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2 • DECEMBER 2017
Drilling digitization covers crown to ground
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cross industrial sectors, upstream oil & gas industry has been one of the more resistant to automation. This follows from the work’s nature, but perhaps is also due to the industry’s wildcatter heritage. Be that as it may, drilling well complexity is being automated. This is true for downhole control, but also for surface operations. It’s part of a drive for efficiency, but also addresses safety. Nabors Industries owns and operates the world’s largest land-based drilling rig fleet. “To decrease times to first oil or gas, our rigs need to be standardized and smarter, including an integrated operating system that takes many of the control elements out of operators’ hands,” said Clint Ford, a Nabors company vice president, during a tour of the assembly yard where two of its most modern rigs were nearing commission. Those responsible for assembling these behemoths, which stood tall and stark against the Houston sky, were justly proud of their work. All together now “The global oil & gas industry spends about $160 billion a year drilling wells,” said Gavin Rennick, president, Software Integrated Solutions, Schlumberger, at the recent Rockwell Automation Perspectives event. Schlumberger found that drilling a well involved 4,000 discrete steps that mapped into more than 200 workflows and engaged 20 to 30 separate companies. Cloud-based planning solutions allow all the companies to work in a single integrated system. Ten operating companies have evaluated Nabors’ system, Ford said, and found a highly engineered plan is generated in weeks rather than months. With the emergence of these collaborative solutions, said Scott G. Boone, vice president, rig automation and downhole tools, Nabors, “Services providers won’t install
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
KEVIN PARKER SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
their own sensors. The key is to have access to the controls to make use of the information.” Already, integrated automation, motor control, and information technology is available in real time at central locations. Analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs) lead to digital twins enabling closedloop control, including for directional drilling and pressure management. Surface operations will be transformed by sophisticated robots, especially for pipe handling, and incorporation of what was formerly considered ancillary equipment into the rig infrastructure. Changed environments “During the boom years, if a supplier had drilling rigs available, that was enough to ensure success. Today, providers must strive to be the ‘performance driller of choice’ based on quality results,” Ford said. “Standardization and smartness is being retrofitted onto existing rigs.” Today’s operators look to drain wells completely. With multi-pad wells, rigs are capable of in-service movement. Longer laterals are being drilled to exploit more of a production zone. A typical rig includes about 10,000 tags, a controller, and data historian. Automated drilling sequences, such as for the transition from vertical to horizontal drilling have been added. The future lies with highfidelity models that incorporate operator best practices into well programs. “To get from 30-day wells to 8-day wells, the key is no tool breakdowns downhole, which happen if you go too fast or too hard. Better to have all the rules in the system and KPIs for every drilling step,” said Boone. OG
I NSIDE
On the cover:A PACE M800 Rig in Nabors’ Crosby Yard just prior to mobilizing to the Permian Basin. PACE M and PACE X designs include intelligent controls and are standardized with Allen-Bradley controllers from Rockwell Automation. Cover image courtesy: Nabors Industries
COVER STORY 6
Pattern recognition illuminates the downstream Case examples use search as starting point for identifying sample sets
FEATURES 8
Product of the Year Winners
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Engineering analytics can instill confidence in innovative solutions Quest for performance, simplicity, and affordability continues
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Revitalize older pump installations A cartridge-style screw pump may be the way forward
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Collaborate with computers to improve asset management Smart data and your team’s intuitive grasp can shape the future
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 3
THE AGE OF ANALYTICS
Pattern recognition illuminates the downstream Case examples use search as starting point for identifying sample sets By Bert Baeck
4 • DECEMBER 2017
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e often forget how difficult it was navigating the web earlier in the digital age. Prior to introduction of directories and search engines like Alta Vista, Yahoo, and Google, finding the information you needed amongst the vast data stored on the web was time-consuming and frustrating. The same applies to companies looking to leverage the data collected by their various computer systems. Companies are good at amassing data, but have lacked affordable, effective tools to search for information. Data historians, introduced in the 1980s, for example, store process data and generate reports, but they were never meant to be easily mined or include visualization for predictive analytics. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an opportunity to improve business intelligence and boost efficiencies using data-driven analytics. IIoT introduces new types of data and formats, increases data volume, and transforms operational decision making from reactive to proactive. However, traditional architectures and processes may not deliver the desired results. It’s not about “seeing everything” anymore. Enormous data amounts quickly overwhelm any system without the means to easily locate specific information. Given this realization, early attempts to transform raw data into actionable information relied on data modeling. The problem is that modeling usually requires complex IT projects staffed with data scientists. Such projects may be time-consuming and expensive. The Google for Industry concept was invented in 2008 by former process engineers from Covestro, formerly known as Bayer Material Science. The approach they developed, based on process-industry experience, allows easy access to historian information.
