Liquid hydrocarbon flow meters calibration with high flow and viscosity: Conceptual design of a new facility

Abstract

The oil and natural gas production market is heavily regulated with specifications that are almost always defined and valid for each producing country. In all the focus is to ensure accurate and complete results in volumes produced but with specificities of each location. In Brazil this regulation was created in the year 2000 (Joint Ordinance No. 001 between the National Petroleum Agency - ANP and the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology - INMETRO) and in the 2013 review it was specified that liquid hydrocarbon flow meters should be calibrated with fluid under the conditions closest to those found in the operation considering density, viscosity, flow, pressure and temperature. However, the type of oil produced in Brazilian fields typically has high viscosity and there is an additional aspect due to the use of FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) type production platforms: flow to tankers occurs at high flow rates. There are several restrictions in laboratories worldwide to meet these conditions (high viscosity with high flow) and so the purpose of this paper is to present a proposal that technically meets the conditions imposed by Brazilian regulations and that will serve as a reference for operations in other similar fields. The project considers the laboratory should be able to perform calibrations up to 3200 m^3/h, oil densities above 0.88, with flexibility for changing calibration fluid, pressure and temperature control and viscosities up to 700 cP. To this end, a broad evaluation was carried out with solution providers and a research group within the university to technical support