Production information system for O&G industry – visualization key to improved operation

By Jon Helsingeng Honeywell

The information is becoming key to improving operation of the oil&gas installation both with regard to increasing the production, but also to recover more oil. A simple example is when reservoir engineers by using trend curves for flow and pressure are able to avoid wells.

The production information solutions have developed from giving simple overview of the production rates of complete oilfields to detailed information on how reservoir produces down to single oil wells. Plus there are a number of other reports and applications available for operators, process engineers and reservoir engineers. These can be used to understand better and faster how to operate the oil field optimal. The common goal the different professionals have is not only to increase the production rate, but also to increase the recovery rate.

The amount of data gathered is huge and it is often in real time. Visualization of the information in meaningful and smart way becomes a key factor for oil companies to achieve the maximum out of an oil&gas asset.

A trend is that oil companies requires more and more custom made solutions particular for their oilfields, but at the same time they expect solutions to be robust and fully supported and easily forward upgradeable. This is based on that systems must be reliable with high uptime and off course to be able to take advantage of general technology developments in the IT sector. The production information system has to have the same reliability as the control system.

Honeywell has solved the conflicting requirements; more standardized solutions and at the same time customization with establishing a wide solutions set that are productized and on top of them specific “engineered solutions” that can be repeated or be customized to the level required by each customers.

Collecting and maintaining reliable and accurate process information is the fundament for everything. Honeywell’s data repository solution is the Uniformance PHD solution with all the necessary tools for handling and processing the data.

The data base is a historical and relational database that typically could include process data, lab data, financial data, planning data, site information, mechanical layouts etc. This application has itself standard functionality such as trending tool and tag explorer. The trending tool is advanced and makes the user able to more or less without limitations to compare any data series either in predefined reports or as in the latest release with more easily configurable ad-hoc reports. Visualization of the reports has been a key focus to improve the quality of the tool.

The Business Flex portfolio with different applications such as the MES components for scheduling and planning are designed with high focus on user friendliness (visualization). However the standard solution is improved by adding special customized solutions.

Asset Management with the Equipment Health Monitoring modules for detecting faults in production equipment and by that avoiding production upsets are being designed so that maintenance people easily can have an overview of the plant, but also have the possibility to drill down to single components. Visualization of the plant condition is a challenge with all the information available. In this area there are still many improvements to be done..

The Operator Effectiveness portfolio of solutions is productized and helps the operator to take better decisions and the management to drive continuous improvement processes. The visualizations part of this software package is crucial for presenting e.g. the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) in an easy and intuitive way.

We are fast developing new technology for presenting information to the users. Flat screens picture quality and low prices have increased the display area of information to the operator, but it is questionable whether this has improved his ability to react. Honeywell is using this new screen technology to develop “cockpit” solutions with influence from its own Aerospace business segment. Ergonomics with respect to how much and what type of information the human brain can take are important factors for how you visualize the data.

Honeywell was early out testing solutions for maintenance people could bring into the field. The solution was including camera and small eye screens that could be used in the field. The idea was that maintenance could be done onsite with all information available on the eye screen and support centers could guide with the visual view from the camera. There are still developments to be done before such as solution becomes industry standard.

Honeywell is also involved in basic developments such as the “head up display” that has been used for many years in airplanes and which we now see coming into the cars. This will improve the information to the chauffeur and hopefully make him a safer driver.

The O&G industries requirements for reduced operation cost and more efficient production is driving the trend of moving offshore work positions to onshore supports centers. As part of oil companies’ integrated operation or e-field strategy, large operation centers are being built onshore for collaboration purposes. These collaboration centers are not always fully in operation mainly because they lack good visualization solutions.

Honeywell has developed a portfolio of applications supporting operation of oil&gas production facilities with the overview name Production Control Center. These are both standard applications and more customized applications. The applications cover e.g. production information, safety test reports, maintenance reports, environmental reports, shift handover reports etc. The development has been done in close cooperation with major oil companies around the world and is continuously being updated with new applications.

One example is shown below where a simple production overview give fast an indications of which wells are not producing according to plan (different color bars for planned and produced oil).

Another example is the Safety Valve Scout that uses “normal” shutdowns to track whether safety valves have behaved correctly or not. The design of the report is such that the safety engineer relatively easy can spot immediately if he has valve that needs maintenance.

Visualization of data is maybe in many branches an underestimated task, but we see a strong trend in oil&gas that it will be more important in the future. The main driving force is the integrated field/e-field approach and also the high oil price that makes it more lucrative to extend the “tail-end” production. To really cope with this other professionals such ergonomics, media people and psychologists could be involved to support the application engineer.