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
These engineers saw the limitations of analytics models for scaling-up beyond pilot projects. They, like many others, wanted industrial search to work as Google does in our daily lives. Conceiving Google for Industry Data modeling requires experts and is timeconsuming. Moreover, the resulting models are sensitive to change and inflexible. In data modeling, the following steps pertain: • Preparation • Modeling • Validation • Going live. Each time a model is changed, the cycle is repeated. Not only is data modeling timeconsuming, it’s not appropriate for dynamic processes because it often is based on assumptions about stationarity and data distribution that do not hold in the real world. In an early project, a chemical plant manager struggled with significant variance among operator teams, which had direct impact on throughput. He looked to the data to learn what the outstanding shift operator team was doing differently. Laborious searches were performed through the process-data history to determine what “manual actions,” when taken in appropriate circumstances, led to better or worse plant performance. The limitations native to this approach were the impetus to creating a solution that replaced labor-intensive data modeling with the application of pattern recognition. Ever wondered how Shazam, an application that identifies songs from a small sample, works? Shazam looks for patterns in the song that match patterns in its database. What’s interesting is that it ignores most of the song’s millions of “data points” to focus on a few intense moments or “high energy content.” This approach might seem fraught, but Shazam
is accurate even in environments with lots of background noise. Shazam succeeds because it searches for and recognizes distinctive patterns, rather than seeking to match all aspects of a song, and it does so quickly. In other words, the key to enabling big analytics is to focus on patterns, not to try and crunch all the data. Like Shazam, but in a more complex environment, Google for Industry allows sophisticated searches of process data in which advanced pattern recognition algorithms find either similar or deviating behavior. Users choose a reference period pertaining to one or more tags. The system finds similar behavior throughout the entire data history. For example, a chemical plant suffered intermittent quality problems due to unclean product. A predictive analytics search revealed that a peak flow rate preceded a temperature peak. The temperature peaks stressed the heat exchanger seals. If those seals break, there is leakage between sterilized and unsterilized product, which causes quality problems. The causal relationship between flow rate and temperature was tested and confirmed with a similarity search. Additionally, a monitoring pattern was configured to alert the team when similar patterns occurred, prompting control retuning to diminish seal degradation. Viable patterns exampled The Google for Industry concept grew quickly. Search capabilities beyond looking for similar past patterns were still wanted. Search capabilities therefore were extended to all relevant parameters: behavior patterns, slopes, operator actions, certain switch patterns, conditional or Boolean conditions based on tags, drift, oscillations of a certain frequency, anomalies, event frames, context, and more. Thus, in the case example under discussion, Google for Industry started with search as a first step. Further analysis led process experts to a hypothesis concerning a causal relationship that explained the quality issues with the heat exchanger seals. Due to fouling, a batch may take longer than the normal 12-13 hours. In the past, a switch was made to a spare heat exchanger after two to three days, but this could foul as well. Thus, it could take two weeks or longer to clear a fouling problem.
