Optimized Oil Recovery and Automation Converge

To combat low oil prices and smaller margins, North American oil and gas producers are moving toward digital oilfield applications to drive efficiencies with their existing wells. As a result, optimized oil recovery strategies are replacing large capital offshore projects.

There has also been a great deal of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the face of lower oil prices, and assimilating disparate control systems and processes has been a major challenge. To overcome this obstacle, companies are employing a factory manufacturing approach to drive vertical integration of oil assets.

Amarillo, Texas-basedPantera Energy., for example, is a David in an industry full of Goliaths, but its aggressive acquisition strategy includes more than 200 major M&As since its inception in 1982. Operating more than 1,300 wells across Texas and Oklahoma, the oil and gas producer needed to move away from proprietary control solutions that prevented its ability to increase efficiencies.

在最近的资产收购后，Pantera转向系统集成商Champion Automation实施试点项目归纳自动化基于Java的SCADA系统和Kepware Technologies’KEPServerEX OPC connectivity platform.

采用Kepserverex和SCADA平台，Pantera知道它可以支持其积极的收购战略，并迅速整合不同的设备。初始项目包括25个泵控制器，约50个压缩机和八个盐水处理系统（SWDS）。对于这些井网站的半径为30-40英里，Pantera面临着与人类泵浦监控和管理这些设备资产的主要挑战。

“We formulated the control and networking architecture, while also commissioning the oilfield project,” says Lee Reeves, founder and technical director at Champion Automation. “One of the primary design considerations with this project was the lack of SCADA workforce knowledge before this installation. Pantera doesn’t have a full-time, trained SCADA technician or engineer, so we had to design a system that a layman could use.”

Besides operating control, simplicity was essential for maintenance and the ability to add new SCADA tags for the different types of SWD compressors.

对于这种“油田作为制造操作”是必不可少的OPC接口标准。该协议简化了多种符合OPC标准的SCADA平台的多种类型OEM设备的通信。该项目包括Emerson Process Management远程操作控制器，ABBflow computers,Weatherford杆泵控制器和用于设备控制的各种PLC。来自Kepware的通信平台可以为各种设备，数据库和应用程序收集来自150个不同协议或驱动程序的数据。

“这个按工程的许多有趣的方面之一ct was the interface to Pantera’s liquid well sites that used Weatherford 8500 pump-off controllers,” says Jeff Klumpp, project manager at Champion Automation.

当底部井压力接近储层闭合压力时，可能会发生成熟孔中的液体积聚，这可能会阻碍或有时停止生产。

“When the pump pulls so much oil out of the hole, the level drops and they need to shut it off,” Klumpp says. “Previously, human pumpers drove to the individual well sites to monitor and control this local process, but now this has been integrated into the SCADA platform. Champion also developed the mobile and HMI screen design for the pump-off process and tuning of these controllers.”

Getting data to mobile operators as quickly as possible was highly coveted by Pantera, but so was the quick commissioning time involved for this project.

The commissioning started in November, and by January the SCADA system was partially deployed. “The communications infrastructure design took about two to three weeks, but the SCADA platform was operational pretty quickly,” says Doug Gremillion, technical design engineer and director at Champion Automation. “Even with this partially deployed system, Pantera was able to take advantage of the SCADA system immediately.”

“It’s a very quick and easy way to introduce a SCADA solution,” says Steve Sponseller, business director of oil and gas at Kepware. “Champion became familiar with the integration of KEPServerEX in the oil and gas market when implementing Ignition.”

这种快速部署的一个优点是直接使用这些远程井的警报通知。“如果压缩机落后，Pantera在30分钟内收到警报通知，”格雷米昂说。设备和仪器之间的串行通信是通过Modbus完成的，并且使用无线回程来连接到SCADA平台。

Before the alarm procedure, a human pumper would routinely drive 15-30 miles to visit different well sites throughout the day to monitor equipment. “A pumper might visit a site and everything might look fine,” Gremillion says. “After traveling to the next well, the previous site could malfunction and production would be lost until the next day’s visit.”

Though financial analysts are still not convinced that an M&A strategy will win the day against low oil prices, an “oilfield as a manufacturing operation” strategy will pay dividends now and when oil starts heading north.