Custody Transfer & Metrology for Oil & Gas — Pro meter
Legal Shield • Engineering • Accredited Labs
Pro meter — engineering that protects revenue
Accuracy in commodity operations: crude oil, gas, diesel, ammonia, natural gas and LNG.
We design, implement, and support custody transfer metering systems for export and cross-border operations. Our objective is to ensure that measurements are defensible and contract risks are controllable.
Introduction
Pro meter is a team where engineering starts with trust.
For more than 40 years we have worked on accuracy in commodity operations: crude oil, diesel, NH3, natural gas. We can measure what others only “estimate”.
We design, implement, and support custody transfer systems for export and cross-border facilities. Every piece of equipment and every line in a method is not only a calculation — it is an engineering decision protected by standards, contract logic, and real practice.
We do not trade words. We deliver confidence:
- standards compliance,
- audit of documentation and operating conditions,
- legal review and “clean-up” of risks across supply and delivery stages.
Biography
Rail Basharov is the founder of Pro meter — an engineer who did not build a career; he built metrology.
I am a Russian-speaking metrology engineer and work as a “Russian Desk” for international companies: technical communication, documentation, and coordination with Russian-speaking teams and CIS regions.
- Graduate of Ufa State Petroleum Technological University
- Author of viscosity correction algorithms implemented in industry standards (VNIIR, VNIIMS)
- Practicing metrologist since the early 1980s
- Project lead in Latvia, CIS, and export trunk systems
Since the 1980s, Rail has worked on implementing non-standard solutions in metering systems, including the transition from reference-based methods to real measurements. He has participated in dozens of state commissions, international projects, and export-import operations. He developed an approach that combines:
- engineering accuracy,
- calculation and justification of tolerances,
- participation in the contractual / legal support of measurement responsibilities.
In custody transfer, experience is not a number — it is a risk control tool. I have seen how a “small” systematic bias becomes multi-million losses, and I know which points to check first.
Core Areas of Activity
Pro meter acts as an engineering and metrology partner: we do not just develop projects — we protect the Client’s interests at every stage: technical, legal, and metrological. Below are the areas where we deliver the highest effectiveness:
1. Custody Transfer Metering System Design
All projects are performed in cooperation with prime engineering design partners. Pro meter responsibility: metrology and measurement integrity.
- Turnkey metering systems — from technical specification to start-up
- Work at domestic and international terminals, gas storage (UGS), ports, and refineries
- Implementation of non-standard solutions (custom CTU configurations, compact quality control blocks)
- Each project includes documentation audit and compliance check (GOST, ISO, API, OIML)
- Each new cross-border project introduces new solutions
Learn more: Engineering and Design
2. Metrological Support
- Verification, calibration, and proving activities
- Development and verification of methods and protocols
- Review of manufacturer calculations and input data
- Expert assessment of metrological characteristics for international deliveries
- Consulting for the Client and vendor during commissioning
Learn more: Metrological Services
3. Documentation and Standardization
Development of full technical documentation:
- Verification methods
- Calibration / proving protocols
- Operating instructions
- Passport and registration forms
- Tender packages and procedure support
- Elimination of weak wording that can cause rejection or disputes
4. Audit and Expertise
Technical and legal audit (metrology part) before contract signature:
- Check validity periods and status of certificates
- Contract review for risks, penalties, and responsibilities
- Internal and external expert evaluation on request
- Expert support for arbitration and dispute cases
We call this the Pro meter Legal Shield.
5. Project Support and Consulting
- Participation in state and industry commissions
- Consulting before and during procurement
- Representation of the Client’s interests in disputes
- Training for Client staff and operational teams
- Modernization and integration projects with SCADA / ERP
Completed Projects
We are proud not only of what we built, but also of what we helped prevent:
- deliveries with invalid certificates
- errors in balance boundary calculations
- commissioning failures
- legal consequences caused by formal inaccuracies
Selected projects:
- Ventspils (1987 — node No. 703) — reference crude oil metering node; during operation supported ~20% of crude oil imports from Russia.