Data Modeling Difficulties Requires significant engineering
Data cleaning, filtering, modeling, validating, iterating on results/models
Sensitive to change
Users needed continual training
Requires data scientist
Plants had to hire additional workers, or engineers spent too much time trying to be data scientists
Not plug and play
Installation and deployment required significant investments in time and money
Black Box Engineering
User cannot see how results are determined
With predictive analytics, monitoring alerts come two to three weeks in advance, and are confirmed by the operator. Detected in advance, appropriate action is taken, avoiding about 10 hours of production loss every two to three months, plus extended turnaround time. Moreover, heat exchanger fouling caused longer cooling times. Contextualized cooling time patterns were monitored so as to generate maintenance alerts. The software application was developed using a high-performance discovery analytics engine for process measurement data to deliver the power and ease of Internet search engines to industrial applications. Through an intuitive web-based visualization, users start searching for trends with patentpending pattern recognition and machine learning technologies. Using value or digital-step searches for filtering or for finding something that looks similar is just the start. Process engineers search for particular operating regimes, process drifts, operator actions, process instabilities, or oscillations. Root cause analysis helps to keep operations running as efficiently as possible. The causal and influence factors that search algorithms illuminate show users underlying reasons for process anomalies or deviating batches. Comparing behaviors with anomalies and normal operating periods can be a painful process. The software instead uses advanced search and diagnostic capabilities that compare large numbers of transitions, while focusing on both equalities and differences. This is a fast, accurate analysis of continuous production process. Live displays let users see process values evolving and the application predicts the most probable future evolution based on matching historical values. In this real-world example, impurity concentration can be predicted. Lab analysis quantifies the resulting quality before
Data modeling is a means to process knowledge acquisition, but requires resources that are often constrained. Chart courtesy: TrendMiner
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 5
THE AGE OF ANALYTICS product is released to an internal customer. This lab analysis represents an additional cost and delay. Using predictive analytics software, a process expert can create and deploy a predictor for an impurity concentration. Sensors give an early indication. As a result, truck loading can start earlier, lead time is shorter, and the probability of rejection due to off-specification conditions is decreased. On-the-fly detection of early indicators can spot process variations. Analytics and decision making It’s about optimizing operations through proactive decision making, not just examining past process behaviors. Primary is the means to capture information from multiple users, including process engineers, operators, maintenance staff, and others, in a single environment connected to relevant process data that furnishes context. The next step is creating a golden profile, using search features to find the best transitions or batches of a given type, from multiple UEC_Vanguard Ad_Oil-GasEngin_09-17.pdf
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historical transitions. The golden profile is used for predictive monitoring. Users take a live view of a process and apply it over the golden profile to verify that recent changes produce results as expected. This allows users to adjust settings to reach optimal performance or to test changes for the right results before implementing them. In addition, the application provides sophisticated alarm capabilities. Instead of merely sending an alert, it supports configuration of meaningful alarms to prevent problems from happening. A process engineer can review the operator annotations pertaining to a problem by searching for comparable past anomalies. The engineer can determine alarm limits to prevent similar future occurrences. In conclusion, advanced capabilities can simplify making timely decisions based on search capabilities supported by predictive analytics. OG Bert Baeck is the CEO at TrendMiner.
9:34 AM
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Optimising Efficiencies in Oil, Gas and Petrochemical with Mobile Computing and Industrial Scanning Zebra and BARTECs’ range of mobile scanners and computers can help your teams collaborate more effectively, do more and quickly, stay safe, connected, and better informed. By 2018, up to 50 percent of all engineers and geophysicists will be eligible for retirement from the industry. While mobile computing cannot solve the talent shortage, it can help empower less experenced workers to get up to speed more quickly. Easy to use devices canconnect colleagues to one another instantly, and provide your teams with access to powerfulapps, guided workflows, operating manuals, ‘how to’ videos and much more.
dust might be everpresent, while users tend to be tough on their devices, frequently knocking and dropping them. In addition, despite the fact that significant efficiencies can be gained from digitizing workflows throughout operations, many facilities have yet to push mobile computing into areas where explosive vapors are present. With these issues in mind, BARTEC has teamed up with Zebra, the market leader in robust enterprise class devices, to engineer a range of rugged mobile devices. The scanners and computers are certified to operate safely in explosive areas (Zone2/Div2 and Zone1/Div1), to work non stop, and to be powerful productivity partners, whether your people are working in the warehouse or outside in some of the world’s most demanding places. And as the devices can work in both the office and the hazardous environment, IT teams only need to integrate one solution across the entire organization.
