Product category:
Gas and Steam Flow Measurement
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Instrumentation + Automation)
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 June 2006
Venturis offer accuracy under pressure
for Aramco
ABB has won an order for GBP0.75 million of venturi flowmetering equipment from oil and gas exploration company Saudi Aramco
ABB has won an order for GBP0.75 million of metering equipment from oil and gas exploration company Saudi Aramco ABB in Workington, Cumbria has shipped 69 of their eight-inch venturi tubes, complete with differential pressure transmitters plus three-valve isolating/equalising manifolds, for the Saudi Arabia Haradh natural gas and oil development project
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 17 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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ABB was asked to provide a venturi flow system that could measure the pressure and flow of wet, sour (high-sulphur) gas emerging from wells in the Khuff gas field.
The main challenges were to maintain accuracy across a huge potential flow range and to withstand the effects of the highly corrosive gas.
Haradh encompasses a gas plant capable of delivering 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of sales gas and a gas oil separation plant capable of stabilising 300,000 barrels per day of light crude oil.
The gas to Haradh is drawn both from sour wells in the Khuff field and sweet (low-sulphur) wells across a number of other fields.
The flow from the gas wells typically varies from 100 million standard cubic feet (scft) per day to 4 million scft/day, requiring meters with a turndown ratio of 25:1 to ensure accurate measurement across all flow ranges.
Aramco specified that the accuracy must remain at 1% or better across the entire flow range.
The ABB answer was to adjust the internal design of its regular venturis, while still complying with the ISO5167 2003 standard on differential pressure measurement.
The meters are built from high-molybdenum stainless steel (ASTM A182 F44) to withstand corrosion.
To ensure that the anti-corrosion properties of the material remained uncompromised during the construction and welding of the venturis the meters underwent a series of heat treatment and pickling stages throughout the build process.
Venturi meters measure the flow of fluids as they pass through a conical section set into the pipeline.
The pressure difference between the widest and narrowest points of the cone is related to the flowrate.
Venturi meters are particularly useful in applications where a low pressure drop is required, for example, in long pipelines.
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