About this industry
An oil & gas operation runs most of its measurement where the atmosphere itself is the hazard — custody-grade flow at the meter run, injection and produced-water metering at the wellsite, gas leak detection at compressor stations and refineries, and heat and power at sites the grid never reaches. Prater Technical Partners supplies that layer across the Badger Meter family (Blancett and Cox turbine metering, ModMAG, Preso, ATi GasSens gas detection), hazardous-location electric heating from Indeeco, Heatrex, and Accutherm, WIKA-ST well-service pressure instrumentation, and SunWize remote solar power. Classified-area ratings run through the whole portfolio — explosion-proof meters and heaters, intrinsically safe registers, Class I Division 2 solar builds. Prater Technical works with you to spec each one from the fluid, the area classification, and the site conditions.
- Fuel-oil, gear-oil & hydraulic reservoir heating—Accutherm Screw-Plug·Heatrex Screw-Plug
- Vertical-mount fuel-oil & heavy-oil preheat—Accutherm Vertical Circulation
- Purged & explosion-resistant heater control panels—Indeeco Control Panels·Accutherm Control Panels
- Analyzer & sample-line dew-point / temperature maintenance—Indeeco Heat Trace (iHeat)
- Wrap-on flexible freeze protection for pump housings & field valves—Hi-Heat Silicone Rubber
- Compact hazardous-area liquid metering between flanges—QuikSert Explosion-Proof·Blancett QuikSert
- Fuel-gas, instrument-air & compressed process-gas metering—Blancett Gas QuikSert
- Intrinsically safe field indication on turbine & PD meter runs—Blancett B2900
- Drilling & wellsite hydraulic diagnostics—Flo-tech MC4000·Flo-tech PFM6
- Hydraulic flow sensing where the pickup sits in a classified area—Flo-tech F5162
- A.P.I. oil & oilfield chemical flow indication—Hedland Corrosive-Liquid VA
- Scaled 4–20 mA & pulse on fuel dosing & batching skids—IOG ER-420 Register
FAQ: instrumentation for oil & gas
Which meters handle custody transfer of refined fuels and hydrocarbons?
Cox turbine meters are built for it — the Exact CDL/CDX covers custody transfer of refined fuels and hydrocarbons across a wide turndown, the FC30 flow computer applies API 2540 and AGA-7 corrections at the meter run, and Cox flow straighteners plus MIL-PRF-7024 calibration keep the run certified. For custody-grade differential metering with sour-service NACE MR-0175 materials, the Preso Venturi line adds a NIST wet-flow calibration option. Start at the Cox page.
Can you supply flow meters rated for classified hazardous areas?
Yes — much of the portfolio is built for exactly that. Blancett B3150 and QuikSert Explosion-Proof turbines carry Class I, Division 1 ratings for oilfield metering; the IOG ER-500 monitors flammable petroleum lines in Division 1 areas; and ModMAG M3000 (Division 2) and M4000 (Division 1) mag meters handle produced water inside the classified envelope, with the FC-5000 flow computer giving operators a readout from a safe location. Start at the flow meters page.
Do you cover electric heating for storage tanks and classified areas?
Yes — hazardous-location heating is a signature of the Aspeq lines we represent. Accutherm explosion-proof immersion heaters heat fluids in Class I areas, Indeeco and Heatrex flanged-immersion and tank heaters hold crude and heavy oils at pumpable viscosity in pipeline, terminal, and refinery vessels, and Indeeco impedance systems freeze-protect and cold-start long process pipelines. Most of it is engineered to order from your vessel drawing and fluid — start at the electric heating page.
How do you power a wellsite or pipeline site with no grid connection?
A SunWize packaged solar power system is the usual answer: Power Ready systems carry pipeline and tank monitoring loads and cathodic-protection rectifiers, skid-mounted Power Stations handle higher-current CP duty, and hybrid solar-plus-generator or fuel-cell systems cover loads that outgrow a practical PV-only array. Class I, Division 2 sites are built with a C1D2-rated module and sealed enclosures. See SunWize.
What gas detection fits compressor stations and refineries?
The ATi GasSens line covers ambient gas monitoring across a site: the C12-17 detects methane and natural-gas leaks at compressor and pump stations, a B14 receiver alarms on a combustible %LEL point up to 10,000 ft from the panel, the D12 covers toxic and combustible gases at refineries, and the F12iS runs loop-powered toxic monitoring in classified zones behind an I.S. barrier. See the ATi GasSens page.
Working a wellsite spec, a custody-transfer meter run, or a classified-area heating problem? Talk to Scott — send directly to Scott Prater at scott@pratertechnical.com, or call him directly at 917-580-0878 during business hours.
Compiled by Prater Technical Partners.