Growth of Middle East Oil and Gas Sector Drive the Skids Applications

Oil rich regions such as the Middle East will be the principal drivers for growth in the oil and gas equipment market through 2012. The market for intelligent oil and gas metering skids in the Middle East is still in its early stage, but growth potential is brought to sight with future plans for development and investment. According to international market analysis, the improved tax incentives and the support of cash rich national oil companies has encouraged significant investment in the Middle East. The UAE alone will spend $72 billion on oil and gas projects as the country moves forward with a major programme to expand its hydrocarbon output capability to meet growing demand.

“The fiscal metering skids represent a growing segment in Middle East as they have multiple applications, such as in; truck loading, tank farms, LPG factory, and crude oil tank farms. In the last 6 years, Syscom 18 (Romania) have manufactured about 180 fiscal skids for many countries including Kazakhstan, Jordan, Iran, and Libya and have seen that many skids were employed for truck or wagon loading facilities and integrate tank gauging system or DCS in a terminal automation system.”, says Ion Andronache, the CEO of the Romanian company Syscom18 who provide integrated solutions and complex installations for the oil and gas industry.

Regardless of country of origin, the systems have to be designed and manufactured in accordance with international codes and standards and can be adapted to all requirements in Middle East. The companies dealing with oil and gas processes in the region are generally looking for fully engineered, skid-mounted packages for fiscal metering (custody transfer) systems. The skids have to ensure high-integrity, accurate, reliable measurement of natural gas volume, quality, composition and calorific value. Accurate, reliable custody transfer measurement of natural gas is critical for fiscal accounting and taxation purposes.

Engineered according to OIML R117, the fiscal metering skids can measure liquids, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, LPG, crude oil, heavy fuel, and chemicals. A system integrator could provide the services, but would require installation, commissioning, calibration and maintenance. The provider should develop specific capabilities to render the metering skids services for custody transfer application, using PD-meter, Coriolis, turbine meter or ultrasonic meter. After fabrication and assembling, the finished skids are delivered to the site completely assembled and then installed, resulting in considerable time and cost savings versus field fabrication.

The skid metering system is completed with filter and gas separator, control valve, pressure transducer, temperature transducer, flow computer or with densitometer, and ESD valve, available up to 24”, the models measure compensated volume or mass, preset quantities. The initial verification can be done at the factory or in the field with the mobile vesel.