Field Testing an Accurate, Non-Nuclear, Inline Wet Gas Multiphase Meter

Abstract

In today's oil and gas industry, the importance of accurate measurement of wet gas flows has become paramount due to the recent growth in production costs and continuous fluctuation in crude oil prices. Typical wet gas applications have Gas Volume Fraction (GVF) ranging from 95 to 100 percent and hence the accurate measurement of the phase fractions, especially the water fraction at such low liquid flowrate is a serious challenge. Standard multiphase flow meters were found to be inadequate to operate in such conditions. Hence significant effort is taken by several manufacturers into research and development of ‘wet gas’ flow meters which can accurately measure the three-phase flowrates. Taking on the challenge, an inline non-nuclear wet gas metering system was field tested in Argentina to measure the three-phase flow rates under existing field operating conditions and the results were compared to an existing conventional test separator readings to find out if it can serve as a reliable replacement to the expensive test separator.