DNV GL has initiated a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to facilitate the use of ultrasonic flowmeter technology for wet gas sales allocation. Seven industry partners have committed to the JIP so far.
Accurate measurement of the output of wet gas fields is an important means of reducing the financial risks that Exploration & Production (E&P) companies face in sales gas allocation. Ultrasonic flowmeter technology is proven for dry gas metering, and E&P companies now hope to apply it to wet gas.
“Ultrasonic flowmeters are an alternative to accepted technologies and can be used both in-line and clamp-on,” says Dennis van Putten, multiphase flow metering specialist, DNV GL Oil & Gas. “The technology has been used successfully for dry gas metering over the last decades, and the first results under wet gas conditions are promising. However, there is no systematic approach to its use for wet gas. Biases will occur under wet gas circumstances and therefore an accepted correction algorithm is required. This correction algorithm is seen as an important step towards qualifying ultrasonic flowmeters for wet gas metering. The JIP will therefore provide testing guidelines and correction algorithms as a foundation for using ultrasonic flowmeters for wet gas.”
To achieve this correction algorithm, a test program will be performed under conditions close to real field situations (natural gas/water/oil mixtures).
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Currently, multiphase flowmeters and wet gas flowmeters are used for both topside and subsea measurements to help operators improve reservoir modelling and management, optimize production, and manage flow assurance.
The output of wet gas flowmeters is also used to determine sales allocation between E&P companies and the royalties payable to the host government.
These conditions can be created in DNV GL’s Multiphase Flow Facility in the Netherlands.
“We designed and constructed this new facility for these types of tests in 2013, and its value has already been recognized by the industry,” says van Putten.
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