Arora_subbed.qxp 27/3/09 04:37 Page 86
Production Well Testing Using Non-radioactive Multiphase Flow Meters
echnology
ell T
a report by
Rishi Arora
CEO, Futuristic PetroSYS PVT Ltd
Drilling & W
With the global volatility in oil and gas prices, technological • flow-rate/flow-velocity measurement building blocks: Venturi/
advances are creating a tug of war as innovators, manufacturers and V-Cone/Orifice meters, cross-correlation;
suppliers try to gain access to potential customers in the fast- • composition measurement building blocks: capacitance,
changing business environment of the exploration and production conductance, microwave, dual Venturi; and
(E&P) sector. Also, the world of business is shifting from a seller’s to • calculation logic building blocks: single algorithm, library of
a buyer’s market. In this scenario there is a need for a technological algorithms, single empirical formula, neural nets (artificial
strategy to deal with the demand side. The main aim of this article is intelligence), pattern recognition.
to inform the oil and gas industry about non-radioactive multiphase
flow meter (MPFM) technology and to discuss its pros and cons. These building blocks, in their various combinations, define non-
radioactive MPFMs.
Multiphase Flow
In general, a mixture of different phases is referred to as a Multiphase Flow Meters versus Test Separators
multiphase flow. Unlike single-phase flows, multiphase flows are The concept of multiphase flow metering was originally developed
complex phenomena and cannot be predicted or modelled. As a for the offshore oil and gas Industry to replace the conventional
resullt, characteristics such as velocity profile, turbulence and test separators used for well testing purposes. Conventional test
boundary layers cannot be used to describe such flows. Instead, separators are heavy; require lot of space; are expensive to fabricate,
multiphase flow structures are classified in terms of flow regimes, operate and maintain; need long stabilisation times (generally a few
which are functions of varied parameters such as transients, hours) prior to well testing; cause delays in well testing, resulting in
geometry/terrain and hydrodynamics. The distribution of phases in abandonment of production, hence causing delays in generating
space and time differs for each flow regime. revenue; and are not at all ideal for fast decision-making. In contrast,
MPFMs (see Figure 1) are much lighter than conventional test
The different types of flow regime can be grouped into dispersed separators; are cheaper; and need little or no stabilisation time prior
flow (bubble flow and mist flow), separated flow (stratified and to well testing, resulting in faster well test frequency without
annular flow) and intermittent flow (churn and slug flow). The whole delaying production, thus allowing the generation of large revenues.
science of multiphase flow metering is now based on these types of
flow regime. Since these flow regimes are dynamic in nature and not Non-radioactive MPFMs provide substantial additional benefits, such
under the control of an engineer or an operator, it is challenging to as realtime measurement of oil, gas and water flow rates, gas
adopt, adapt and improve multiphase flow metering. volume fraction (GVF), water cut, gas–oil ratio (GOR), gas–liquid
ratio (GLR), and so on. The biggest advantage of non-radioactive
Types of Non-radioactive Multiphase Flow Meter MPFMs is that they do not use any radioactive sensors, making them
Owing to the challenges associated with metering of multiphase ideal for well surveillance, mobile and fixed production well testing,
flow, to date only a few brands (two or three fully commercialised) satellite station well testing, production optimisation, flow
of non-radioactive MPFM are available. Each brand has its unique assurance, production allocation and bulk metering.
selling point, which is nothing but the utilisation of different
permutations and combinations of technological building blocks, as Application of Non-radioactive Multiphase Flow Meters
described below:
Well Surveillance or Well Monitoring
• flow-conditioning building blocks: in-line separators, mixers, no Non-radioactive MPFMs are able to provide continuous well test data
conditioning (in-line full bore models); in realtime with a less than one-second delay. Therefore, the
uncertainty related to well data can be significantly reduced and
conditions of well instability (for instance gas lift wells) over time can
Rishi Arora is CEO of Futuristic PetroSYS Pvt Ltd. He
has 12 years of experience in multiphase flow meter
be noticed immediately, thus allowing important decisions related to
(MPFM) technology and has been part of various
well work to be be made faster and more accurately.
MPFM projects worldwide. Futuristic PetroSYS Pvt Ltd
is the authorised and exclusive Indian representative
of Petroleum Software Limited (UK), the Production Well Testing
manufacturers of the ESMER brand of non-radioactive
Conventional test separators generate data from a single well test over
multiphase flow metering systems.
a period of a few hours, whereas MPFMs can generate the same data
E: rishi@futuristic-petrosys.com
within less than a second, allowing faster well tests. By increasing the
frequency of well tests, production engineers are able to achieve
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© TOUCH BRIEFINGS 2009
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