At the time of writing this blog post, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices current stand at over $93 per barrel and rapidly closing in on $100 per barrel. For oil and gas producers, accurate and robust multiphase measurements are critical for managing production with rapidly changing flow conditions.
In a quick 2:43 YouTube video, Supporting Automation in Dynamic Multiphase Flow Measurement, Emerson’s Kelda Dinsdale shares how the measurement and use of measured data are extremely rapid with calculations made and supplied 10 times per second. This rapid processing enables short-lived slugs in the flowing production to be more accurately captured.
Kelda opens describing how traditional multiphase flow metering was designed for conventional oil & gas reservoirs with more stable flow conditions. With the shift to more complex reservoirs, the flow profile has become more varied. Unconventional shale formations often see ever increasing gas fractions, varied assisted production methods that affect the flow profile in different ways, and rapidly changing unstable flow profiles throughout the well’s lifetime.
To address these demanding conditions with robust and reliable multiphase flow measurement, the Roxar 2600 multiphase flow meter incorporates innovative rapid adaptive measurement. For oil & gas producers this means that all the measurements—venturi, pressure, temperature, density, impedance—are highly adaptive with multiple calculation modules performing parallel computations. An output is selected from the most suitable module based on self-diagnosed measurement confidence for each individual module to adapt to changes in flow automatically.
This algorithm also enables self-verification and reduces the need for manual intervention as flow conditions change. This technology is an important building block to support automation and digitalization in multiphase flow measurement.
Watch the video and visit the Multiphase Meters section on Emerson.com for more on these and other technologies and solutions to optimize your oil & gas production operations.
