Minimize financial risk with reliable turnkey fiscal metering solutions that reduce overall system uncertainty and ensure regulatory compliance.
An integrated metering system accurately accounts for the quantity of gas or liquid sold during custody transfer. It measures the transfer volume or mass flow rate of a product, monitors fluid properties to convert quantities to reference conditions for invoicing, and may include analyzers to confirm composition or product quality. A flow computer provides a traceable record of quantities sold, operational events, and alarms. A standardized control system facilitates access to critical data to minimize downtime and performance degradation.
System design is based on industry and regulatory standards along with the type of fluid to be measured with the objective to ensure precise, sustained performance over the lifecycle of the system.
Overall measurement uncertainty is affected by all system components, ongoing operations and maintenance events. Verification of uncertainty is achieved through regular comparisons of the quantity measured against a field prover, master meter or scheduled calibration of the meter at a flow lab. System uncertainty must be maintained within specified tolerances that are defined by regulatory, industry and contractual guidelines.
A flow meter is the core measurement device that determines the continuous volumetric or mass flow rate of the product. Various metering technologies are available. Final meter selection is based on accuracy, repeatability, immunity to fluid properties, and operating conditions.
Pressure, temperature and density devices, and analyzers provide fluid property data to convert quantities at operating conditions to net quantities at a fixed reference condition. The net quantity is the basis for all financial transactions.
Each gas meter can be calibrated against an onsite master meter. In the case of liquid metering applications, a master meter, or stationary or portable prover, are appropriate for calibration. A prover is installed in a custody transfer system to provide the most accurate measurement possible.
Generally, on-site provers can be used to calibrate meter sizes 16” diameter (DN 400) or smaller. Flow meters in larger pipe sizes must be shipped to a calibration facility capable of handling larger meters.
The flow computer is the brains of the metering system and is considered the actual cash register of a fiscal metering system. Using inputs from various measurement devices strategically placed within the system, it calculates the amount of liquid or gas transferred using a variety of industry standard flow calculation algorithms.
The flow computer also serves as a data storage and transmission hub for critical data and is able to support multiple meter runs and a prover.
Integrated metering systems fulfill a number of complex measurement requirements for high-volume loading/offloading operations, oilfield allocation, pipeline integrity (leak detection), batch operations, loss/gain balance, plant mass balances, automatic custody transfer (ACT), and lease automatic custody transfer (LACT).
Additional application sites where an integrated system helps streamline operations include floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) platforms, gas processing plants, city gates, border stations, pipeline interconnects, pipeline terminals, tanker- and barge-loading facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants, as well as power plants where liquid fuels are metered.
Since even the smallest percentage of measurement error can result in significant fiscal risk, a properly designed integrated metering system drives optimization of measurement performance through the skillful integration of field-proven technologies. It significantly improves measurement accuracy and reliability to protect high-volume operations from financial risk.
The standard or custom-designed system also facilitates ongoing compliance with all applicable industry standards (i.e. API, AGA, OIML, etc.) and regional government regulations.
Denver Smart explains how Emerson delivers products, systems, and fully integrated services to ensure precise measurement over time, cost-effective systems, and system reliability while helping manage measurement uncertainty.
Emerson Flow Measurement Systems engineers custom fit for purpose integrated flow measurement systems helping to mitigate measurement uncertainty.
Denver Smart explains how Emerson delivers products, systems, and fully integrated services to ensure precise measurement over time, cost-effective systems, and system reliability while helping manage measurement uncertainty.
Emerson Flow Measurement Systems engineers custom fit for purpose integrated flow measurement systems helping to mitigate measurement uncertainty.