The oil and gas sector puts unique demands on technology. For starters, mobile devices are often shared across teams and shifts, so they need to work with minimal downtime. Then there’s the elements — it may be constantly wet,temperatures can be extreme, and salt, dirt and
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PRODUCT OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Engineering disciplines improve safety, contribute to prosperity Winners introduced in response to market demands, global needs
W
hat’s fascinating about innovation isn’t that it sometimes arrives in a “Eureka!” moment that fundamentally changes the world forever, but rather exactly the opposite. Most innovation arises instead incrementally and because of collective efforts. How does that happen, that we all conspire together to come upon what we need or what’s asked of us? The winners of the very first Oil & Gas Engineering Product of the Year awards apparently have broken the code for doing just that, as their products have been identified as among the best introduced between January 2016 and July 2017. Review the winners to see if their innovative solutions can help solve one of your most pressing problems. While a dedication to excellence is something our gold, silver, and bronze winners wear in common, their solutions are a disparate lot, reflecting the wide scope of technologies and many critical functions pertaining to the oil and gas
industry. A process control system said to be daringly different and a suite of industrial software applications are both included in the selection, as are a combustible gas detector and a buoyancy module. Join us in congratulating these technological innovators, and if you have the opportunity, mention you learned about their solutions in Oil & Gas Engineering Engineering. Tell them what challenges you need solutions for next. Continuous, incremental improvement ensures that our industry innovators will achieve the levels of agility, efficiency, and effectiveness necessary for all of us to compete—and win— in today’s global economy. Oil & Gas Engineering staff extends appreciation to all who nominated products and took the time to vote. The 2017 Product of the Year awards will be presented to the winners at the 2018 Engineering Awards in Manufacturing dinner on Monday, April 16, 2018. OG Amanda Pelliccione is the project manager of events and awards programs for CFE Media. Much thanks for her help and support.
Data & Analytics Monitoring application family Plantweb Insight is a collection of operational excellence applications for monitoring the health of plant assets, such as steam traps, pumps, and heat exchangers. Leveraging Pervasive Sensing strategies, Plantweb Insight strategically interprets plant data to provide personnel with actionable information. The intuitive, browser-based user interface helps to ensure reliability, improve safety, and reduce energy usage. The pre-built analytics and domain expertise embedded in the applications minimize required configuration, allowing the software to be easily integrated with existing infrastructure. Abnormal situations and predictive diagnostics are presented to personnel in real-time, eliminating the need for manual calculations or periodic data collection. Emerson Automation Solutions www2.emersonprocess.com 8 • DECEMBER 2017
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
Data & Analytics Real-time fatigue monitoring The Real-time Fatigue Monitoring System (RFMS) provides field measurements of stress and fatigue on drilling risers, wellheads, and other subsea systems in near real time. The RFMS calculates stress and fatigue at any location in a riser system/wellhead/conductor casing via measurements from 5 to 10 accelerometers and angular rate sensors placed at strategic locations along the riser, along with analytical riser mode shape information. Since the only required online inputs are the dynamic riser response, top tension, and mud weight, fatigue estimates may be calculated without knowledge of the impinging currents or other forcing events. Stress Engineering Services www.stress.com
IIoT & Process Control Power supply tower The 700-VA to 3-kVA towerconfigured SC on-line uninterruptible power supply (UPS) protects informationtechnology and Internet of Things (IoT) equipment, telecommunications, servers, security systems, programmable logic controllers, and other power-sensitive electronic systems against power distruptions. The SC UPS tower features advanced digital signal processors, surface-mount device technology, multi-mode operation, intelligent self-diagnostics, and innovative battery boost circuits. These technologies enable a more robust and reliable UPS system by using fewer components. The SC UPS tower includes 5-year long-life hot-swap batteries. Optional external batter banks are available for applications requiring longer backup times during a power outage. Falcon Electric Inc. www.falconups.com
Control system firmware The Open Secure Automation (OSA) system with Cybershield 2.0 extends the benefits of intrinsic cybersecurity to networks, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and third-party applications. The system enables authentication and encryption of I/O networks and field devices, and protects compliant networks and user applications such as controller configuration, process logic, and SCADA communications. OSA achieves this with an industrial-control-system certification authority that draws on the power and flexibility of public-key infrastructure and transport-layer security, delivering secure integration of third-party software applications. This open and a secure platform is built for hardware, networks, and software. Bedrock Automation www.bedrockautomation.com
