Paper: INTRINSICALLY SAFE WELL ANALYSIS INSTRUMENTS

Safety in the workplace is one of the major considerations for selecting and applying instruments for use in conjunction with oil and gas operations. All companies, government and labor organizations have developed guidelines and regulations aimed at making the workplace as safe as possible. In particular, instruments that are used in a hazardous environment have to meet strict requirements and specifications and be certified for use in explosive atmospheres. API has developed guidelines that define the level of hazard in relation to oil and gas production locations where explosive gases are present. It is important that the user of certified instruments understand the meaning of certification of an intrinsically safe system, the process that the manufacturer must follow to obtain certification and the requirements and procedures that must be adhered to in order to achieve the required level of safety when installing and using the equipment. This paper presents the fundamental aspects of intrinsic safety certification with respect to fluid level instruments used in analyzing the performance of wells during drilling, production and workover operations.