Using an Adjustable Cone Meter to Measure Wet Gas

Abstract

Abstract When the gas flow rate of a well significantly changes, the flow rate can fall below that of the operating range of a traditional fixed size Venturi meter, necessitating the replacement of the original meter with one of a smaller size. However, with an adjustable cone meter, the internal reconfiguration feature allows it to automatically switch from high operating flow range to low operating flow range and there is no requirement to disassemble the meter from the flow line assembly. Adjustable cone meters were designed, developed and tested at the wet-gas flow loop at National Engineering Laboratory in East Kilbride, Scotland. After calibrating the meter with dry nitrogen gas, the meter was tested with increasing amounts of liquid being injected into the flowline, upstream of the meter. The liquid caused the differential pressure measurement on the meter to over-read. Based on the differential pressure measurements under varying flow conditions, algorithms were developed to measure the dry gas and liquid fraction. The data obtained from the tests such as differential pressure, pressure, temperature, liquid density were used to build an over-reading model of the meter and a liquid fraction estimation model based on pressure loss ratio derived from an additional differential pressure measurement. The model was used to not only to quantify the gas and liquid flow rates but also the estimated error in each measurement. The measurements show that the Adjustable Cone meter is able to provide low uncertainty in both dry and wet gas conditions and offers a turndown ratio of up to 54:1 in dry gas conditions. In addition, the automatic adjustment of the meter from high flow to low flow positions avoids the need for manual intervention that involves additional risk and cost.