Onshore & Offshore Buoyancy module The Standardized Buoyancy Module (SBM) is a modular redesign of the Distributed Buoyancy Module (DBM). The SBM allows smaller elements to be stacked together, enabling customized uplift requirements as specified for each project. The modular-buoyancy segments are designed to mechanically lock around the clamp, securely attaching the assembly to the desired location on the riser. The SBM can be adjusted to operate in seawater depths from surface to 2,500 m by adding or removing elements. The design includes synthetic feet to the bottom of the finished assembly to prevent handling damage and reduce vessel installation time. Trelleborg Offshore www.trelleborg.com/offshore OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 9
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Onshore & Offshore Gas detector
CUSTOM-DESIGNED SENSOR SOLUTIONS. PROVEN RELIABILITY. At Pyromation, we’re dedicated to serving the Oil & Gas industry with a comprehensive line of RTDs, thermocouples and thermowell assemblies. Our highly engineered, custom-designed solutions meet industry certifications and provide superior quality control. Find out how we can meet your temperature sensor needs.
GET A QUOTE! pyromation.com/oilandgas 260.209.6341
The Vanguard toxic and combustible gas detector features an open WirelessHART 7.2 communication protocol and can be used to detect the presence of methane or hydrogen sulfide. This detector was developed in collaboration with Chevron to meet the market need for a cost-effective way to add multiple gas measurement points. The Vanguard detector can be easily mounted anywhere and painlessly incorporated into any WirelessHART networks. Some applications for the detector include remote sites, plant infrastructure, and emissions monitoring in tank farms, oil & gas production facilities, refineries, pipelines, abandoned wells, and waste treatment plants. The gas detector boasts a 5-year battery life. United Electric Controls www.ueonline.com
Degasifying solution CoStrip is a solution for the degasification of water containing high loadings of oil and suspended solids. CoStrip effectively removes up to 99% of dissolved gases such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide without the need for pretreatment. Its counter-current gas flow lowers stripping gas requirements as well as off-gas treatment costs. CoStrip’s horizontal design enables it to fit where height restrictions hinder installation of conventional towers. It is designed for easy, reliable, maintenance-free operation. CoStrip is available in standard sizes for a capacity ranging from 15,000 to 200,000 barrels per day.
NEC Rated · FM/CSA Approved
Veolia Water Technologies www.veoliawatertech.com
10 • DECEMBER 2017
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
THE CHALLENGING OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENT
Engineering analytics can instill confidence in innovative solutions Examine equipment and its functions within a system By Collin Gaskill
O
ffshore energy exploration and production requires operations supported by equipment that succeeds in the earth’s most complex and challenging environments. Like any hightechnology industry, offshore energy continuously explores new avenues to reduce costs and increase safety through equipment performance advances and system operational improvements. However, given the challenges arising from the locations and conditions faced, an industry-wide conundrum results. Innovative efforts to improve operational performance are confronted with strong and deeprooted resistance to deviating from current standard operating procedures. This resistance follows from the high level of risk involved and the fact there is little room for failure with respect to offshore energy production. The result is stringent
requirements and high entry barriers for new equipment designs. Offshore operators must have high, if not complete, confidence that new designs operate as expected and outperform incumbent options. Equipment suppliers are valued based on their ability to deliver with confidence innovative solutions for advancing offshore capabilities. Relying on strong analytical and empirical data presents a conclusive qualification basis throughout equipment-design lifecycles. It can be the difference between failure and success of new equipment design implementation in offshore energy projects. On certainty Confidence is the quality or state of being certain. For offshore equipment and systems engineering, being certain is a function of several factors: design optimization, performance qualification, solution achievement, and capabilities advancement. Confidence of success means overcoming challenges related to high pressures, vast temperature swings, large magnitudes of complicated loading, corrosive environments, extensive performance lives, and little-to-no opportunity for maintenance. However, this certainty of success is achievable through innovative collaboration amongst those that manufacture equipment and those that operate it. Joint development projects have a long history in the oil & gas industry, bringing together expertise from the engineering disciplines, operations, materials science, and manufacturing.
