CEESI has performing wet gas flow meter testing since 1999, since we designed, built and commissioned a state of the art industrial grade nominally 4” wet natural gas flow facility. This system was first used for a Joint Industry Project (JIP) run by ten operators. This facility that operates with natural gas and various light hydrocarbon liquids (i.e. Decane, Stoddard Solvent or Exxsol D80) successfully tested many gas meter designs in wet gas flow service for the JIP. It subsequently became one of the oil & gas industries premier wet gas flow facilities, in continuous use checking wet gas meter performances of dry and wet natural gas meters for manufacturers and operators alike, testing manufacturer prototype wet gas flow meters and doing Factory Acceptance Tests on wet gas flow meters. In 2004 a nominally 2” branch of the system was produced on industrial demand.

In 2007 we upgraded the already well renowned facility to a full multiphase wet gas flow facility. The 4” system now has the very rare and highly sought after capability to flow light hydrocarbon liquid and / or water with natural gas flow. From completion of this upgrade the 4” CEESI multiphase wet natural gas flow system has been in continuous demand by industry, often for prototype of FAT testing of multiphase wet natural gas flow meters.

Due to the demand for multiphase wet natural gas flow test facilities, by industrial demand in 2011 CEESI upgraded the system to a nominally 8” multiphase wet natural gas flow test facility. Figure 1 (below) shows a schematic diagram of the current CEESI wet gas flow test facility. Note there is an 8” and a 4” flow loop utilizing the same central gas / liquid separator, liquid / liquid separator and compression system. The 8” diameter facility is utilized for 6” meter testing, the 4” diameter flow facility for the 2” meter testing. Larger meter sizes can be tested with the nominal 8” diameter system depending on the required wet gas flow conditions.


Figure 1 (above) shows that for both the 8” & 4” systems the dry gas flow exits the gas liquid separator and enters a bank of compressors (see Figure 2 below). The gas flow then passes through a heat exchanger before being metered by two dissimilar gas flow meters to guarantee the gas flow reference. These meters are a gas turbine (see Figure 3 below) and a gas Ultrasonic meter. A Gas Chromatograph is located at the meter section (not shown) to confirm the gas composition and gas properties.


The liquid exits the gas / liquid separator and enters a liquid / liquid separator where water and light hydrocarbon liquid are separated (see Figure 4 below). The individual liquid phases are moved by pumps (see Figure 5 below) through a bank of Coriolis meters before being injected into the gas stream downstream of the gas stream. The gas and liquid flow meters give the reliable reference flow rates. Both 8” & 4” test facilities have a long test section which allows several meters to be tested at one time. Each meter will have dedicated pressure and temperature transducers to guarantee the fluid properties at the test meter.


A unique view port has been designed that allows engineers unprecedented clarity in viewing the wet gas flow being metered. This view port / camera system is non-intrusive and can therefore be installed as the inlet spool to a meter (e.g. see Figure 6 below). Figure 7 below shows a sample still from a video of wet gas flow. The wet gas flow section has resident gas meters, i.e. an ultrasonic meter (see Figure 6 below) and an orifice meter (see Figure 8 below) with long term wet gas data recorded. The response of these meters to wet gas flow adds confidence to the well maintained reference system that the facility is behaving properly.


The CEESI wet gas flow test section is extremely versatile. Clients can choose to install the wet gas meter in any orientation, e.g. horizontal, vertical up (see Figure 9 below), vertical down or even inclined. The view port can be installed in any orientation. Clients can chose between asking CEESI to log all reference and test meter data together, or to log their own test meter data and have CEESI supply the reference data with a time stamp only.

Our wet gas test facility is one of the world’s leading wet gas flow meter test facilities. The facility has tested virtually every wet gas flow system on the market multiple times. Our staff have 14 years of continuous wet gas flow meter testing experience and are friendly and flexible to all clients. The multiphase wet natural gas flow capability operates from April until November. The system operates as a two phase flow facility (i.e. natural gas with hydrocarbon liquid without water) between December and March. Demand for the CEESI multiphase wet natural gas flown system has been high since its commissioning and potential customers are advised to book well ahead of the desired test time.