LOOP's turbine meters cope with diverse crudes, large volumes

Early in its operations, Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) chose turbine meters for flow measurement in conjunction with mechanical displacement provers to provide the accuracy, resolution, and reliability to meet all regulatory and operational requirements. This paper discusses how LOOP's experience suggests basic design criteria for turbine meters and indicates factors that affect their performance in different crude types. LOOP is the only deepwater port in the U.S. for the importation of foreign crude oil. The facility is located in the Gulf of Mexico in Grand Isle Block 59, approximately 18 miles offshore. It was designed specifically for unloading very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs) up to 700,000 dwt via single anchor-leg mooring (SALM) systems. The facility has a pumping platform complex, submarine pipelines, a booster station, and a 48-in. pipeline interconnected to eight underground storage cavities each capable of a 4.5-5 million bbl capacity with a total combined capacity of over 40 million bbl.