Finite element analysis enables companies to investigate materials, design, size, and potential location to optimize a solution’s performance. All images courtesy: Trelleborg Offshore OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 11
THE CHALLENGING OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENT
Offshore technology advances almost always originate in response to current issues, calling for collaborative relationships among operators, contractors, and equipment designers.
Offshore technology advances almost always originate in response to current issues. Day-to-day operations reveal improvement areas in equipment design or systems operation. Operators and contractors typically source equipment from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), relying on their industry expertise. Collaborative relationships amongst operators, contractors, and equipment designers prove invaluable when they can initiate a process that moves solutions from concept to reality, and ultimately field deployment. An OEM’s ability to effectively communicate technical detail to operators and contractors, including material properties and manufacturing processes and how these can be leveraged in improving equipment designs and applications, sets the stage for going from field-identified issues to fullyqualified solutions. Equally valuable is the equipmentmanufacturer’s experience of how its equipment functions within an integrated holistic system. Very rarely do pieces of equipment operate in isolation. Changes to one area inevitably result in overall-performance variances, internal and external loading changes, and subsequent strain and stress. By understanding root causes of operatoridentified issues and the impact of specific equipment modifications on the overall system’s success, OEMs contribute to solution development targeted at real, current issues. Concept solution feasibility A development project’s early stages, following issue identification and classification, is an exploration for remedies. Communication between OEM engineering/manufacturing teams and client engineering/operation teams is crucial. All parties must ensure efforts are focused on true underlying issues to construct and deploy solutions that perform at expected
12 • DECEMBER 2017
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
levels throughout an installation’s life cycle. Cross-company communication successfully guides the feasibility stage, as performance targets typically are fluid while the solution is being defined. Equipment manufacturer expertise in numerical modelling analysis and operations simulation alleviates the feasibility assessment burden, allowing economic, accurate identification of possible solutions. Local finiteelement analysis (FEA) enables companies to investigate materials, design, size, and potential location to optimize solution performance. Coupling local FEA design with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and global FEA, allows engineering teams to examine the interaction between the solution and its eventual offshore environment. An understanding is gained of how equipment performance is influenced by: 1) hydrodynamic current and wave loading; 2) transferred dynamic strain from other areas of the system; and 3) loading resulting from installation, operation, and potential equipment retrieval. Results arising from analysis and simulation are easily understood by engineering, operations, and contracting teams, leading to effective decision making. At this stage, analytical tools for structural and hydrodynamic assessment instill confidence that concept solutions are achievable, and with further refinement will deliver an optimized solution. Detailed product engineering The effectiveness of augmenting manufacturing expertise with analytical modelling becomes even clearer in the detailed design phase. Understanding the underlying physics driving equipment and system performance, gained through numerical modelling, supports targeted modifications. Manipulating controlling design parameters to refine original concepts defines the optimization process. Material selection, geometric configuration, fastening mechanisms, loading paths, and other equipment physical attributes are investigated to create the right combination of performance, simplicity, and cost. Study of the fluid structure interaction delineates hydrodynamic performance in terms of lift, drag, shielding, and resulting structure vibrations or
oscillations. This ensures introduction of new equipment or technologies don’t exceed any prior defined limits on system abilities. When new technology developments are executed without the control of numerical modelling and detailed design, engineers run risks of severely over-engineering components. This can result in unnecessary cost, excess weight, and unrefined geometries, potentially rendering a solution ineffective. Worst-case scenario, equipment is underengineered due to some critical aspect of equipment/system/environment interaction being overlooked during the design phase, leading to potential failure in the field. Equipment-design and preliminary-qualification testing applications give OEMs a suite of information required for a strong level of confidence from operators and contractors that the engineered design will perform as intended and is worth a higher level of investment to bring into production. The value of these studies and refinements to design, being performed internally and wholly by OEMs, is that the proposed changes and optimizations are grounded in reality. Continuously throughout the front-end engineering design cycle, changes and improvements are scrutinized against the implications they have to the efforts as a whole to bring the solution to market. Consequences for manufacturing ability, cost, material qualification, transportation logistics, end usability, and most importantly, system performance, are examined at a level of detail reflecting the collection of experiences in engineering design, manufacturing, and project management available to OEMs who invest in teams with these integrated skills and knowledge. This provides a high level of certainty to the joint development team that the issues identified in the field by product end users have been remedied adequately by the equipment developer in a manner that will pass the high barriers to entry for new technologies typical of the offshore industry. Qualifications wanted Confidence in the newly designed technology and the ability of the equipment to deliver required performance is solidified in the qualification stage of the joint technology development project cycle. The ability to
