Gazprom introducing new automated gas measurement, quality control systems
MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Gazprom is introducing new technologies for measuring gas which function without human involvement and which can be repaired without suspending fuel delivery.
The board of PJSC Gazprom approved a comprehensive target program for metrological support of production and technological processes on Thursday. The document will help to improve and technologically develop a system for monitoring the physical and chemical characteristics as well as volumes of gas when transported via gas pipelines.
To do this, the company is equipping existing gas measuring stations with modern domestic equipment and building new stations.
Beginning in 2022, instead of traditional multi-line gas measuring stations the company has been constructing innovative single-line stations based on ultrasonic gas flow transducers. Eleven such facilities already operate on Gazprom's gas transportation system. According to the target program, their number will more than double by the end of 2029.
The standard design of gas measuring stations assumes a multi-line scheme, when the gas flowing through a large-diameter main gas pipeline is distributed into several streams via smaller-diameter pipes with separate flow meters to measure volume and other physical and chemical characteristics.
"The innovative single-line gas measuring station uses a large-diameter ultrasonic system which is mounted directly on the main gas pipeline. This allows the station to be operated completely automatically, reduces its metal consumption, and makes it possible to carry out repairs and maintenance without suspending gas transportation," the company said. The development of innovative measuring stations received PJSC Gazprom's first prize in science and technology for 2022.
Within the program, the work of PJSC Gazprom's Metrological Center with the Primary State Special Standard for High-Pressure Natural Gas Consumption is an area of particular focus. The facility was launched in October 2024 and became Russia's first site for testing, verifying and calibrating high-precision instruments, flowmeters, to measure gas volumes during transportation, including for export.
The Metrological Center is dedicated to research into and checking flowmeters for a wide range of pressures, from 0.1 to 10 MPa. The Metrological Center's key element is the Primary State Special Standard, a technological installation that makes it possible to transmit the reference value of a cubic meter of gas with the highest possible accuracy to a metrological installation in order to check flow meters. All of the equipment used in setting up the Metrological Center is Russian-made.
