Dynamic Flare Monitoring Platform for Continuous Emission Monitoring and Reduction During Well Test and Well Cleanup Operations
Authors: Shumakov Yakov Alexandrovich , Zhandin Alexander , Comley Rebecca , Theuveny Bertrand 
Published: October 2022

An important aspect of well test and well clean-up operations is the need to produce and responsibly manage the hydrocarbons, typically through flaring, which is potentially an environmental concern. This challenge has received significant attention over the past few decades and remains a major concern today, especially in offshore environments, considering rising requirements for safe disposal of large volumes of crude and gas as well as completion fluids and possibly formation water produced.

Despite multiple alternative fluid disposal methods available today, in some cases, conventional hydrocarbon flaring may still be an optimum, cost-effective solution for a short duration of welltest or well clean-up operations. The high-efficiency burners and flare tips used today have proven their efficiency over the years; however, due to the dynamic nature of the well test operations, fast wind direction changes, variation of fluid types and properties, and the inefficiency of the fluid separation process, the actual operational efficiency often can be compromised increasing the risk of health, safety, and environment (HSE) incidents. These incidents can be prevented by a continuous dynamic flare monitoring system.

The inefficiency of the fluid disposal process can significantly constrain the operations, limiting achievable objectives and increasing the risk of HSE incidents. The combustion performance efficiency of modern high-efficiency burners used today has been practically proven over the last several decades and well studied and can now be modelled for operating conditions and create an operating burner envelope by using proprietary flare monitoring software. This software can also be used to estimate the required number of air compressors prior to the test to achieve high operating efficiency.

Many factors influence burning and flaring efficiencies, such as the composition of production fluid, wind speed, and wind direction; these affect the requirements of air supply and must be monitored for efficient flaring. Integration of the software used for determining the operating envelope and dynamic flare monitoring and surveillance with new-generation data acquisition software acquiring information from additional sensors and cameras pointed on the flare and using AI algorithms enables the evaluation and adjustment of the burner and flare efficiencies in real time according to actual operating conditions. Proprietary algorithms used by the software can estimate the environmental emission of CO2, CH4, and CO2e in real time during the well test operations.

This paper describes an innovative platform that is based on the unique combination of hardware and software and provides an integrated solution for dynamic flare monitoring and emission reporting during well test operations. The paper also summarises the results and lessons learned from the application of the dynamic flare monitoring system during multiple welltest and well clean-up operations performed offshore and onshore.