deliver a correct and conclusive performance qualification assessment is unique to OEMs that have the internal capacity of constructing testing methodologies that validate and verify the previous design work performed by the development team in the earlier stages of the project. Consistency across the collection of results and examination of performance indicators is key, as the gap between the existence of the design in analytical space and a physical prototype model for empirical testing is bridged. An OEM’s ability to ensure all data acquisition requirements of an oil & gas operator or contractor are satisfied is equally important, as well as necessary for their confidence in the new technology. Cross-company communication between engineering teams again plays a vital role, as the verification of design results is qualified by empirical data. Another prominent difference in the development of new technologies in the offshore energy industry compared to other industries is the requirement for continued involvement of the OEM after delivery and deployment of the new technology solution to the field. This is a trend that is gaining momentum as developments target reservoirs not only deeper below the surface of the water but below the seafloor as well. Differentiation is found again in OEMs who provide lifecycle management of their products not only through expert inspection and repair, but through incorporating smart technology and the integration of data into numerical modelling. As monitoring technology rapidly progresses, the current industry issues shift from the question of how is relevant data going to be collected to what can companies accomplish with the vast amounts of field measurements being obtained. The obvious answer to this question is for OEMs to collate these field measurements and integrate what they are revealing about equipment/system and equipment/environment interactions to further increase performance and longevity of new and developed technologies. The logical step is to implement the same technical expertise and tools industryleading OEMs use in front end product optimization and joint technology developments for the management of equipment and the
offshore ‘ For equipment and systems engineering, being certain is a function of several factors: design optimization, performance qualification, solution achievement, and capabilities advancement.
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 13
’
THE CHALLENGING OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENT Global finite element analysis of a drilling riser.
monitoring of performance. This extension of the collaborative relationship between equipment manufacturers and operators extends the life of equipment, assists in the avoidance of costly and unnecessary inspections and repairs, and ensures the equipment, truly in need of service, is identified and addressed. In increasingly challenging environments— both physically and economically—of offshore energy production, the idea of close OEM involvement and cooperation with operators and contractors for equipment management from “cradle to grave” is no longer an exception but the standard. OEMs who develop and evolve internal capabilities to examine equipment performance and move ahead with technological advances, utilizing equally important analytical and empirical approaches, will continue to dominate the market as development partners who can supply the level of confidence required for the qualification of the new generation of offshore technology. Capabilities advancement Although the challenging industry conditions over the last few years may have been the catalyst for a number of recent joint technology developments and a resurgence of the appetite for offshore operators and contractors to pursue and accept new and better ways of doing things, a continuation of this standard ultimately is required moving into the future. The easy 14 • DECEMBER 2017
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
access reservoirs of the 90s and early 2000s are already developed, driving exploration and production companies to eye deeper and more challenging crude oil deposits. Offshore renewables is a developing technology that utilizes offshore experience, but with most equipment developments being intrinsically new technologies, extensive qualification and performance studies to ensure adequate operational function and safety are required. Continued advancement of capabilities on both fronts—something most people believe mandatory to meet future energy needs of the world—will be accomplished through the collaborative expertise between industry-leading equipment manufacturers and companies producing and harvesting offshore energy both from fossil fuels and renewables. Closing thoughts To eschew “business as usual,” and equipment and system designs rooted in habit but inadequate for the challenges of the next generation of energy production, collaboration between manufacturers and operators will be the key. Equipment manufacturers that react to field-identified challenges, acting as true development partners with operators and contractors through development of technically sound designs, certified by strong analytical and empirical evidence, will push applications into uncharted territory. It will be with the confidence gained through cross-company cooperation and the employment of advanced engineering techniques such as numerical modelling, detailed design, and laboratory testing that optimized equipment designs will be deployed in the energy environments of the future. OG Collin Gaskill is a riser analysis engineer with Trelleborg Offshore U.S. Inc.
