate research and training. This led to the formation of the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research, which was formally established in February 2001. Funding allowed the employment of new staff, expansion of laboratories and construction of new equipment, greatly increasing the breadth and scope of gas hydrate and flow assurance research at Heriot-Watt.
In 2006, the Hydrate Group secured a major SRIF (Science Research Investment Fund) award to establish the Centre for Flow Assurance Research (C-FAR) at Heriot-Watt. This grant funded the construction of a new laboratory with a 1" diameter, (2.5 cm) 40 m length, 200 bar flow loop system for hydrate and other flow assurance studies.
In addition to large scale research projects, for over 20 years the Hydrate team at Heriot-Watt have been undertaking specific individual consultancy/technical flow assurance studies for hydrocarbon production and service companies. During this time, trends within the industry, including the move to deepwaters, increasing exploitation of marginal fields, and production from ageing reservoirs, have made hydrate control an ever more important economic and safety issue. In light of this, demand has been growing steadily for specialised hydrate studies, training for engineers, and advanced equipment for laboratory studies.
To meet the demand for such services, senior team members of the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research, with support from Heriot-Watt University, founded HYDRAFACT - Hydrate and Flow Assurance Consulting and Technologies - a Heriot-Watt Spin-out Company.
Hydrafact was officially launched on the 20th April 2006. It will take over the majority of the commercial activities of the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research and Reservoir Fluids Research Group, with the aim of providing high-quality and competitive technical services to the industry. Hydrafact is currently based at the Centre for Gas Hydrate Research, Heriot-Watt, and has full access to the Centre's staff and equipment resources in addition to its own.
