Oil production decreases and water production increases as time goes by in the life of a hydrocarbon reservoir. The mixture of oil and water is usually produced as an emulsion. Emulsion formation starts in the two-phase flow inside the reservoir. The emulsion structure changes as it flows through pipes, pumps and valves up to the surface facilities. During all stages, large drops of the dispersed phase break up leading to smaller drops. It is important to know the droplet size distribution of the dispersed phase in order to design separation units and predict the pressure drop along the flow. The aim of the this work is to study the droplets break-up process that takes place in capillaries and in a needle valve in order to make predictions of the size of the resulting droplets that emerge from this process. The main challenge is to understand how the different operating flow parameters affect the break up process. In order to achieve this goal, two laboratory scale experimental set-ups have been used. In the first experiment, we conducted a parametric analysis of oil-water emulsion formation in laminar flow through straight capillaries. The experiments were carried out using two syringe pumps connected by a double-hubbed capillary pipe. The oil-water emulsion is forced back and forth through the pipe. The mean diameter and the specific surface area of the dispersed phase were obtained as a function of flow rate, shear rate, residence time and rate of energy dissipation at the capillary wall. As expected, keeping all other variables fixed, the dispersed phase mean diameter decreases with the shearing time, reaching an asymptotic value, which was a strong function of the shear rate at the capillary wall. Secondly, we conducted a parametric analysis of turbulent oil-in-water emulsion flow through a needle valve. The experiments were carried out using a helicoidal pump to control the flow rate through the needle valve. The mean diameter and the specific surface area of the dispersed phase upstream and downstream of the valve were obtained as a function of the pressure drop in the valve, flow rate, and rate energy dissipation of the flow. The dispersed phase mean diameter falls and the specific surface area rises with the pressure drop in the valve until reaching an asymptotic value.