A consistent challenge in upstream oil and gas is accurate allocation measurement. Often times, meters are over-reporting the oil rate due to either contamination from water or from gas carry-under in the separator or flashing in the meter itself. Use of a more accurate meter alone doesn't solve this challenge. Working with customers who are already Coriolis users, we analyze the density measurement and drive gain diagnostics to first identify when these upsets occur. Coriolis density measurements can indicate when the oil is contaminated with either water or gas, indicating, for example, poorly operating level control or heater. Coriolis drive gain is a diagnostic that can indicate very quickly when two phases are present in the meter, ie liquid and gas. This diagnostic can be a powerful indicator to incorrectly sized valves that draw gas into the oil line during a dump cycle or pressure drop through the meter that results in flashing.
In all cases, the best solution to this challenge is to address the root cause in the process -- if the valves are too large, change it out for a smaller size. If a heater has failed, replace the heater. However, in many cases, the process cannot be addressed without a significant CAPEX investment. In this case, algorithms are available in the Micro Motion Coriolis meters to utilize diagnostics to identify contamination and report a remediated oil total and rate. This has helped some operators identify erroneous over-measurements of oil by over 20%! Micro Motion Advanced Phase Measurement has seen tremendous uptake in the upstream oil allocation off three phase separators.
If interested in learning more, drop me a note and I can direct you to resources on the Emerson website and Youtube!
Cheers-
Laura
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