American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017 - 76

SpecialReport: Service and Supply Startups

To bring the environmental and efficiency beneﬁts of remote monitoring to stripper wells,
Sensorﬁeld developed compact, solar-powered sensors. Because they install as easily
as refrigerator magnets and automatically conﬁgure themselves, the company reports
its sensors cost a third as much as traditional SCADA systems.

landmen gain 95 percent proficiency in a
day or two.
To understand the relationship between
instruments and perform calculations correctly, the software relies on a proprietary
algorithm. "We have run thousands of
test cases to make sure it comes up with
the right answers." Gilmore reports. "Even
when we try to break the software with
cases so complex they will never happen
in real life, Tracts comes through with
flying colors."
Affordable Remote Monitoring
To give stripper well operators access
to remote monitoring, Strode Pennebaker
formed Sensorfield LLC and worked with
Rice University engineers to develop
small, solar-powered sensors that are affordable, easy to install and durable.
Sensorfield provides sensors capable
of gathering all key oil field measurements,
Pennebaker says, including tank levels,
pressure data and flow rates. He adds the
sensors also monitor parameters for beam
pumps and compressors.
"The sensors are as easy to install as
refrigerator magnets," Pennebaker enthuses. "Each sensor is a small box with
a high-powered permanent magnet and a
button. A pumper takes the sensor to the
field, sticks it on a tank, line or pump,
and presses the button to turn it on. The
sensor automatically finds and connects
to the nearest gateway, which sends the
data it collects to the cloud through
76 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

cellular networks."
Operators access that data through a
smartphone or computer, Pennebaker
notes. Because the sensors require no
configuration or maintenance and lack
the screens, interfaces and supporting infrastructure associated with traditional
SCADA systems, he says they are much
more affordable. "Our system generally
costs less than a third as much as current

By providing effective and affordable pressure control equipment, ADS Services aims to help
Delaware Basin drillers employ
managed pressure drilling. The
company expresses pride in its
safety record and its equipment,
which is designed for easy
maintenance and operation.

systems," he details. "The self-installation
also gives operators the ability to control
and customize sensor placement."
The sensors have an extremely high
resolution, Pennebaker adds. "For example,
the standard for reporting oil tank levels
is a quarter of an inch, but our tank level
sensors have 10 times higher resolution,"
he says.
For most operators, Pennebaker admits
that high resolution seems unnecessary.
"In general, our customers buy the sensors
to know when a tank is about to overflow
or pressures are getting out of range," he
says. "That can be achieved with less
precise sensors. However, we know from
experience that operators will find other
ways to use the data if they have sufficient
resolution."
To illustrate, Pennebaker points to
Trek AEC, a Kansas operator. Trek used
wellhead pressure data to forecast and
schedule chemical remediation and injection well filter changes. By watching
small changes in beam pump stroke
times, Pennebaker says, Trek can easily
detect the pump-off time, allowing it to
optimize its time clocks. In another case,
a 20-millisecond change in a beam
pump's speed led Trek to investigate a
well and identify iron sulfide being produced in the well fluids. This enabled
treatment before the iron sulfide became
a major issue.
Trek AEC's use of the sensors extends

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017

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