News and Press Releases

21 October 2004

Tracerco teams up with Emirates Holdings and exhibit award winning technology at Adipec

UK-based company Tracerco, which is part of Johnson Matthey Plc, has teamed up with local company Emirates Holdings as its local partner in the UAE. To launch the new co-operation, Tracerco was part of the Emirates Holdings stand at the recent Adipec exhibition, where it exhibited the multi award winning TRACERCO Profiler™ instrument. The TRACERCO Profiler was amongst fifteen drilling production technologies recognised at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston this year and had already proved to be a national winner when it was last year awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category in the UK.

Tracerco has seen a big growth in its Middle East business since recruiting a new Regional Manager last year. It offers a wide range of non-intrusive Process Diagnostic techniques for trouble-shooting and inspecting all types of process equipment. In addition Tracerco provides a range of instruments for measuring density, level and interface. These instruments range from a very simple level alarm to the more technical Tracerco Profiler.

The TRACERCO Profiler™ uses advanced measurement technology to accurately determine and control the contents of oil and gas production separators. It has been described as a unique and novel instrument that when inserted into a vessel determines, through precise measurements, the various phases present at any given time.

In response to the expressed needs of oil producers, the instrument was developed to better measure and control the performance of production separators. The Profiler provides the operator with real-time information about the vertical distributions of the various phases inside the separator: sand, water, emulsion, oil, foam and gas. This allows the operator to exercise fine control over the operation of the separator in a way never before possible. For example, the results of adding antifoam or demulsifying agents can be visualised immediately in the control room so that the effectiveness of these procedures can be monitored and appropriate action taken.

The 'standard' method of measuring and controlling the level and interface inside the separator has been a displacer chamber connected to bridle pipework, but even under good conditions such measurements may be unreliable as there is a time lag between real events, happening inside the separator and what occurs in the bridle. Additionally, a relatively small amount of sand build-up around the tapping points can cause the displacer to register false readings. These instruments are of course, unable to measure adequately or take account of foam and emulsion layers or sand laydown.

Unlike conventional instrumentation, the TRACERCO Profiler™ does not require a bridle. Instead, the measurement probes are introduced into the separator through a single nozzle. There are no moving parts and the probes remain isolated from the process fluid at all times, thereby guaranteeing high reliability. The system allows a process engineer to maintain the oil/water interface and oil level at optimum positions to achieve efficient production. The Profiler makes possible the optimal use of effect chemicals. It not only detects the presence of foam but also measures its height; not only identifies emulsion but its dispersion. In addition, the operator can see the effectiveness of anti-foam or de-emulsifier dosing, and is therefore able to ensure that only the minimum amount is added to achieve the desired effect.