NEL’s MeterVue Service Offers First Step in Oil & Gas Meter Calibration Utopia
NEL today launches MeterVue, an innovative web-based service which allows engineers to remotely witness calibration tests at NEL’s laboratories in real time.
Currently accepted as the industry norm, sending staff to physically witness testing is costly as calibrations may take days to complete. MeterVue negates the need for witnesses to be physically present, increasing business efficiency and reducing costs, while having no negative impact on the accuracy or traceability of calibrations.
It is widely known that to calibrate an offshore fiscal measurement device, the cost (including shut-down, packaging, transport, calibration, witnessing etc.) is in the region of $50,000 (USD). Adopting MeterVue’s more innovative approach to calibration could save valuable cost and time for the oil & gas industry.
In the UK, the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) requires that flow meters are regularly calibrated and these UK specific requirements are reflected in other regulatory standards across the world.
Douglas Griffin, Head of Petroleum Measurement & Allocation at DECC, said: “MeterVue is potentially a very useful service, allowing more people to participate in a calibration but at a much lower cost to the organisations involved. As a public body we don’t always have the resources to dedicate to witnessing calibrations in situ, so could really benefit from a solution that allows us to log on remotely and be directly involved in a calibration as it runs.”
MeterVue’s remote witnessing capability means that the right people can be available to review the calibration data as it is generated. Decisions can be made immediately about meter performance and the appropriate actions taken, rather than after the testing has been completed.
MeterVue also provides a secure, online repository for both the flow meter’s official calibration certificate and the supporting test data, allowing engineers to trend meter performance and predict potential maintenance issues. Ultimately, MeterVue will be able to facilitate the link between calibration and the ongoing field performance of the meter.
Dr Phil Mark, Director of Sales & Marketing at NEL, said: “While metering technology has advanced significantly over the past few decades, the approach to its calibration has not. Product testing can prove extremely time-consuming, and that is why we are focused on developing innovative services for our customers to help them run their compliance programmes more effectively. Calibration Utopia is now possible, where costs and labour time are reduced and trending of both calibration and field-based data allow for meter condition-based calibrations to be applied with confidence.”
