The acquisition of representative subsea fluid sampling from offshore field development asset is crucial for the correct evaluation of oil reserves and for the design of subsea production facilities. Due to rising operational expenditures, operators and manufacturers have been working hard to provide systems to enable cost effective subsea fluid sampling solutions. To achieve this, any system has to collect sufficient sample volumes to ensure statistically valid characterisation of the sampled fluids. In executing the research project, various subsea sampling methods used in the offshore industry were examined and ranked using multi criteria decision making; a solution using a remote operated vehicle was selected as the preferred method, to compliment the subsea multiphase flowmeter capability, used to provide well diagnostics to measure individual phases – oil, gas, and water. A mechanistic (compositional fluid tracking) model is employed, using the fluid properties that are equivalent to the production flow stream being measured, to predict reliable reservoir fluid characteristics on the subsea production system. This is applicable even under conditions where significant variations in the reservoir fluid composition occur in transient production operations. The model also adds value in the decision to employ subsea processing in managing water breakthrough as the field matures. This can be achieved through efficient processing of the fluid with separation and boosting delivered to the topside facilities or for water re-injection to the reservoir. The combination of multiphase flowmeter, remote operated vehicle deployed fluid sampling and the mechanistic model provides a balanced approach to reservoir performance monitoring. Therefore, regular and systematic field tailored application of subsea fluid sampling should provide detailed understanding on formation fluid, a basis for accurate prediction of reservoir fluid characteristic, to maximize well production in offshore field development.

[pt] O medidor de vazão de fluido multifásico (MM) se desenvolveu impulsionado principalmente pela necessidade da indústria de óleo e gás em medir a vazão da produção dos poços que comumente é composta por petróleo, gás e água. Em outubro de 2015, a Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP) publicou o Regulamento Técnico de Medição de Fluido Multifásico para Apropriação de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Água que apresenta os requisitos através de planos que as empresas operadoras de óleo e gás precisam preparar e submeter para obter a autorização para aplicar o MM na medição para apropriação. Contudo, esse regulamento não especifica a metodologia que deve ser utilizada no denominado plano de verificação de desempenho para avaliar desempenho do MM no campo, cabendo a cada operadora desenvolver a sua metodologia para esse fim e apresentar a ANP. Este trabalho propõe e aplica uma metodologia para verificação de desempenho para MM com resultados de testes realizados em laboratório com fluidos reais e em campo de produção de petróleo e gás. É observado que testes com tempo curto de duração, inferior a 1000 segundos, tendem a gerar incertezas mais elevadas do que testes com longa duração, com mais de 1000 segundos, como os realizados na plataforma. Sendo assim, os resultados de incerteza de medição maiores gerados no laboratório com tempos de integração curtos podem ser considerados mais conservativos que os resultados dos testes realizados na plataforma. / [en] The multiphase flowrate (MM) was driven by the necessity of the oil and gas industry to measure the production flow of the wells that are commonly composed of oil, gas and water. In October 2015, the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) published the Technical Regulation for Measurement of Multiphase Fluid for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Water produced, which presents the requirements through plans that oil and gas companies need to prepare and submit for authorization to apply the MM in the measurement for allocation. However, this regulation does not specify the methodology that should be used in the so-called performance verification plan to evaluate the performance of the MM in the field, it being incumbent on each operator to develop its methodology for this purpose and present the ANP. This work proposes and applies a methodology for performance verification for MM with test results performed in the laboratory with real fluids and in oil and gas field. It was observed that short duration tests, below 1000 seconds, tend to generate higher uncertainties than long tests, higher than 1000 seconds, such as those performed on the platform. Thus, the higher measurement uncertainty results generated in the laboratory with short integration times can be considered more conservative than the results of the tests performed in the platform.