UK flowmeter specialist Litre Meter has supplied a number of VFF flowmeters for the Martin Linge field development project in the North Sea.
Litre Meter has supplied 14 positive displacement flowmeters including MF30, HF20, VFF8 and V125 models, all constructed in Duplex stainless steel. The meters were shipped to a Samsung/Technip consortium for use in a chemical injection skid on the project, which is being developed by Total E&P Norge in partnership with Petoro and Statoil.
The field is located 115 m below the surface on the Norwegian continental shelf 170 km west of Bergen. Production of around 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day is expected to start in 2016.
The platform is a manned wellhead jacket type platform with process, separation and compressor capabilities powered from shore. Its operations will be controlled remotely from shore using fibre optics. Litre Meter’s flow controllers will be used to measure the flow of chemicals.
Under conditions of low temperature and high pressure, gas hydrates can solidify as crystals which may block pipelines and valves, impeding the transfer of oil and gas. This can result in a shutdown and the risk of explosion or unintended release of hydrocarbons into the environment.
MEG is injected at high pressure where there is a risk of hydrates (dew) forming then freezing at low temperature. Litre Meter VFF positive displacement flowmeters measure the correct amount of MEG needed to prevent hydrate formation.
The process, known as bullheading, forcibly pumps MEG into the bore hole to act as an ‘antifreeze’ to lower the freezing point of gas hydrate. This protects the wells’ sub-surface valves from hydrates forming under high pressure and low temperatures during long shutdowns.
Litre Meter CEO, Charles Wemyss , said: “The complexity of this project demonstrates Litre Meter’s ability to customise its meters to suit a range of applications that require accurate yet robust solutions. Subsea repairs and the associated loss of production are high cost, so protecting deep-water well bores from hydrate formation, plugging and organic fouling is a major flow assurance concern in offshore operations.”