Operational Excellence in Upstream Oil and Gas

Operational Excellence in Upstream Oil and Gas

What is Operational Excellence? Is a consulting process that benchmarks the automation in your company against Industry Best Practices, for the following benefits: Productivity Reliability Work Practices Safety & Environment Support, Maintenance and Training The Operational Excellence process identifies and documents enterprise opportunities for improvements that result in extracting high value from the investment in automation The Operational Excellence Process changes the operational culture of an Oil and Gas company to make sure automation is used properly

What is the Typical Automation Situation? Possible Automation Benefits Local System Regional & Corporate Systems 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Optimization Monitoring and Control Remote Diagnostics Change in work practises 80% of cost 20% of cost teams with the customer to obtain sustainable results

Operational Excellence Topics Upstream Strategy Automation Strategy Technology Strategy Data Acquisition & Control Information Technology - Systems Material Management/ Production Planning Control Loop Management Alarm Management Safety & Security Operations People & Work Practices Regulatory Compliance & Standards Asset Management

Key Strategy in Upstream People Create a forward thinking automation team Better use of scarce skills and field operational staff Increased competencies Greater access to peers and experts Shared lessons learned and best practices Increased safety through less exposure to hazardous environments Providing people with right and unbiased information on which to base their decisions

Key Strategy in Upstream Technology Remote performance management & collaborative environment Remote Operations & Control Remote diagnosis Optimized value chain from reservoir to sales meter Improved Asset uptime and throughput Comprehensive picture of the surface facilities & wells Feed corporate systems automatically

Key Strategy in Upstream Process Faster, more efficient decision making Integration across functional and discipline boundaries Sustained culture and process change, supported by technology Production tied to market factors Personnel at all levels have access to relevant data Faster incorporation of acquired assets

Automation Strategy Should deliver innovation and team thinking between Operations and Project functions Should look at ongoing operational requirements for the life of an asset and not hinder integration and innovation Should look for continuous improvement in every upstream component

Technology Strategy Centralized Vs. Decentralized automation Capital Vs. Operational cost projects Internal Vs. Outsourced support and maintenance Engineering standard definitions Operational Safety Environment

Technology Strategy Facilities Designed for reliability Minimum manning (by exception only) Instrumentation capable to generate on-line diagnostics Appropriate safety surveillance

Technology Strategy Operations Centres Remote support, management & coordination Planned (condition-based) detection and intervention Field optimization Access to global expertise Perform all clerical work currently done by field operators

Technology Strategy Support Centres of Expertise Easy access to system and data Performance improvement Thorough analysis Proactive Regional

Technology Strategy Vendors/Partners Active and proactive engagement Transparent relationship Realistic approach Mutual business interest well understood Simple and constructive approach to resolve issues

Data Acquisition & Control Requirements definition and acceptance process for: Field remotes (RTU, PLC, VSD, POC, EFM, GC, loggers etc) Instrumentation Communications Protocols Applications Test procedures definition

Automation Deliverables Optimized operations Full field optimization used as a tool to determine commercially driven operating targets Advanced control designed to push the asset through process constraints and maximize asset utilization Operator competency assurance measurement tools

Information Technology - Systems Operating systems standard System requirements definition and acceptance process System usage strategy, when to use DCS SCADA Local System (HMI) Test procedures definition Connectivity interfaces Security requirements Network requirements

Material Management/ Production Planning Inventories Properties acquisitions and dispositions analysis definition Growth strategy by drill bit or acquisitions and fast incorporation to operations Unbiased reporting procedures Equipment utilization and reusability Commissioning and decommissioning procedures

Control Loop Management Remote devices programming standards Safety requirements Testing requirements Remote control requirements Constraint definitions Check before operate (Exclusive Non-exclusive) Control lockout Warnings

Alarm Management Alarm Strategy Alarm levels and actions for each Value definition of each level First in alarm and avalanche avoidance Alarm inhibition, alarm persistence Temporary alarms / reminders Watching of deviations from normal conditions Proactive corrective actions Automatic Corrections vs. Human Intervention Focus operators on abnormal conditions

Safety & Security Safety Standards Safety Training and Certifications ESD for plants and well fields Safety and security procedures Automatic detection of dangerous level of gases and operator warning and alarming Operator s safety monitoring on hazardous areas Safety work practices Equipment required PPE Location monitoring GPS (Man Down)

Operations Automated operation strategy Roles and Responsibilities definition SWOT analysis Technology definition to operationally integrate: Field operations Control centres Engineering support External experts support

People & Work Practices Identification of all operator s tasks Analysis of each task for: Value added Possibility to: Eliminate Automate Require human / manual intervention Visit by Exception Control Centre Responsibilities Coordination and dispatching of field operations Coordination and dispatching of field maintenance Coordination and dispatching of field workovers Execution of administrative tasks

People and Work Practices Remote Performance Assurance Real-time performance management metrics defined and tabulated for all key process, equipment and functions Automatic alerts generated to notify appropriate experts when performance has deviated from normal conditions Remote experts able to securely access more detailed performance information Knowledge of equipment / process condition is used to plan all maintenance activities

People and Work Practices Remote Operations Capability The ability to safely and effectively monitor and control the field from a remote location The quality of all information, used for decision support and / or control, is ensured through data validation and instrumentation HMI interface displays designed to provide the operator with the right information, at the right time, according to current operating conditions

Regulatory Compliance & Standards Incorporation of standards and regulations in daily operations documentation Evaluation tests definitions Procedures to incorporate new or modified regulations in operations Certifications and vendors recommendations Auditing procedures definition

Asset Management Remote diagnostics Failure detection and actions Maintenance coordination Remote configuration of field devices Testing procedures definition Configuration test (pass or fail) Download and component test Equipment hours on production Maintenance system interface Payback analysis of workovers Volumes Vs. Profits analysis MTTF and MTTR analysis Downtime analysis

Value of SCADA Automation in Upstream The effective use of proven modern automation techniques will deliver a significant value: 2-6% increase in production, on a base case of 85-90% of installed production capacity, according to DOFF (Digital Oil Field of the Future) case studies conducted by CERA 1 A wealth of evidence exists, within upstream and throughout the process industries, demonstrating that automation, correctly deployed, will: increase operating efficiency increase asset reliability and safety increase recovery optimize production reduce lifting costs 1 Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), Making the Leap Toward DOFF Adoption,White Paper, January 2005.

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