Rb. Leggett et al., MULTIPHASE FLOWMETER SUCCESSFULLY MEASURES 3-PHASE FLOW AT EXTREMELY HIGH GAS-VOLUME FRACTIONS - GULF OF SUEZ, EGYPT, SPE production & facilities, 13(1), 1998, pp. 41-45
A multiphase flowmeter (MPFM) installed in offshore Egypt has accurate
ly measured three-phase flow in extremely gassy flow conditions. The m
eter is completely nonintrusive, with no moving parts, requires no flo
w mixing before measurement, and has no bypass loop to remove gas befo
re multiphase measurement. Flow regimes observed during the field test
of this meter ranged from severe slugging to annular flow caused by t
he dynamics of gas-lift gas in the production stream. Average gas-volu
me fraction ranged from 93 to 98% during tests conducted on seven well
s. The meter was installed in the Gulf of Suez on a well protector pla
tform in the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Co. (Gupco) October field, and was
placed in series with a test separator located on a nearby production
platform. Wells were individually tested with flow conditions ranging
from 1,300 to 4,700 B/D fluid, 2.4 to 3.9 MMscf/D of gas), and water
cuts from 1 to 52%. The meter is capable of measuring water cuts up to
100%. Production was routed through both the MPFM and the test separa
tor simultaneously as wells flowed with the assistance of gas-lift gas
. The MPFM measured gas and liquid rates to within +/- 10% of test-sep
arator reference measurement flow rates, and accomplished this at gas-
volume fractions from 93 to 96%. At higher gas-volume fractions up to
98%, accuracy deteriorated but the meter continued to provide repeatab
le results.