Technology

Leaking Subsea Valves-

Identification, Quantification and
Monitoring by Using Ultrasonic
Systems at Deep and Ultra Deepwater
Installation
By Mr. Dag A Aldal
Introduction
ClampOn has since the start of the company in 1994
been working of development of non-invasive acoustic
sensors for various purposes. The paper discusses how
ultrasound technology have been developed and taken
subsea as the need for subsea instrumentation has escalated
the last decade!
Such instrumentation can be used for
• Sand/particle monitoring
• PIG detection,
• Leak monitoring
• Vibration monitoring
• Condition Monitoring and
• Corrosion Erosion Monitoring
Subsea Philosophy
Subsea operating conditions, particularly in deepwater
environments, demand technical solutions that combine
flexibility with high performance and extremely long service
life. In our case, we must combine such issues as safety,
demands for profitable production, lifetime and performance
of the system with practical and safe operation in the field.
Subsea instrumentation should:
• Provide a very long working life, meaning high/low
pressure chambers using EB welding to eliminate leaking
gaskets/ sealing.
• Include the possibility for independent redundant
electronics
• Be capable of being retrofitted and of being installed
and retrieved by ROV
• Perform real-time monitoring
• Utilize Digital Signal Processing technology
• Incorporate two-way communication
• Permit new software downloads from the user’s system
when/if needed
• Include self-testing/health check of the sensor unit
Sand Monitoring
Sand production is one of the most serious challenges
facing an operator that produce hydrocarbons from
sandstone reservoirs. Sand production lowers the production
rate and increases maintenance costs, and can represent a
serious safety and environmental hazard. Sand production
can never be ignored. Any well produced from a sandstone
reservoir must have some sort of sand monitoring in place.
This can be something as simple as sampling, but should
rather be an online, real-time sand monitoring system.
This paper illustrates how important it is to take active use
of whatever sand monitoring system that is in place.
Why install a sand monitoring system?
Due to the importance of knowing if and when sand is
present, most operators choose to install some sort of sand
monitoring system when the wells are producing from a

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sandstone reservoir. Unfortunately the follow up of these
systems is often missing. Active use involves procedures
describing who should be responsible for the everyday
operation of the sand monitoring system, who is deciding
on alarm limits, what actions to take when alarms occur,
and how the system is maintained. However, most
importantly, is to have experienced engineers evaluating
the data coming from the sand monitoring system. The
frequency of this evaluation will depend on the nature of
the wells. The risk of producing sand is an important factor
when working out the sand management procedures.
We often experience that the question “Why did we
install sand detectors?” has never been raised and properly
addressed. A sand monitoring system is often installed
because Geologists or experience suggests that sand
production might be an issue. This is of course an important
factor, but acknowledging the potential sand production
should lead to a well designed system for managing the
sand detectors and sand monitoring system. We will here
show examples of how sand is produced, how it can be
managed by monitoring sand production, and how useless
it will be if no one looks at the data.
The operating range concept
The operating range concept is the physics behind any
sand management. Any sandstone reservoir will have a
theoretical operating window. This is a drawdown where
oil or gas can be produced without sand. In some case the
reservoir is to loose to produce at all, or at least to produce
economically, without producing unacceptable amounts
of sand. In these cases sand control might be required. In
other cases the strength is high, removing any risk of sand
production. In many cases however, oil or gas can be
produced effectively while monitoring for sand.
This is a good illustration of sand management. The blue
line is showing a production rate where no sand will be
produced. The red line is a production where a catastrophic
sand failure will occur. In a few high risk situations the aim
is to stay below the blue line. At this rate we will never
produce sand. Usually however we want to be between the
blue and the red line.
How close we can get to the red line depends on
several factors?
The erosion risk on the installation is very important. Is
the flow –and subsequently the sand – moving at speeds
that can cause erosion? Sand handling capacity is another
factor to consider. It is important to have a plan when this
way of operating is introduced. Especially if we want to
move close to the red line, we need to know what risks are
involved.
Wherever in this window we want to operate, we need
to bear in mind one significant challenge; No one can tell
us exactly where the window is. A careful analysis of all
reservoir data, preferably including core samples, will give
us a good idea of where it is. Continuously improved
models will provide more accurate information. It will
however never be 100 % accurate, and it is moving over
time.
