Emerson Exchange 365

How can Sand Monitoring contribute to increased production and at the same time improve safety and integrity?

Sand associated with oil and gas is a challenge - for reservoir performance, for process equipment performance and pipe integrity. Conservative production limits are often implemented to avoid risk of sand production.

With proper sand monitoring, production can be increased to the optimized operating window between production rates and sand production/erosion. Strategies for sand monitoring often include a combination of technologies like non-intrusive sand detectors for immediate sand detection, in-line multiple element probes for best detection of sand particles combined with rapid erosion data as well as ultrasonic wall thickness measurements for integrity verification. Efficient data management and alarm settings, e.g. through Roxar Fieldwatch is an important part of the total system. It has been documented increased profit through production tuning to less conservative levels worth hundreds of million dollars per year for offshore production sites.

The image below show erosion versus time, and how an unexpected sand burst was rapidly detected, handled through reducing production rates and actions verified within a 4 hour period using in-line, multiple sand/erosion probes. Sand was detected within minutes and nanometers of metal loss, and total metal loss in period was 6 micrometers. Early detection of sand burst probably saved the well. For other wells, production was increased significantly compared to original plan.

 

• Roxar FieldWatch

Kjell Wold

• 29 Sep 2017 2:37 PM
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2 Replies

• suhas.karekar

  

  • 1 Oct 2017 4:10 AM

  Dear Mr. Wold,
  
  Please inform can we install this Sand monitoring system on vessel or on pipeline.
  
  We are looking for non-intrusive type detector/alarm for sand collection vessel (small capacity).
  
  Regards
  
  Suhas Karekar.

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• Kjell Wold

  

  • 2 Oct 2017 3:16 PM

  In reply to suhas.karekar:

  Dear sir,
  
  The most common location for installing sand monitors are on production flowlines - often after the choke, where the velocities are higher.
  
  The purpose of our monitoring solutions is to detect sand production, and to monitor the erosive effect of sand - short term and long term.
  
  If non-intrusive is a requirement, our acoustic sand monitors (Roxar SAM) are installed on the downstream side of bends, "listening" to sand particles hitting the pipe wall. SAM is good for immediate detection of sand. Quantification of sand is possible via calibration against know amounts of sand.
  
  For non-intrusive assessment of erosion metal loss over time, Permasense UT solutions is a good option. Also, if intrusive sensors are accepted, Roxar's SandLog/multilple element probes provides probably the best combination of sand detection and fast erosion measurements.

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