Remote - Spring 2012 - (Page 6)

Feature Article Remote and Condition Monitoring of Oil & Gas Sites: Key Benefits of Wireless Sensor Networks Gianni Minetti, President and CEO Paradox Engineering SA With 1 million producing wells worldwide and an expected 42 percent increase of reserves by 2030, the oil industry is likely to continue its growth path in the next 10 years. Natural gas is also entering a sort of golden age, since the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that its use could double over the next 25 years to account for a quarter of the world’s energy demand. However, increasing volumes don’t necessarily mean increasing profits. Oil and gas companies nowadays need to improve control over sites performance and maximize production efficiency if they want to achieve their financial goals. No doubt the evolution of exploration and production technologies is fundamental to increase production while cutting costs, but relevant results can be obtained by revising data management processes to ensure that decisions are made as quickly as possible and, above all, based on consistent and reliable information. The increasing need of real-time production monitoring can successfully be satisfied Wireless Sensor Network Savings and Benefits through a comprehensive and secure approach to data collection, transport and analysis. Companies can unlock the value of information coming from the production workflow only if they have a solid infrastructure to collect data from wells, refineries, production plants, pipelines and facilities; and streamline this huge amount of information into their ICT systems, where it will be stored and processed in order to extract key and relevant information to increase efficiency and prevent loss in production. The challenge of condition monitoring is even more complex if we consider that oil exploration interests tend to move to harsh areas, such as offshore or in the Arctics, where the highest volumes are expected. As for natural gas, conventional sources will continue to represent the greater part of global supplies, but unconventional sources (shale gas or coalbed methane, for instance) will become increasingly important, therefore reinforcing the need of strict production monitoring. How to collect and transport data coming from remote and even hazardous environments? In many cases, wired infrastructures are already in place, and companies are unlikely to upgrade the network or add new data points because of their expensive costs. In a typical oil or gas facility, thousands of sensors and data points are needed to ensure a proper asset monitoring, with hundreds of thousands of meters of cables used to connect these devices. If we calculate that a new brand offshore platform has approximatively 800 km of wiring and that cable costs alone may vary from $120 to $6,000 per meter, it’s easy to understand why oil and gas companies are eager to protect their past investments and are not open to possible alternatives. However, being stuck to wired process and sensor networks may prevent companies to successfully face emerging challenges such as market demand or regulatory changes, which require more performance and efficiency by increasing data collection frequency or installing additional data points (i.e. 6 www.RemoteMagazine.com to monitor emissions or new security parameters). Traditional infrastructures are generally complex to expand or integrate, above all in hard-toreach locations or harsh environments where wired connectivity and wired network could be difficult, unreliable, too expensive or simply not viable. Wireless sensor networks offer oil and gas companies immediate and measurable benefits, including improved performance, greater flexibility and reduced costs for installation and ongoing maintenance. Wireless data acquisition and transmission allow companies to have deeper, more granular and accurate information from production assets, therefore enabling effective plant monitoring and supporting real-time decisions thanks to the possibility to feed all data directly into corporate ICT systems. As for the initial investment, a wireless technology project can cost up to 50 to 70 percent less than the wired option, considering hardware/material costs, engineering, installation, and global administration and management. In addition, several benefits include increased operational reliability and system uptime, increased operator and engineer productivity, improved asset utilization and personnel safety and many others. Out of several options on the market, the most interesting approach seems to be to go for open standard, scalable and vendor independent wireless networks, so to offer the best risk/return for the investment. For example, they would not force any change to existing data points, allowing wireless devices to be implemented directly over the current sensor infrastructure, without requiring any infrastructure upgrade. They would allow to build one network and add additional applications when needed, at a fraction of the initial cost, in a plug and play mode. RF penetration, noise immunity, dynamic adaptation of network tolology should be evaluated, since both parameters are particularly critical for reliable data transmission in oil and gas plants. Industrial wireless sensor network solutions generally use RF transmission on 2.4 GHz or above, which often proves to be inefficient in congested environments and features a low penetration factor. Solutions based on IETF open standards, such as 6lowPAN, on sub-GHz ISM band with full mesh topologies should be preferred, since they grant higher penetration, noise immunity, dynamic adaptability to changes in the surrounding environments . Other benefits of wireless sensor network solutions are more difficult to quantify, but still worth to list, as the system grows and more points are monitored and additional applications added, more data will be added into the company knowledge systems; if the choice has been for a bidirectional, M2M wireless network, instrument calibration and equipment diagnosis can be performed remotely and more often, thus reducing equipment failures or forced shutdowns. To further support the above listed benefits, most valid wireless sensor network solutions require no software to install, no heavy server side op- Get to the Next Level With Wireless Sensor Networks http://www.RemoteMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Remote - Spring 2012

Remote - Spring 2012
Xenon Releases T925 Wireless Cellular Controller
Remote and Condition Monitoring of Oil and Gas Sites: Key Benefits of Wireless Sensor Networks
SCADA Security for Remote Operations in the Water and Wastewater Industries
Cloud-Based SCADA for the Oil and Gas Industry
Using LabVIEW and the LabVIEW DSC Module to Develop Tongkat Ali Extraction Plant SCADA System
Fieldbus Foundation Unveils Foundation for Remote Operations Management
Cinterion Launches New M2M Module
Infinite Power Solutions Release Thinergy Micro Cell Product
New Auto Tracking Dome Camera from Hikvision
Alico Systems Releases Turn-Key Programmable Sensor Development Kit
ISA100 Wireless Standard Approved as American National Standard
Calendar of Events

Remote - Spring 2012