Multi-scale Virtual Flow Metering for optimal decision-making

Short summary of the project 

This project studies how to obtain accurate multiphase flow estimates based on a hierarchy of models (data-driven or first-principles). This information can then be used for optimizing system operation (e.g.production allocation, or in future even fiscal allocation, if accurate enough).

There is a growing trend towards tying back newly discovered smaller hydrocarbon production developments to existing facilities. Ownership of assets is often shared between different companies, and it is important to know accurately how much hydrocarbons have been produced from the different tie-ins. This information is necessary for making good decisions on the production strategy of these assets. However, it is usually not economical to equip the tie-ins with expensive physical multiphase flow measurement equipment, and virtual flow metering (VFM) is an attractive alternative.

The idea of this project is to combine models of different complexity of the process with available data, to obtain the most accurate flow estimate. A possible case study could be combining a detailed model of a choke valve with another model of a multiphase pump and a systems-wide model (e.g. Petex, ledaflow/Kspice). The research objectives are:

• Study how to systematically combine different models (of different complexity) and available measurements of pressure and temperature for achieving the most accurate estimates of the hydrocarbon and water flow rates.
• Develop methods for systematically taking model and measurement errors into account.

Innovation potential

• Deeper insight in how to information contained in multiple models (that are available in today’s digital twin frameworks (e.g. Kognitwin, PetEx) can be systematically combined with data to obtain reliable information about unmeasured flow rates.
• Further development into a software/including the methods in existing software, e.g. the approaches could be tested with industry partners (operators and suppliers) in their software frameworks.