Petroleum
Industry: Real Time Data Acquisition and Process Control Infrastructure
by
Sheikh Mohamad HS Said
Brunei Shell Petroleum Information Management
February
2003
Introduction
The global need for energy drives the petroleum upstream industry
to apply advanced technology
as enabler to operate the industry’s oil and gas production
facilities and to optimize its
hydrocarbon reservoirs more effectively. The advanced technology
helps to deliver large volumes
of high-frequency real time data that are valuable in facilitating
real time analysis for oil and gas
production optimization and hydrocarbon reservoir management.
The flow of real time information aids the flow
of oil and gas
The performance of an oil and gas field is measured and compared
against the performance
predicted from the field development plan. The measurement and comparison
process is done
iteratively to ensure that the field is delivering oil and gas to
its full potential. This process
requires real time field measurement data that is used by the expert
teams such as reservoir
engineers, and petroleum technologists who sit in the office some
distance away from the field
data sources. Thus the need to stream this data to the office domain
put emphasis on the
importance of a highly reliable Real Time Data Acquisition and Process
Control Infrastructure
that encompasses field sensors and transmitters, datacommunications,
network, data acquisition
and process control system, real time data historian, and visualization
tools.
The Data Acquisition and Process Control
systems such as Distributed Control System (DCS),
Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU), Flow Computer (FC), and Programmable
Logic Controller (PLC)
are connected to the intelligent sensors and other instrumentation
installed throughout the oil and
gas reservoirs, wells, surface production facilities and pipeline
network to collect continuous real
time measurement of the hydrocarbon production process (see figure
1).
Figure 1:
Illustrates a smart well outfitted with a variety of surface and
subsurface smart sensors and instrumentation for measuring hydrocarbon
pressure and temperature and controlling flow rates. A high volume
of valuable real time data is generated to provide experts with
an in depth understanding of the hydrocarbon reservoir behaviour.
(source: Shell iWell Technology document 2001)
The real time measurement data, transported via data communication
such as radio, fiber optic
or coaxial cable, and digital microwave, is used at all levels
of the organisation to provide
increased process monitoring and control, inventory and materials
planning, advanced
diagnostics, maintenance planning, and asset management in real
time (see figure 2).
With the data historian technology, the large volumes of real
time data can be stored with little or
no loss in resolution. And nowadays, data visualization techniques,
such as Web portal
technology, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and Web Phone provides
the user community the
ability to view the real time data from anywhere at any time.
Real Time Data Acquisition and Process Control Infrastructure
ensures real time process
data flow from the sensors and instruments through the telemetry
systems (DCS, RTU,
PLC) and data communication infrastructure (radio, digital microwave
radio, LAN) to the
office domain making real time field data available on the users
desktop and other
visualization tools.
Conclusion
As global energy demand increases, new and existing oil and gas
fields will have to be operated
smartly to realize their full potential. Future success will depend
on the petroleum industry
equipping itself with Real Time Data Acquisition and Process Control
Infrastructure, and
Information Management tools to efficiently and reliably deliver
relevant, real time information to
the right place and the right people for rapid, and accurate decision-making.
Technology, however, is not the only element required by the petroleum
industry to be
competitive in the hydrocarbon production. Harnessing people expertise
coupled with robust
business processes are also key elements for the industry to keeping
pace with the needs and
challenges of the marketplace.
References
• Field Networking 101, http://www.topworx.com/images/pdf/fn_fn_101.pdf
• Information Management in the E&P Industry, World Energy
Vol.5 No.1 2002
• Real-time data analysis: managing of the constant stream
of information generated by permanent downhole
metering, EPNL Special Issue: Production System Optimization
— October 1999 / SIEP 99-7027
• SCADA Talks, Industrial Computing, December 1999
• Smart Field Technology for Total Field Development, Alpha
Thames Ltd, IORS 2001 Conference
• Technology Turns Data Into Decisions, The American Oil
& Gas Reporter, January 2001
.
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