NEL Oil, Gas & Chemicals

Gregor BrownBusiness Manager

Oil, Gas and Chemicals

• Background to NEL• Overview of capabilities

and services to industry in oil, gas & chemicals

• Examples of some specific activities

Introduction

• National Engineering Laboratory• Established as a government

agency 1950 to provide an independent and confidential service to UK industry and government

• Privatised in 1995• 150 staff with head quarters and

laboratories in East Kilbride, Glasgow

• Wholly owned by TÜV Süddeutschland

TUV NEL Ltd

• Oil, Gas & Chemicals• Government/Management

Consulting• Automotive, Aerospace &

Defence• Power Generation• Environmental Monitoring

Market Sectors/Business Divisions

• Mechanical and chemical engineering

• Fluid dynamics• Flow measurement• Fluid properties• Thermal engineering• Separation processes• Software & Instrumentation

Production technology services

• Facilities– Flow facilities for oil, water, gas and multiphase

flow (National Flow Measurement Standards)– Erosion rig (air/water/sand)– Heat transfer test rigs– Chemical compatibility test facility

• Software database and computational tools– Fluid properties, fluid dynamics, stress analysis

• People– A good mix of expertise and practical experience

Capabilities

Services Overview

Oil, Gas & Chemicals

Test & Evaluation Tech Transfer Consultancy

Oil flow

Chemical compatibility

Multiphase flow

Gas flow

Software

Water flow

Others

Seminars/workshops

Training courses

Clubs

Development Projects

Oil and gas metering

Produced water

Erosion, valves

Uncertainty analysis

Multiphase metering

Others

Physical properties

Custom software

• Technology transfer activities• Software products• Development Projects/Consultancy

– Heat Transfer and Flow Service– Orifice metering system headers JIP– HRL South Morcambe terminal metering upgrade

• Multiphase flow metering• HSE erosion investigation

Examples of activities

• Conferences and seminars• Training courses• Tech transfer clubs

– Oil-in-Water Club– Produced Water Club– Flare Gas Club

Technology transfer clubs

• PPDS product suite– Quality assured fluid properties

database and calculation tool

• Data Validation– Process data validation– Meter data reconciliation

• Custom Software– Client web pages and intranet

applications– Information management

incorporating flow and

thermodynamics knowledge

Software services

• Heat Transfer & Flow Service

• Software owned by Aspentech

• R & D supported by NEL

• e.g. HTFS ACOL crossflow heat exchanger program developed at NEL

• Widely used around the world for exchangers like these

HTFS

• Hi-water I & II JIPs• Multiflow I & II JIPs

– Evaluation of the performance of multiphase flowmeters

• UKOOA oil-in-water guidelines• Oil-in-water analysis JIP• Ultraflow Wet-gas JIP• NEL Wet Gas JIP• Ultrasonic Meters for Oil JIP• Fatigue Life of Fibre Ropes• Industrial Water Use

Joint industry projects

• Headers Joint Industry Project– Investigation into the effect of headers on orifice metering systems– Lab and computational analysis– Basis for revision of standards and work on specific installations

• South Morecambe Terminal– 50million Sm3/d of natural gas– AGA3 “any other configuration” which requires 145D or flow conditioner– ISO 5167 requires a flow conditioner– Other maintenance issues

Headers JIP and consultancy

South Morecambe

South Morco

• Computational analysis confirmed the following problems:

– Swirl (up to 7°)– Velocity distorted > 5%– Errors > 0.23%– One case = 0.75%

South Morecambe

• Orifice plates were replaced by 3 ultrasonic meters installed in the 3 metering runs where the flow profiles were best

South Morco

Multiphase metering

• Multiphase metering important technology for marginal field development and well management

• Technically, the simultaneous measurement of oil, water and gas flow is very challenging

• In the 1990’s NEL Created a benchmark performance test through the Multiflow I and II Joint Industry Projects

• Tested the majority of the meters that had been developed into commercial products

• Performed factory acceptance tests for the likes of Amerada Hess, Philips, Shell, Petronas, BP, Kerr-McGee etc, etc.

• Provided consultancy and training for oil companies in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and South East Asia

NEL Involvement in Multiphase

The Multiflow JIPs

Sponsors• Amerada Hess• Amoco• BP• ChevronTexaco• Elf• ExxonMobil• JNOC• Petrobras• Philips• Saudi Aramco• Shell• Schlumberger• Total

Tullich Multiphase Metering

• Consultancy to identify suitable test site for two multiphase meters based on process data

• Selected ChevronTexaco Humble test site

• Devised test plan

• Supervised tests as independent witness

• Liased with Kerr-McGee / ChevronTexaco / Framo during tests

• Analysed the data and prepared the final report

Tullich Multiphase Metering

HSE bend failure investigation

• Pipe bend failure analysis• CFD analysis and lab testing• Customer: HSE (& Shell)

• Funded by the National Measurement System Directorate of DTI

• Three year cycle• Four main themes

– Maintenance and Traceability– Research– Intercomparisons– Knowledge Transfer

• www.flowprogramme.co.uk

Flow Programme

HSE bend failure investigation

• Complex interactions at work• Valve location doubled the rate of erosion• Able to advise on prevention of reoccurrence• General guidance document prepared for HSE

Flow solution Particle paths Erosion Model

Clients

Summary

• Broad capability• Expertise and experience in key areas of

production & process systems engineering– Flow measurement– Fluid properties– Heat transfer– Erosion– Valves, separators, instrumentation

• Independent organisation having strong links with industry

• Potential partner for technology R&D

• gbrown@tuvnel.com• www.tuvnel.com

QUESTIONS?