Drawing four aces isn’t the impossible goal that it seems. Hold them all in your hand and you’ll have a winning game almost every time. You can multiply the positive impact of your LUAF efforts and stop losing money on your assets if you hold and play the right cards – together.

In LUAF, getting out what you put in is almost impossible. A very low LUAF is 0.1%; we suggest that “normal” is about 0.4%. But 2% LUAF can and does happen. Now we’re talking real money. What is the impact of 2% (or more) on your ROI?

Organizations that are not controlling LUAF gas at an average rate of 0.25% or less of custody receipts aren’t keeping up. That’s why many leading pipeline transportation companies as well as producers have been investing in aggressive gas measurement control methodologies for years – to avoid the purchase of replacement gas.

Straight off the top of the deck, the “Four Aces” for Lost and Unaccounted-For Gas Measurement are:
• Accurate meters
• Monitored measurements
• Trained personnel
• Preservation or recovery of revenue

Accurate Meters Reveal the “First Cause”
The move to electronic metering devices from pneumatic has been accomplished, of course. Starting in 2002, the flow of natural gas out of wells, and through pipelines, began to be metered by ultrasonic measurement.

Once ultrasonic devices have been dry-calibrated, pipeline owners install the spools that meet AGA-9 requirements; then (typically) send the entire unit to an accredited calibration facility. To meet regulatory requirements, a description of how the meter is going to be used is sent along with the unit. The independent facility sends the meter back calibrated. (Ultrasonic metering is heavily used in transmission; but it is not yet been widely adopted for production or gathering systems.)

Initial calibrations are getting more and more accurate, which benefits everyone.

After years of installation, though, the original units are aging. After five, six or seven years, what’s to be done with them? Your examinations and ours find that errors set in due to fouling, dirt and degradation. Quantifying the errors is difficult, even if these meters are run “as found,” then cleaned and re-tested, because ultrasonic meters can’t be calibrated to standard in the field.
A regular program of inspection and evaluation will uncover measurement errors caused by out-of-spec meters. Think of this as “first-cause” discovery. Then accredited, independent re-calibration is the right solution. Accurate meters are the first ace.

Monitored Measurements Mean Timely Actions
Web-based data management delivers increasingly effective ways for customers to see and act on data. At the same time, the costs of communicating the data have come down steadily. The benefits include more than cost-effectiveness. Operators can gain provable savings in downtime and operations; and quick, visible payback on their investment.

You’ll note, though, that there’s a see-and-act component to this part of the story. Gathering the data – especially via remote collection systems – is critical. But monitoring is more important still.

Wouldn’t you agree that without effective monitoring, there can be no effective action? When an operator doesn’t have the capacity to undertake this monitoring function, opportunities exist to use third parties. Effectiveness demands that such third-party monitoring be useful and as close to real time as possible, to ensure that the operator can take appropriate action and recover LUAF gas on a timely basis.

If you don’t mind, we’ll use the PGAS® gas measurement system as an example of appropriate third-party monitoring. By taking our customers’ data and processing it through the PGAS® System, the effort of monitoring, validating and reviewing the data is shifted from a tedious, manual job (See Ace #3, below) to a highly efficient automated process. The system itself looks for anomalies. PGAS® stops the flow of gas if there’s an exception, identifying the problem data so an operator can focus on resolving the exception rather than reviewing all the data.

It then posts all data to a customer-accessible website. This way, you can see the data for yourself, and evaluate it yourself. At the same time, the data has already been checked for accuracy by EMS. One customer (among many) uses EMS to monitor its gas wells 24/7, to help it prevent loss of reserves. Another customer uses third-party monitoring to get a close-to-real-time accounting of losses and recoveries; the resulting savings offset the cost of the service by a considerable margin. Above all, the emphasis is on active monitoring.

Being able to see and act promptly and efficiently is the second ace.

People Are Critical to the Process
The need for trained personnel is a drum that we have beaten often and we’ll continue to do so.

You probably already realize that responsibility for too many activities and actions reduces the value of your people to the long-term operational and financial health of your company. Having to undertake LUAF control measures that may extend from a valve and meter at a snow-covered site to eyes-on-the-screen data analysis is a mighty broad range of jobs. The challenges could include:

• Meeting AGA requirements in detail.
• Inspecting and cleaning meter runs.
• Recognizing out-of-spec volumetric measurements.
• Understanding what may cause those out-of-spec measurements – and what to do about them

What are technicians’ responsibilities over and above measurement? How do area managers react to measurement data and how quickly can they take remedial actions? They may be doing everything they can, given the time and resources they have. It may not be enough.

Caught between demands for preserving or recovering the value of your assets and bottom-line operational profitability, your team may benefit from incremental training, available through a variety of sources. Or you may choose to supplement your overtaxed personnel with fully trained and qualified third-party support, from inspection and cleaning of valves and meters to data monitoring.

Either way, effective LUAF recovery requires equally effective people – that’s why they’re the third ace.

Manning the Cash Register for Revenue Recovery
LUAF gas is a large-scale, ongoing issue every day for the industry. Gas transportation and delivery contracts can be written to favor accurate measurement, so a major objective is to prevent measurement mistakes from cutting into revenue.

Recognizing that meters are your cash registers, measurement of natural gas flows is multi-dimensional, from improved security and operator change logging to detailed audit tracking of configuration and volume data. Using monitored measurement, an audit function can offer improved viewing capabilities that let you (and regulators) follow the trail of active gas measurement records and keep track of inactive records.

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts have become a big driver, too. Transporters and producers are recognizing that effective measurement of production volumes, gas quality and delivery transactions are crucial in the accurate and speedy recording of revenue and the reporting of financial results.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s Section 409 requires reporting companies to disclose information to the public “on a rapid and current basis.” Speed is good: the faster you can identify LUAF gas, the more quickly you can recover the revenues you may lose otherwise.

Summing Up the Four Aces
Gas measurement systems that effectively encompass all four of the elements we’d discussed here ensure that everyone from the field technician to the corporate accounting team has access to the same information.

Access to data is just one factor. With all four aces in your hand – maintenance of accurate meters; monitored measurements; trained personnel; and efficient preservation or recovery of revenue – you can increase not only your profitability, but your productivity too.