Papers

This paper is to provide an overview of the AGA Report No. 7 – Measurement of Natural Gas by Turbine Meters.

This paper is to provide an overview of the AGA Report No. 7 – Measurement of Natural Gas by Turbine Meters.

SCADA systems are combinations of field devices, communications infrastructure, computer hardware and software integrated into a system that provides for safe, reliable, and effective operation of remote facilities. Producers, gatherers, midstream operators and pipelines use SCADA system for operations. In addition, SCADA gathers data used by advanced applications such as measurement accounting. SCADA is key for highly profitable operation.
This paper provides and overview of the building blocks of the SCADA system. The SCADA host and advanced applications are discussed in detail. The paper concludes with a discussion of SCADA trends.

This paper summarizes a SCADA implementer’s perspective regarding the intent of the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Control Room Management (CRM) rule. In addition, this paper provides a fresh approach to CRM, describing why companies should use the CRM process to go beyond compliance requirements and implement operating best practices that would significantly enhance operations reliability and pipeline safety.

Inspections and tests on regulators and relief valves is a Department of Transportation Compliance rule. The sections within the DOT manual stating the rule include 192.351 through 192.359, 192.751, 192.479, 192.481, 192.739, and 192.741. Keep in mind; these rules are the minimum required tests. Your Company or Regulatory Agency may be more stringent and require more or detailed testing. You must also keep in mind that the Manufacturer of your equipment will also provide a guideline pertaining to maintenance. These tests are not only required for safe, reliable service to your Customers, but also could be used in any legal proceeding for documentation and purpose.

Transfer proving was initially developed to provide an easier and more accurate field meter proving method. Because of the capacity capabilities of transfer provers (2000 CFH to 80,000 CFH) transfer provers are utilized in meter shops where bell prover capacity is limited and allow for shop testing of the larger capacity meters.

In today’s charging world of technology there have been may changes in controls that now allow to truly compare a plug and seat regulator to a control valve for high-pressure natural gas installations such as: power plants, city gate stations, large industrial customers, compressor stations, and storage fields. The features, benefits, capabilities, and differences of both devices will be outlined, to enable the reader to make an educated selection. In addition, acceptable design practices will be reviewed concerning sizing, gas velocities, noise levels, equipment layout, and performance. The ball valve is the most commonly used type of modulating valve for natural gas pipeline control applications, for that reason, we will limit this discussion to comparison between the plug and seat regulator and versions of a 1/4 turn ball valve.

Pipelines have transported water, oil and gas for hundreds of years, serving residential communities, industrial sites and commercial centers reliably and silently. Leak detection systems (LDS) are needed because pipeline spills occur more frequently as infrastructure ages and more hazardous products are transported. Leak detection systems cannot prevent leaks, but they can certainly help minimize the consequence of leak. Regrettably, too many leak detection systems fail to detect leaks, and other leak detection systems are ignored by the operators because they are unreliable. Thus, leaks that should have been small spills become disasters that cost pipeline owners millions of dollars.

Natural gas sampling is performed for many reasons. Primarily sampling is performed to determine total gas composition, gas quality, and gas value. The three techniques normally used to obtain gas samples are continuous composite sampling, continuous online sampling, or spot sampling. This paper will discuss the various spot sampling techniques, proper sampling implementation, and equipment utilized to obtain spot samples.