INSTALLATION

Installation includes the physical connection/installation of the MPFM to

the clients production and piping system. The on-site installation procedure
covers all physical aspects related to the communication and electrical hookup of the meter to the clients systems. After the installation process, the
MPFM should be subject to an on-site commissioning procedure.
For both these steps it is important to get an overview of the work involved,
the staffing required and a time schedule. These parameters are especially
important for offshore work as during start-up of a field or well there will be a
vast number of ongoing activities and bed space is usually a limiting factor.

1. DESIGN CONSIDERATION:
Before the MPFM is finally selected and installation started, the following
items should have been considered:
1. Vendors installation requirements (when it comes to the meter
installation).
2. Limits have been established for temperature, pressure and flow rates
at the MPFM location, and it has been ensured that these parameters
and the production envelope are within the Operating and measuring
envelopes of the MPFM.
3. PVT data at the MPFM location as required for optimal measurements.
4. Facilities to ease the installation and removal of the meter. It might be
wise to plan for the possibility to replace the MPFM with another sized
MPFM to accommodate unexpected well flow-rates.
5. Access for maintenance and service of instruments, single phase
checking cleaning of internal deposits that may form.
6. Bypass to prevent well shutdown during testing and service.
7. Facilities and access for flow rate checking. Header to local test
separator or connection to transportable test equipment. Injection
point(s) for tracers.

8. Power and communication lines to the meter computer for local and
remote data collection, configuration, operation and verification of
communication line.
9. Facilities to collect multiphase fluid samples. (Very difficult to get
representative

samples

of

multiphase

fluids.

No

standard

yet

available.)
10.
Flow mixing requirements.
11.
Backup facilities and spare parts.

2. INSTALLATION REQUIREMENT:
One should as early as possible clarify if the vendor has any special
installation requirements. This might include:
1. Vertical / horizontal alignment
2. Requirements on straight pipe lengths before and after the MPFM
3. Special requirements for accessing the MPFM

3. ELECTRICAL AND POWER REQUIREMENT

The power and voltage requirements are stated by the vendor clearly and interconnection
diagram should describe the electrical hook-up. The clients responsibility is to provide
cabling and glands which will satisfy the requirements stated by the vendor
Several checks perform before connecting the cabling:
o Continuity checks of the cable using a multimeter, each wire and screen should be
checked.
o Test the cable using a megger, each wire and screen vs. all other wire/screens in
the same cable.
o Check that power supply has the correct output voltage.

REFERENCE:
1. Multiphase Flow Metering, Principles and Applications By Gioia Falcone,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA, Geoffrey Hewitt,
Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London,
UK,C. Alimonti, Universita La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
2. Norwegian Society for Oil and Gas Measurement. Handbook of
Multiphase Flow Metering. Revision 2, March 2005
3. Ross, A., Stobie, G. Well Testing An Evaluation of Test Separators and
Multiphase Flow Meters. In Proc. of 28th North Sea Flow Measurement
Workshop, October 2010.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiphase_flow_meter.
5. http://www.slb.com/resources/publications/books/multiphase_metering_
fundamentals.aspx.
6. Martin, J.C. 1959. Simplified Equations of Flow in Gas Drive Reservoirs
and the Theoretical Foundation of Multiphase Pressure Buildup
Analyses. SPE-1235-G. Trans., AIME, 216: 321323.
7. https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/SPE-81534-MS.
8. Scheers, A.M., Noordhuis, B.R., Multi-phase and Wet Gas Flow
Measurement, 5th Annual Multi-Phase Metering Conference, Aberdeen,
Scotland, 1999.
9. Mehdizadeh, P., 2006 Worldwide Multiphase and Wet Gas Metering
Installations, Production Technology Report 03232007, 2007.
10.
Babelli, I.M.M., In Search of an Ideal Multiphase Flow Meter for
the Oil Industry, Arabian Journal of Science and Engineering, Volume
27, Number 2B, October 2002, pp. 113 126.
11.
http://www.spe.org/news/article/virtual-flowmeters-a-low-costalternative.