L The Future of Virtual Flow Metering

Case Study
Establishing Virtual M etering to Support Hydrocarbon Production

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To drive the development of Virtual Metering
Systems (VMS), NEL has used its traceable flow
facilities to develop a VMS network. This was
done to investigate the relationship between
different measurements over a wide range of
flow conditions. This on-going project will
increase confidence in the use of VMS, a
technology that could play a major role in
supporting flow measurement in the future.

ISSUE
Measuring water, gas, and oil when the flow regime
is changing can be extremely challenging. The
multiphase flow meters that are often used for this
type of application are expensive, especially for
subsea installations.
The benefits of using virtual metering to support the
measurement of hydrocarbon production are well
understood. Virtual metering systems (VMSs) can
help drive down measurement uncertainty by
providing additional data to cross reference primary
meters. They can also provide back-up and
redundancy in the event of flow meter failure.
Uncertainties of 5-10 % have been reported for
VMSs. This is a significant improvement on
multiphase flow meters, which are known to have
high measurement uncertainty when installed in the
field (reportedly around 10-20%).
Despite this, to date, there has been limited
validation of the virtual metering systems that are
currently on the market.
This has led to a lack of confidence in their use for oil
and gas applications.
SOLUTIONS
NEL used its traceable flow facilities to develop a
VMS network based on secondary measurements to
investigate the relationship between different
measurements over a wide range of flow conditions.
Multiple dynamic statistical models were established
and VMS models based on new and historical data.
BENEFITS
The project is being developed to assess the
performance and traceability of virtual metering
systems. It will establish condition-based virtual
metering models for estimating flow rates in real
time.
Amongst other things, the models will encompass
pressure, temperature, density, liquid levels,
inlet/outlet pressure drops, valve positions, pumps,
sensors, fluid compositions and flow regimes.

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