Automatic remote monitoring of well fluid properties based on IoT and the PMRA-IV flow PMR analyzer

Abstract

Late-stage oilfield development is characterized by increasing water cut, multiphase flow nonstationarity, and a growing share of high-viscosity crude oils containing asphaltene-resin-paraffin components. Under these conditions, conventional control approaches based on manual sampling and in-line water cut meters with limited operating ranges do not provide sufficient responsiveness and reliability, especially near the phase inversion region of water-in-oil emulsions. This paper proposes a technically grounded architecture for real-time online monitoring of well fluid properties using the PMRA-IV flow proton magnetic resonance (PMR) relaxometer integrated into an industrial IoT loop. Requirements for stable flow-through measurements, the hardware-software composition, remote data acquisition and transmission principles, and field communication channel selection are discussed. A combined communication architecture with wired backbones and energy-efficient radio links for remote nodes is shown to improve telemetry robustness and scalability. IoT integration of PMRA-IV enables continuous time-series accumulation, predictive analytics support, and condition-based maintenance, reducing human-factor impact and improving data quality for production control.