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BP to use multiphase metering at Liberty Technology can save costs in measuring oil, gas and water; monster Parker rig soon to start drilling ultrareach Beaufort Sea wells Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. is asking federal and state regulators for permission to use multiphase metering equipment to measure production out of its planned offshore Liberty field.
If approved, this would be only the second full-fledged application of the technology in the oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope.
BP made the request in a Jan. 7 application to the U.S. Minerals Management Service and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The application seeks permission for multiphase metering for oil that will come ashore from Liberty and feed into BP’s Endicott processing plant.
Emerging technology Multiphase flow metering is a relatively new technology that’s fast catching on in the industry for its potential to cut the need for large and costly facilities.
A multiphase meter gauges density and can measure the crude oil, natural gas and water portions of a commingled production stream without first separating them.
The key is having confidence that the equipment is reliable, because these measurements are used to determine not only sales volumes among companies but also royalty and tax payments to governments.
According to its MMS and AOGCC application, BP intends to use the Schlumberger PhaseWatcher Vx meter.
This is the same equipment Pioneer Natural Resources is using for production from its Beaufort Sea Oooguruk oil field, which feeds into the nearby ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk field for processing.
In its application, BP included a Jan. 4 letter from its Dr. Andrew Hall, a multiphase metering expert in Scotland who reviewed the Liberty system, including the Schlumberger unit.
“The meter is based on a Venturi meter with a dual energy gamma ray densitometer, and appropriate pressure and temperature instrumentation, which determines the bulk fluid flowrate and fraction of each phase; by calculation this yields the flowrates of oil, water and gas passing through the meter,” Hall wrote.
He continued: “BP has tested this meter, under laboratory conditions, and in field conditions at tests in Prudhoe Bay. A marinised version of this meter, built by Framo Engineering of Norway, is being used in a number of BP subsea field developments, most notably the Greater Plutonio field in Angola.”
Hearing set; Liberty plans The AOGCC has scheduled a public hearing on BP’s application for 9 a.m. March 25.
Liberty is a $1.5 billion project to tap a reservoir containing an estimated 100 million barrels of recoverable oil beneath the federal waters of the Beaufort Sea. The field was discovered in 1997.
A Parker Drilling super rig is on the North Slope now and is being readied for drilling startup later this year.
The rig will have a rotating crew of about 170 people, and training is under way at an Anchorage training center Parker opened in May 2009, says a recent article in the Alaska Support Industry Alliance newsletter, The Link.
The wells will be extraordinary, reaching seven to nine miles in measured depth, says BP’s metering application, signed by Liberty project general manager Darryl Luoma.
Liberty will have one or two injector wells, and one to four producers, Luoma wrote.
The rig will drill from a satellite island built off the main Endicott production island. A gravel causeway connects the two islands.
The ultraextended-reach wells and tie-in to Endicott eliminate the need for construction of a new offshore production island, processing plant and pipeline.
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