With the recent release of the Green House Gas Regulations, the increased visibility of flaring natural gas and increased awareness of royalty owners, the ability to accurately measure and account for the amount of product flared from a facility has become increasingly important to regulators, royalty owners and operators. In the past, flare gas was not considered a necessary measurement, so the measurement of flared product has often been overlooked or not given the same attention as custody transfer measurement. As such API published API MPMS Chapter 14.10, Measurement of Flow to Flares, in June of 2007. This paper will provide a quick overview of the contents of API MPMS 14.10 but is encouraged to obtain 14.10 if more detailed information is desired. In addition, a brief discussion on the importance of calibrating flare flow meters is also discussed.

History

On December 1, 2004 the Texas Committee on Environmental Quality issued Subchapter H (Highly-Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds) to Chapter 115 of Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code. This regulation placed new monitoring requirements for those facilities emitting Highly-Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs) into the air in the Houston, Galveston, and Brazoria areas. The requirement included initially calibrating the flare flow meters to an accuracy of 5% at flow rates of equivalent to 30%, 60% and 90% of the flare meters full scale. At the same time API began an effort to develop a standard for flow measurement in part to address the TCEQ regulation, but also to be able to have a standard in the event any other state or government agency developed similar regulations. API 14.10 was then published on June 2007 and subsequently reaffirmed in 2012. At the writing of this paper, API has released a working group to review and revise the standard with a target date of late 2016 for a new revision.