The determination and handling of sediment in the well stream is one of the major tasks of the oil and gas production industry, mainly in UGS fields. The appearance of the sediment is an indicator e.g. a failure of the GRAVEL. The presence of sediment may risk the safety of production because it most likely appears when wells are operated under a high flow rate. Furthermore, the presence of sediment reduces the lifetime of the fittings because of the heavy erosion effect.

The main benefit of a Sand Monitoring System is the determination of the sediment content (sand or limestone-dust) in well streams. Following indications of the appearance and of the quantity of the sediment content, corrective steps can be taken for interrupting the production in order to prevent the well from the serious damage.

Geoinform developed an intrusive type sand monitoring system: the erosion caused by sand production will change the physical properties of a probe which is set into the flow stream. Gas can intrude into this probe when a hole has been eroded on the sensor.

The calibration of this system is performed at the wellsite (in situ) using the same physical conditions which are typical for the production.

Our system is not sensitive to multi-phase well stream and is self-cleaning. It can measure other technological parameters as well. All of the signals and the measured data are transmitted to the centre systems via a Wireless communication network regardless of the distance.

Geoinform’s Sand Monitoring System is also very effective for monitoring the wells of Underground Gas Storage facilities during intense withdrawal periods.