One important factor to always remember is sand
transport. The worst scenario is if the sand is produced but
the velocity is not sufficient to lift the sand out of the well.
If this is the case the well will eventually die.
The theoretical models are essential during a design
phase in order to decide what approach to take on sand
management / sand control. During production however
sand monitoring is essential.
This graph illustrates the initial phase of a boosting
process. Boosting is a practical way to determining the
Operating Window. Each time the production is increased
(Red graph) some loose sand is produced (Blue graph). We
can see that the well is cleaning up nicely, and quickly
returns to a sand free production condition. This procedure
is often used on a well without proper permanent sand
monitoring. The procedure will take from 2 to 4 days per
well. If these are wells where production is cut back due to
inaccurate information about sand production, the
production gain can be significant. Inaccurate sand
monitoring is often sampling or information about the total
sand production for an installation, taken from the separator.
When accurate real-time sand detectors where made
available, ClampOn was participating in well boosting
operations on many installations, and increased the
production significantly.
These are some examples of increased production. These
figures are based on an oil price of USD 20 per barrel!
• Statoil - Statfjord 540.000 USD/Day
• Conoco - Murdoch 34.285 USD/Day
• BHP - Ravenspurn 55.660 USD/Day
• BP - Cleeton 12.570 USD/Day
• Shell - Brunei(onshore) 8.100 USD/Day
• Exxon - GOM 6.800 USD/Day
• Mobil - GOM 23.950 USD/Day
Today most of these installations have permanent sand
monitoring equipment installed. They now have the
equipment required to keep the production optimized at all
times.
Sand Management
Sand management is: Managing the sand production,
maintaining the installation integrity and the well
performance.
Development of new and more accurate sand detectors
made it possible to manage sand production in a safe and
efficient way. The first “boosting” jobs involved engineering,
safety precautions and a lot of attention and active
OCT-DEC 2009 35
involvement from engineers on site. The production gain
was significant. In the history of oil and gas production only
very few improvements have paid off as quickly as boosting
(optimizing production with acceptable sand production).
One of our customers did a full boosting exercise on all
wells. The procedure took several months, and a main
issue was safety. They operated very conservative, but
could still report back:
No well operation ever done on this installation has
increased the production as much as this.
This was an installation with good sand monitoring
equipment on all wells, and a good system for managing
sand. The increased production came from using a little
more time and putting extra focus on sand production.
In spite of the great success only a few years ago, such
examples are rare today. Often sand detectors are installed,
but the sand monitoring is forgotten. The control room get
an alarm, sometimes even without a procedure telling how
to act on the alarm.
It is important to actively use the information given by the
sand monitoring system. It is also important to realize that
fully understanding the sand production from a well or
installation takes time.
Conclusion – Sand
Sand monitoring is often neglected. Even if a sand
monitoring system is in place, lack of understanding,
operating procedures or maintenance will reduce the
value of the system. A correctly operated sand monitoring
system can significantly contribute positively to the
economics of a field. A sand monitoring system can provide
important and valuable information to production engineers
if monitored correctly. It can take time to learn and do
proper monitoring of sand production. The quick turnaround
of engineers within an operating company can represent a
challenge. Getting the most out of sand monitoring data
requires some continuity. In many cases it has proven
beneficial to subcontract parts of the sand monitoring
service. With the technology available today, one engineer
can monitor sand production from many wells at different
locations/installations, making the time more efficient and
value of the sand monitoring system higher.
Assigning some resources to work with sand production/
sand management issues from time to time, can potentially
improve the production significantly. This will also raise
the awareness and understanding of sand production,
which again will improve the safety and economy in a sand
management system.
Pig detector
A Pig Detector is a tool that is always used in pigging
operations. This operation is part of the operator’s pipeline
36 OCT-DEC 2009
integrity management programme aimed at avoiding
reduced capacity due to scale build-up or, in some cases,
shut-down due to leakage, corrosion, erosion, etc. Pigging
is also performed in some cases to separate changes of
media being transported in a pipe.
