Viscometers Attract Interest at Global Petroleum Show

Brookfield Engineering Laboratories (USA), world specialist in viscosity measurement and control, recently displayed instruments at the Global Petroleum show in Calgary, Canada. The demand for these within the oil and gas markets help to attract a crowd.

Brookfield’s PVS viscometer with new Rheovision 2012 Software, along with the industry leading TT100, have been successfully providing a leading fluids company in Calgary, Canada with measurement for development of real-time monitoring of rheological properties of frac fluids. With the ability to dramatically save time and money, Brookfield drew a lot of interest.

One leading fluids company, who is a provider of innovative, engineered solutions to companies involved in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves extensively uses Brookfield’s PVS viscometers to build a fluid database for frac fluids. They use numerous Brookfield instruments at operations all around the world. The PVS helps with both time efficiency & cost savings by quantifying fluid properties & providing accurate temperature readings.

The PVS allows you to easily set tests and it is quickly packaged up and moved. It is extremely reliable, easy to calibrate and easy to use. With it being practical in size, the PVS has a small foot print which is important for efficiency of space onsite as well.

Traditionally, field engineers at the well site use a small bench top viscometer with coaxial cylinder geometry to test grab-samples of the fracturing fluid. This frequently, fails to detect, in real time, variations in viscosity as the fluid is blended and pumped into the well, resulting in wrong conclusions about what is actually going on in the well.

The solution to this is to install process viscometers (like the Brookfield pipeline mounted TT100, which is widely used in the oilfield services industry) employing the same geometry and operating at the same shear rate as the bench top Couette Geometry viscometers. A process viscometer provides real-time, in-line measurements for gels moving in pressurised lines from blenders before being pumped down-hole. It continuously verifies, at the well site, that the rheology of the fracturing fluid is within established specifications and provides an alarm indication when it is not, thus providing the means for precise, real time, viscosity control along with a complete and accurate record of the fracturing process.

The result is reduced costs, less wear on equipment, and lower risk of damage to the formation. The TT100 is also used to give inline viscosity data for drill mud. It provides data for easy YP & PV calculation in real time.