£200,000 invested in high capacity wet gas test facility
Flow measurement R&D specialist NEL has invested £200,000 into additional development of its Glasgow-based wet gas flow testing facility.
The upgrade forms part of NEL’s strategic direction to make it the facility of choice for both vendors and operators, supporting the development and verification of instruments for multiphase and wet gas flows.
According to a statement from NEL, the major investment in bespoke equipment at the Wet Gas Test facility will reduce maintenance time, improve flow rates and optimise control of test points, increasing service reliability and improving test completion times for NEL’s customers.
Responding to an increasing industry demand for testing wet gas flows with simultaneous oil and water loading, the facility is capable of dry gas flowrates exceeding 2,000 m3 per hour, in pressures of up to 63 bar, alongside simultaneous water and oil injection rates of 90m3 per hour.
“This upgrade is part of our continued commitment to help our customers meet growing pressure to remain competitive by minimising test times, while optimising uncertainty of measurement,” said Muir Porter, Group Manager at NEL.
“Using our facility, manufacturers can test meters more accurately and quickly, while operators are assured of independent validation and calibration before they embark on the costly process of installing flowmeters.”
NEL has also just launched a Joint Industry Project (JIP) inviting partners to work together to review and drive advancements in wet gas sampling and reduce uncertainties. The JIP will address challenges caused by the large volume of gas compared to the very small amounts of liquid present in wet gas flow.
In a statement, NEL claims the growth of subsea production and processing has necessitated the introduction of high capacity flowmeters. Along with the drive to reduce the cost of production through the use of shared facilities, this has generated an increased demand for more accurate wet gas metering. As a result, the wet gas facility has been designed to more accurately replicate such increased flowrates, in turn meeting both operator and equipment vendors’ demands for an independent facility development, verification and validation purposes.
NEL’s Flow Measurement Facilities are the primary flow measurement standard for the UK, under the UK’s National Measurement System (NMS). The national infrastructure of measurement laboratories, the NMS provides traceable and accurate standards of measurement for use in industry, academia and government.