The ClampOn DSP Pig Detector monitors when the pig
is passing the point of installation. Providing reliable
information about the passage of the pig increases pipeline
integrity and produces cost savings.
ClampOn pig detection systems perform this operation
in a simple and safe way as they only monitor the pig from
the outside of the pipe. The sensor is simply clamped onto
the pipe, eliminating any need for welding or drilling
during installation. There is no need for inserts in the pig
and the system is capable of detecting all types of pigs or
plugs.
The ClampOn DSP Pig Detector, based on our Ultrasonic
Intelligent Sensor Technology, represents the latest state-
of-the-art technology. This acoustic instrument accurately
detects the passage of all types of pigs in real time, giving
instant warning to the operator. Its signal output can also be
used to indicate the amount of debris pushed ahead by the
pig during pipeline cleaning operations. ClampOn pig
detection systems have been successfully tested and used
by a large number of clients for many years, and this latest
model makes the system even more compact and reliable.
DSP (Digital Signal Processing) represents leading-edge
technology in this field and keeps us ahead of the
competition.
Leak Monitor
The ClampOn DSP leak Monitor makes it possible to
identify and quantify leaks from critical areas, primarily
valves, but can also be used on flanges, bends, joints etc.
Acoustic leak monitors in mechanical contact with the
components of special interest have clear advantages over
many alternatives, in particular for continuous monitoring
over time or during specific operations. Non-invasiveness
and repeatability are among the most important benefits of
this technology. After withstanding a thorough laboratory
demonstration, a set of self-contained, battery operated
subsea leak monitors were set up to monitor the closing of
two 20” subsea valves between a cross over. These valves
had not been operated for 25 years and the client wanted
to use the leak monitors to verify whether additional
operations were needed. Before deployment the leak
monitors went through a laboratory demonstration to verify
that they would work and quantify the leak in the valves.
Leak detection thresholds depend on valve and pipe
geometry, placement of sensor and differential pressure.
The prediction model was verified and predicted 95%
certainty to detect leakages as low as 42 SCM/h at a 50 bar
differential pressure. A small leak was detected into the
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cross over from one of the valves.
Leaks in subsea installations are detected by several
methods. Bubble plumes due to large gas leakages to the
environment can be discovered visually. Dye and
fluorescent tracers are used for detecting fluid leaks visually
or by sensitive cameras or fluorometers. Due to their
potential harm to the environment, however, the use of
tracers is being phased out in some areas. Chemical
analysis of seawater has similar use, based on detection of
a substance that has escaped through a leak. Detection of
through-valve and cross-flow types of leaks requires a
different set of techniques. Static pressure measurements
using block-and-bleed methods seem the most common,
but can be unpractical and sometimes not sensitive enough
to satisfy given specifications. Acoustic methods have been
used to some degree, most commonly by means of
hydrophones that pick up ultrasound propagating through
water from a leak in the vicinity. Susceptibility to noise and
limited sensitivity has been two weak points of such
hydrophone measurements.
Another acoustic method for leak detection is performed
with ultrasonic sensors in direct contact with the specimen
under test. When this method is used, acoustic signals
created by turbulent leak flow are picked up directly
through the solid structure, eliminating the need for
propagation through the strongly attenuating seawater.
Although noise from some sources such as ROV thrusters
and manipulators may still disturb the measurements
intermittently, the direct mechanical contact enables leak
detection and continued monitoring with high degrees of
sensitivity and repeatability. Only the differential pressure
across the valve is needed for quantifying the leak rate.
Permanent or temporary/retrofit leak monitors can be
placed at critical locations, either providing real-time
leakage data or logging measurement results to internal
memory for extended time periods. The ClampOn DSP
Leak Monitor is a completely digital, direct contact acoustic
leak monitor. All signal processing is done in the sensor
itself, securing the best possible signal-to-noise ratio and
this limiting the influence from other sources.
Corrosion-Erosion Monitor
ClampOn’s Corrosion-Erosion Monitor (CEM) is an online,
real-time path based thickness assessment tool that deploys
a set of transducers over a given pipe area, and utilizes a
dispersion based principle to assess wall thickness loss.
