American Petroleum Institute

State of the Art Multiphase Flow Metering - First Edition
 N PUBL 2566

Annotation

This report documents information available in open literature, and from vendors, on the state of the art of multiphase metering systems. The term "multiphase metering" in its broadest interpretation can be used to refer to both wet gas metering, as well as, the measurement of oil, water, and gas portions of commingled streams, which is commonly referred to as "multiphase metering". Whether one is conducting a "wet gas" or "multiphase" measurement typically depends on which fluid (oil or gas) is the primary \ production, as well as, the type of equipment used. This report documents both wet gas and multiphase metering systems. There are many more multiphase metering installations than wet gas metering installations. Also, the amount of literature and practical field tests available for multiphase meters is much more extensive than for wet gas metering. This imbalance in available information and literature is reflected in the coverage of the two subjects in this report.

The information in this report is intended to guide the American Petroleum Institute - Committee on Petroleum Measurement, and other API Task Groups, in the development of "Recommended Practices" or "Standards" applied to the multiphase measurements of fluid streams in Upstream Production Operations. The format of this white paper follows substantially the format specified by the Multiphase Metering Standards Task Group in the scope of work for this project.

There are currently over 1000 installations worldwide (IV-30)(Footnote *) that utilize the new multiphase measurement technology to conduct production measurements in oil and gas producing fields. The pace of these installations has accelerated significantly over the past 5 years (IV-30). During this period a large amount of data related to the performance of multiphase and wet gas metering devices have been published as listed in Appendix 2.