Market Pressures Put Focus on Measurement
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Author: Saudi Aramco News
Released 13 December 2007
AMMAM, December 12, 2007 -- As Saudi Aramco hydrocarbons move around the Kingdom and the globe, the volumes and ownership change.
Abdulrahman Bukhari of Riyadh Refinery asks a question during the Custody Measurement Unit’s fourth Technical Exchange Meeting and Exhibition. (Photos by Abu Abdul Aziz Studio)
You may not have thought about that before, but the people who think about that all the time, the Process and Control Systems’ Custody Measurement Unit (P&CSD/CMU), held their fourth Technical Exchange Meeting and Exhibition on Nov. 12-14 at the Dammam Office Building to discuss “Custody Measurement: Financial Productivity and Company Credibility.”
Custody transfer measurement provides information used to document changes in ownership and responsibility of commodities.
Such measurements include deliveries or receipts for hydrocarbon liquid or gas movements between Saudi Aramco and its customers, suppliers or transport contractors; measurement of hydrocarbon liquid or gas transfers among Saudi Aramco entities such as refineries, bulk plants, terminals and Vela International Marine, Ltd., where the measurement is used for accounting or loss control.
The world’s top oil and gas industry experts gathered to discuss their area of expertise.
Coordinator Khalid A. Al-Fadhl welcomed the guests, urging them to share their experiences, ideas and concerns. He said the meeting would give them the opportunity to see the latest technologies displayed by vendors and manufacturers.
Farhan W. Al-Jabir
Kamal H. Banjar, acting general supervisor of Process Instrumentation, expressed the company’s gratitude to those who came from all over the world to participate.
Measurement specialists, he said, including those representing suppliers and purchasers of hydrocarbons, equipment manufacturers and standards organizations, are today being challenged to improve the accuracy and defensibility of hydrocarbon measurement more than ever.
That pressure is only going to increase, Banjar said. With energy prices escalating, even small uncertainties in the volumes of transported hydrocarbons are impacting more and more on the company revenues.
“With higher prices and technical advances in information systems, customers are naturally increasing their scrutiny of the measurement activities associated with their hydrocarbon purchases,” Banjar said. “To maintain good business relationships, reputable suppliers of hydrocarbons have to dramatically increase their attention to the details of measurement in order to meet the expectations of their customers.”
Keynote speaker Farhan W. Al-Jabir, manager of Operations Accounting, emphasized the critical role of custody measurement in enhancing the Kingdom’s and the company’s revenues.
Khalid A. Al-Fadhl
Twenty-one technical papers were presented to an audience of 200. Fourteen equipment exhibitors demonstrated the latest custody measurement technologies.
Along with the exchange meeting, P&CSD/CMU sponsored a training course for 20 Saudi Aramco participants on Gas Measurement Using Ultrasonic, presented by Colorado Engineering Experimental Station Inc.
Among the conclusions of the meeting were that company experts need to expand their involvement in the American Petroleum Institute’s Measurement Subcommittees and Working Groups; and that proponent organizations within Saudi Aramco were to focus on providing adequate training for those who operate and maintain metering systems.
The meeting also shed light on the new technologies such as ultrasonic meters in liquid measurement.