This instrument was developed keeping the needs of the
oil, gas and petrochemical industry in mind, both upstream
and downstream, but because it essentially monitors
reductions in wall loss, it can find applications in many
other industries. Experimental work and field trials provide
very promising results pertaining to the functionality of the
CEM system, and some of these results will be discussed
later. The CEM can be used as a permanent installation or
as a relocatable instrument, a result of ClampOn’s
development of so called “dry contact” transducers. It is
installed on the outer pipe wall to produce real-time pipe
wall thickness information, not as a spot measurement, but
as a unique average path wall thickness. It is set up with 2
to 8 “Dry Contact” transducers, making it able to cover as
much as 65% of stretches up to two meters. The CEM can
be used on wall thicknesses in the range of 4- 40mm with
sensitivity better than 1% and a repeatability of ±0.04% of
wall thickness over the full temperature – 40oC to +160oC.
The CEM uses ultrasonic guided waves, called Lamb
waves, to perform its measurement, covering a much larger
distance along the pipe surface than any other spot
measurement system with a comparable number of
transducers. By using two and two transducers in a pitch-
catch mode of operation the average wall thickness between
the transducers can be obtained, drastically limiting the
number of transducers needed to cover the selected area.
The robust thickness assessment procedure involves a
comprehensive analysis of the phase and group velocity
dispersion characteristics of appropriate wave modes of
the dispersion curves. The choice of modes for the analysis
constitutes an important part of the design, as not all modes
are equally sensitive to variations in wall thickness.
The CEM has been designed to provide an economical
alternative to other ultrasonic-based systems and
undesirable intrusive systems to get an estimate of the
extent of corrosive and erosive damage in a structure. The
system relies on lamb wave dispersion based analysis, and
the attempt has been to optimize the compromise between
high accuracy and high robustness. Acoustically important
spurious effects have been taken into account in the design
of the technique, including temperature, fluid loading, etc,
and several tests have been performed to verify system
functionality and effectiveness. A permanently installed,
real time monitoring system with a sensitivity of 1% to
changing average wall thickness, coupled with its robustness
of operation is expected to provide the oil and gas industry
an economic, efficient and reliable alternative to existing
non-destructive pipeline evaluation methods.
The ClampOn Corrosion-Erosion Monitor it currently
available for topside installation, while the subsea version
is under development and will be commercially available
in the near future.
Vibration Monitoring
Vibrations always start at very high frequencies and
change to lower frequencies as the conditions develop.
The ClampOn DSP Vibration Monitor is an ideal instrument
to monitor three directional vibrations on structures and
pipelines with either high frequency shear waves or low
frequencies. The system is designed with a broadband
OCT-DEC 2009 37
frequency response from 0 Hz to 262 144 Hz, suitable for Frequency range accelerometer: 0,125 Hz – 1 000 Hz, 0 g – 5 g
early detection of vibrations in objects such as: Frequency range ultrasonic 1 024 Hz – 262 144 Hz
element:
• Flow lines, jumpers Output format: X, Y & Z in average and max data,
• Pumps, rotary machinery each variable is u16 data type.
• Subsea structures Vibration resolution: 10 mg; 10 mg = 1, 1 g = 100
The vibrations are monitored by utilizing two different Measurement update time: 1 sec (updating sequence)
measurement principles in combination.
1. Shear waves propagating from metal friction are picked The system is set up to provide measurements as an FFT
up by an ultrasonic element. These measurements will where the amplitude represents acceleration. Each
give an early indication of potential fault conditions as frequency bin will contain the maximum and average from
all these are typically high frequency waves. all axes - X, Y and Z. Measurements done by the ultrasonic
2. 3D Vibrations from 0 Hz to 1 000Hz will be quantified element will have max and average values, and have been
by an accelerometer. calibrated in order to provide the correct frequency and
To optimize both metering acceleration response. PP
schemes, the Vibration Monitor
3D needs both mechanical and PetroMin PipeLiner would like to show appreciation to
acoustic coupling to the Mr. Dag A Aldal, President, ClampOn AS for this paper
structure. which was presented at our 7th PetroMin Deepwater
The ClampOn DSP Vibration Technology Asia Conference 2009 held in October
Monitor 3D can also function 2009, in Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
in parallel as a regular Particle
Monitor in REAL TIME.

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