American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015 - 94

SpecialReport: Production Automation
are installed throughout the production,
pipeline or terminal system. Since missing information may need to be filled in
or measurement errors corrected, the editing function remains an important feature that continues to evolve. Users must
be able to view and edit all measurement
points including pressure, temperature,
density, mass and volume.
Once edits are complete, the analyst
then needs to be able to have the volume
and mass recalculated for reporting and to
be sent to downstream accounting systems.
Today's applications incorporate manual
processes such as sampler information for
accurate calculation of corrected mass and
volumes.
As shown in Figure 4, measurement automation software tracks and displays

each edit, including recording when it was
made, which time frame was covered by
the edit, and why it was made. Therefore,
once a measurement error has been corrected, the measurement application can
restate pressure, temperature, volumes
and mass anomalies that have been resolved, and create a full audit trail. Contemporary applications meet and exceed
the audit trail requirements in API MPMS
Chapter 21.1 and 21.2.
Measurement automation applications
can perform a complete balance of mass
or volume across an entire operation,
such as a field or gathering network.
System balancing is an important capability that is used to minimize "on paper"
losses that result from numerous sources
of measurement uncertainty. Production

FIGURE 5
NGL System Balancing

FIGURE 6
Configuration Menu for Flowing Parameter Validations

94 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

operations that use multiple types and
classes of meters are at higher risk of such
losses. Tracking multiple production of
natural gas, NGLs and heavier oils further
complicates measurement and system
balancing.
By collecting, validating, and if necessary, editing and recalculating information
that was collected from throughout the system, the measurement application ensures accurate accounting of natural gas,
NGLs and oil. As an example, Figure 5
shows a screen capture of monthly NGL
data for system balancing analysis.
System balancing is a powerful tool that
can rapidly highlight anomalies in the database as well as in the oil and gas system.
Unaccounted-for losses are exposed and
can be pinpointed through techniques
such as system segmentation. Issues such
as equipment failures, leaks and deviations
from standard operating procedures are
brought to light.

Data Validations
Validation is critical for all the data generated throughout the measurement
process. Data validation ensures the overall measurement information integrity
that not only meets industry and regulatory audit requirements, but directly impacts the bottom line.
In an electronic measurement software application, identifying data anomalies is a key application. An effective data
validation process flags potential anomalies and brings them to the attention of the
measurement staff. Numerous checks and
balances are applied to flowing parameters, meter characteristics, quality information, and "rolled up" historical averages
and totals.
For a measurement analyst, this can
save significant time that otherwise would
be required to sort through considerable
data to find problems long after their inception. Instead, the system flags the
problems so analysts can work to solve
them immediately.
Figure 6 shows a configuration menu
for flowing parameter validations. Conditions such as a differential pressure transmitter operating out of range can be detected immediately. Typical data validations
range from flowing parameters to rate of
change and "expert system" standard deviation or percent difference.
Measurement automation applications
also provide validations for gas quality
equipment such as on-line analyzers and
chromatographs. Analysis validations en-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015

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