Water Cut Meter for FPSOs and Deep-Water Applications

As Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences, Paul Krugman, stated – ‘Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything’.

As an operator of an offshore deep-water oil and gas field, how do you plan to improve your productivity today, in the near future and in the long run to remain competitive? In particular, knowing that your onshore competitors have a lower production cost?

A possible way to improve productivity is to apply the most advanced technologies, embrace the digital revolution and take advantage of the production increase and cost reduction that the process automations generate.

In this blog article we will discuss what you need to consider when choosing advanced instrumentation like water cut meters for offshore applications, and present two FPSOs examples that are utilizing the Sentech Water Cut Meter technology.

Key Instrument Characteristics for Offshore Applications

To increase productiveness from a processing standpoint, the water present within the crude oil is the first element to handle. By using water cut meters on the topside processing system, you will be able to optimize the water separation and the water handling processes, thus gaining quality data across the whole topside process system. This is possible as the technology available today is precise, robust and can be located in the most inaccessible places of the process system.

Water cut meters can be installed in different types of offshore asset, including FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading units) located in deep waters. With a FPSO you have a single unit combining the functionality of an offshore processing facility with an oil floating storage and export terminal.

Typical challenges of offshore applications are the presence of a salty atmosphere and limited space available.

Consequently, the equipment shouldn’t occupy too much space or be too heavy. These requirements directly affect the CAPEX needed to build any type of offshore equipment.

In addition to that, in order to reduce the OPEX, any equipment utilized offshore has to demand very little care or maintenance.

Therefore, water cut meters applied offshore have to be compact, accurate and reliable through the different processes / production conditions of the field life, without requiring frequent maintenance or recalibration.

Suggested reading: Easy Oil is Gone - Stay Ahead of the Problems and Competition

How FPSOs Can Benefit from Water Cut Meters Going Forward

The future of FPSOs will be characterized by the increased application of digital technologies and automation systems, less people offshore, higher productivity, lower emissions and reduced carbon footprint.

To achieve that, it will be necessary implementing advanced automation systems on a large-scale, and this will include both utilizing multiple field robots, faster computers and data processing platforms, cloud-based software as well as advanced instrumentation to generate high quality and reliable data.

In reference to the detection and monitoring of the volume water, considering the importance of the management of produced water and to achieve higher productivity and lower emissions, it will be crucial to apply advanced water cut meters across the whole topside processing system.

The Norne FPSO and the Glen Lyon FPSO both needed accurate monitoring of produced water cut through the whole life of the field. In both cases the technology selected is the same, with different configuration driven by different project requirements.

In our newest case study, you can read more about how these two FPSO’s successfully applied the Sentech Water Cut Meter technology.