Metering & Measurement
What's New: April 2015
What's new from Rotork, Ajax TOCCO, Crest Industrial, Transducers Direct, Tulsa Rig Iron and more.
Developing Crack Size Detection Criteria for Unpiggable Gas Pipelines
NYSEARCH/Northeast Gas Association (NGA) and development partner Invodane Engineering have introduced the Explorer series of robotic internal inspection platforms and sensors which can perform integrity assessments on natural gas pipelines now incapable of using conventional inline inspection (ILI) technology. The commercial partner on the project is Pipetel Technologies Inc.
Tackling Valve Misalignment Problems
Valve misalignments are a real issue in the petrochemical industry where misalignments in tank fields and blending areas can result in financial losses from product quality and environmental safety issues. This article describes an electronic pin board software solution developed by Matrix Technologies, Inc., a certified member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), to mitigate valve misalignments and improve efficiency in the alignment process. It also details some of the underlying technologies used in the software and the gains that have resulted from its use.
NTSB Study Seeks Changes to Gas Transmission Integrity Programs
A new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) study calls for major changes to integrity management (IM) programs of gas transmission pipelines in high-consequence areas (HCAs).
New Concept Based On Big Data To Pipeline Risk Management
In the last several decades, there has been a rapid rise in the use of pipeline risk assessment for managing pipeline safety. It has become an important part of pipeline integrity management, but risk assessment is not an absolute science.
Achieving Vital Security With Cloud Services
Are your company’s business systems connected in any way to the industrial control systems (ICS), including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), which are used to manage the company’s critical infrastructure? If they are, and the best guess is they are, then the ICS/SCADA could be vulnerable to cyberattacks in addition to the business side of the networks.
Analyzing The Analyzer Metrology In Natural Gas Pipelines
Upstream, you have producers and gas processors that deliver natural gas to fill the growing demand for the clean-burning fuel. Downstream, you have hundreds of miles of pipeline infrastructure to deliver the gas to market.
Navigating The Petroleum Measurement Perfect Storm
A “boom paradox” is creating the perfect storm in liquids hydrocarbons measurement. Baby boomers hired during an earlier peak in the industry are retiring. Exiting with them is vast knowledge in areas such as measurement. Thanks mainly to shale plays, the industry is booming and new players are entering the market. Simultaneously, the industry is in the process of implementing significantly updated measurement standards. Can measurement operations ride out the storm?
New, Technologically Advanced UT Flowmeter
FMC Technologies Measurement Solutions has released what it describes as its latest, most advanced technological tool in fluid measurement, the Smith Meter® Ultra 8c liquid ultrasonic flowmeter.
John Lansing Takes The Pulse Of Natural Gas
Real experts in the tricky field of natural gas measurement don’t come along every day. Those who do emerge find that their names and reputations precede them, be it in the operational, commercial or research side of the business. And that is where we find John Lansing today.
Effect Of Shale Plays On U.S. Natural Gas Composition
The unexpected and stunning success of the shale plays in the United States over the past decade has dramatically changed the nation’s energy picture for years, if not decades, to come.
Wet Gas Testing Using Custom Liquids, Magnetically Driven Centrifugal Pumps
Wet gas meter calibrations are usually done using natural gas, kerosene and water. Increasingly, gas producers are questioning a meter’s ability to measure wet gas entrained with the unique liquids found on platforms and wellheads (viscous hydrocarbons, paraffin based/high-wax liquids, sea water, brine solutions, MEG and other custom liquids).
Human-Machine Interfaces Can Benefit Oil & Gas Industry
Standard practices today simply use human machine interfaces (HMI) as windows into a system by allowing some information to be passed back and forth through those windows. This method anticipates the user having the knowledge to use that information both in and out of the system, such as coming up with solutions to problems or passing the information along to the correct individuals.
Overcoming Data Deluge With Operations Management
Our increasingly digital world – with all of the texting, emailing, tweeting, posting, downloading and streaming that’s become commonplace – is creating huge amounts of data, more than than ever before. Pipeline operators are faced with a similar phenomenon when it comes to information overload. Intelligent devices for safety, fire and gas, instrumentation, intelligent motor control and condition-based monitoring offer many individual types of information, each with related alarms.
Itron Installs Canadas Largest Meter Automation Project
Itron Inc. has completed installation of its automated gas-metering solution for ATCO Gas, a natural gas service provider to more than a million customers in Alberta, making this the largest such project in Canada. Itron’s gas-metering solution include 1.1 million gas communication modules, mobile and handheld collectors and associated software.
Emerson Expands Line On Micro Motion Coriolis Flowmeters
Emerson Process Management has added the Micro Motion ELITE CMFS sensor platform to its line of Coriolis flowmeters to deliver precise measurement to smaller pipeline sizes of less than 2 inches or DN50.