- Skrudaliena – Ventspils — border diesel stations; support of product deliveries toward the North-West direction of the Russian Federation.
- Inchukalns (underground natural gas storage) — metrological support for natural gas accounting.
- Korneti — implementation of aligned algorithms for gas quantity and quality calculation between the Russian Federation and the EU.
- Ust-Luga / Ufa / North-West RF — Pro meter metrological support for crude oil quantity measurement system; general contractor: Olimps.
I prepare an engineer to the level of an international Lead Engineer (Custody Transfer)
After the training, you will have a specialist capable of performing the following functions in practice:
- Organize and personally participate in the full cycle of calibration and verification of crude oil measurement stations / metering systems. Work with primary measuring instruments and understand the entire peripheral and infrastructure system that ensures accurate and reliable commercial oil accounting.
- Deeply understand how custody transfer systems operate, identify weak points — where money and trust are lost, and where financial stability is formed and long-term contracts are secured.
- Form an evidence-based foundation for contracts, prepare tender and bidding documentation, and advise decision-makers in disputed and conflict situations.
- Develop technical documentation, metrological support documentation, and participate in forming the legal part of contracts related to measurements and responsibilities of the parties.
- Design and improve oil measurement systems: identify financial risks, ensure transparency of commodity operations, and guarantee measurement accuracy and reliability with a measurable economic effect.
- Understand the measurement system as a whole: not only flow meters, density meters, and analyzers, but also power supply, SCADA, computational algorithms, and construction and process infrastructure. For this purpose, a detailed training course has been developed.
- Work with equipment suppliers: analyze technical specifications, review vendor documentation, and clearly explain to management — based on calculations — the consequences of short-term savings that lead to long-term losses and loss of trust.
- Work with programmers and automation specialists at the level of forming algorithm logic and calculation principles.
- Ensure simultaneous compliance with GOST and OIML / ISO / API requirements without conflicts in terminolo
Lead Custody Transfer Engineer — core competencies
Pro meter Standard. These are level criteria: they show that the engineer truly manages accuracy, evidential strength, and contractual risks.
- Mastery of the measurement chain as a single system of responsibility: flowmeter / prover / density meter / temperature / pressure / secondary instrumentation / flow computer.
- Evidence & traceability: certificates, validity periods, verification intervals, sealing, access control, and the legal significance of data.
- Proving practice and verification under real operating conditions: operating modes, repeatability, causes of bias, impact of infrastructure and operational discipline.
- Understanding “error vs uncertainty” in the context of contracts, claims, and technical disputes: what constitutes evidence and how it is defended.
- SCADA and calculation logic validation: algorithms, tags, reports, archives, change audit, control of “who/when/what changed”.
- Vendor documentation expertise and verification of compliance with GOST / OIML / ISO / API requirements without gaps or methodological conflicts.
- Change management: upgrades and replacements without breaking legal traceability and without loss of evidential strength of measurements.
- Readiness for commissioning and acceptance: punch list, acceptance criteria, completeness control, documentation, and audit readiness.
How I work on site with your teams
“Operations-friendly” format: no theory and no role conflicts — only aligned actions, an evidence base, and a controllable result.
🧪Coordination with the metrology laboratory
Alignment of scope of work, schedule and shutdown windows, evidence requirements, protocol and reporting formats. Control of certificate validity, intervals, sealing, and traceability.
📊Alignment with dispatching and product accounting
Definition of which data is considered “trusted”, who signs what, which parameters are controlled, and where the final quantity is formed. Setup of deviation-control logic and responsibility.
🖥️Joint work with automation / IT
Verification of SCADA tags, calculation algorithms, reports, archiving, and audit trail (who/when/what changed). Requirements for event logs and calculation reproducibility.
✅Participation in acceptance, commissioning, and commissions
Preparation of the metering node for FAT/SAT, commissioning/acceptance, punch list, and control of completeness and audit readiness. Protocoling and closing “vulnerabilities” before signing.