New Technology For Gas Flow And Composition
Quantitech has launched an in-pipe gas flow monitoring technology that can also measure gas composition or purity. Unlike other methods, this measurement is not affected by the gas composition, temperature, density, viscosity or pressure, and there is no obstruction at the measurement point.
Senate to Consider Pipeline Permitting Reform, Too
The Senate may consider some form of pipeline permitting reform but the bill may not look like the one the House was expected to pass. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released a broad statement on natural gas issues July 25.
Determining Recalibration Intervals For Ultrasonic Meters At CEESI
Calibration is based on the comparison of a measuring instrument and a standard. Calibration may include adjustment of the instrument to match the standard. Every measuring instrument requires calibration prior to use because a manufacturer cannot produce an instrument that measures a parameter, with reasonable uncertainty, without direct calibration.
New Technology For Gas Flow, Composition
Quantitech has launched an in-pipe, gas-flow monitoring technology that also offers the ability to measure gas composition or purity.
An Overview Of Recent Gas Measurement Research
In 2004, the Gas Research Institute (GRI) natural gas measurement research program funding mechanism based on transmission pipeline throughput expired. That program provided substantial support, on the order of $40 million over 20 years, for advancing transmission measurement practice. However, the end of this funding mechanism did not spell the end of the industry’s investment progress in gas measurement research.
The Many Phases Of Multiphase Flow Meters
The history of oil well drilling goes back to 1859 to a farm in northwestern Pennsylvania. The farm was located in Titusville, near Erie. Edwin Drake and George Bissell cooperated to drill the world’s first oil well. While Drake is usually the one credited with drilling the first well, he did not have a good head for business and spent much of his life in poverty. Bissell, by contrast, became quite wealthy and outlived Drake by four years.
Condition-Based Monitoring A Fully Automated Station Solution
This article describes a system that not only monitors all ultrasonic meter (USM) diagnostics from most common brands, but also monitors data from the flow computer, and by using separate pressure and temperature (P&T) transmitters, computes flow for comparison to the customer’s fiscal flow computer. In addition, the system monitors the gas chromatograph (GC) diagnostics to ensure proper operation and validation of the gas quality data used in the flow calculations.
New Multiphase Flow Lab To Enhance Oil, Gas Quality Assurance
International energy consulting and testing & certification company DNV KEMA earlier this year officially opened a new Multiphase Flow Laboratory (MPFL) in Groningen, the Netherlands.
The Portable Clamp-On Ultrasonic Meter: A Tool For Gas Pipeline Operators
The increasing rate of natural gas users and higher gas prices in Colombia has created the need of considering better, more accurate measurement alternatives to reduce the uncertainty of calculated volumes in customer natural gas stations where a fiscal custody transfer system is not available.
Achieving Better Liquid Measurement Accuracy
Custody transfer measurement in the oil and gas business has been described many ways. It has been called, “An accuracy in measurement that both the buyers and sellers can agree upon” and “The best that can be achieved to meet the contract conditions.” But I prefer to call it, “The search for the truth.”
New Ideas In DP Flow Measurement Using Cone Meter Technology
Flow measurement technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate. New engineering methods in the art of flow measurement are forcing a change for the better. Newer technologies often bring advances to the operational processes within many industries which can improve management and production. This article details the design and operation of a new genre of differential pressure (DP) cone meter.
Training A Measurement Technician
The need for good quality measurement has increased dramatically in recent years. Deregulation of market pricing structures, open access markets, increased exploration and drilling costs, fierce competition and new regulatory requirements have all influenced today’s approach to quality measurement methodologies. In fact, the terminology has evolved from “gas volume measurement” to “total energy measurement.” Today, not only is the volume of gas a consideration, but also the quantity of energy the gas produces. The gas industry has evolved from the MMcf to the MMBtu.
Measurement Data Synchronization: Achieving One Version Of The Truth
This article offers a look at streamlining operations between the field and the office by automatically synchronizing measurement data.
Oil and Gas Measurement Still Dominate the Energy Markets
The world’s energy picture is a complex mixture of factors. For years, oil has been the dominant source of energy in many countries. But in the past ten years, it has become clear that the world’s supply of oil is not unlimited, and that over time alternative sources of energy must be found.
- Trump Aims to Revive 1,200-Mile Keystone XL Pipeline Despite Major Challenges
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- ConocoPhillips Eyes Sale of $1 Billion Permian Assets Amid Marathon Acquisition
- ONEOK Agrees to Sell Interstate Gas Pipelines to DT Midstream for $1.2 Billion
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- U.S. LNG Export Growth Faces Uncertainty as Trump’s Tariff Proposal Looms, Analysts Say
- Tullow Oil on Track to Deliver $600 Million Free Cash Flow Over Next 2 Years
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- GOP Lawmakers Slam New York for Blocking $500 Million Pipeline Project
- Texas Oil Company Challenges $250 Million Insurance Collateral Demand for Pipeline, Offshore Operations