Streamlining information management to enhance asset integrity and viability Summary: A global leader in the oil industry wanted to enhance asset integrity and operational efficiency of a key Norwegian platform by improving the availability, accuracy and completeness of their asset information. To meet this objective, the company leveraged L&T Technology Services’ (LTTS) Integrated Asset Management Services (IAMS) for the data migration exercise. The project scope included cleansing, enrichment and uploading of critical asset data into the company’s Engineering Data Warehouse (EDW) platform.
Challenge: Enhancing the asset integrity and operational efficiency of a critical client asset through improvements in the availability, accuracy, and completeness of all of their asset information.
Solution: • Cleansing, enriching and migrating 185,000 information assets to the client’s EDW platform • Forging relationships between all tags and document met data to enable users to drill down through the asset hierarchy
Result: The onsite-offshore delivery model enabled the client to customize and implement EDW, enabling a single source of high-quality engineering information. 500,000 pages of physical documents were digitized. Project costs and schedules are optimized with a robust accelerator-based automated approach.
The key task was to map the asset tags with the document metadata, to enable users to ‘drill down’ through the overall asset hierarchy. Following an initial two-week gap analysis and scoping study, LTTS prepared a detailed approach plan and methodology to cleanse, enrich and migrate 185,000 information assets (tags and documents) to the EDW platform. The documents and drawings along with associated metadata information were made available in multiple systems such as Document Management System (DMS), Engineering Data System (EDS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool. LTTS implemented an onsite-offshore delivery model to facilitate rapid resource ramp up, consistent execution, and cost containment. The offshore team was supported by a dedicated onsite team to manage inputs, escalations, reviews and risk management.
Tel: +91 80 6767 5173 • info@lnttechservices.com www.lnttechservices.com
MAINTENANCE & REPAIR
Revitalize older pump installations A cartridge-style screw pump may be the way forward
T
By Sven Olson
A charge pump in a refinery will be replaced by this reengineered pump. All images courtesy: Leistritz
16 • DECEMBER 2017
he capital costs of purchasing and installing pumps for vintage oil fields and process facilities have increased steadily over the years. These costs are often an obstacle to extending the life or upgrading these plants. Yet these stop-gap measures may be the only alternative available as regulatory and economic demands make new construction hard to justify. Pump component costs, however, as shown in industry indices like the NelsonFarrar Cost Index, are not the driving factor behind the rising costs involved. The fact is, competition among manufacturers, along with moderate labor and material cost increases, have kept pump prices stable over the years. The cost increases are related to the installing and commissioning of pumps. These costs have shown significant increases as more third-party installation and service contractors are tapped to perform the work. These costs in turn are driven by the lack of a skilled workforce and new regulatory demands. All these factors can combine to be especially challenging when upgrading or renewing a pump installation in an existing facility where the original pump is no longer available
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
in the market or the replacement parts are excessively expensive. This happens more than you might think. The manufacturer of the original pump may have stopped production of a given model or replaced it with a new model that does not fit the existing installations’ footprint. Even worse, a pump manufacturer might have been acquired and reorganized. In that case, it may be that no one knows anymore what the origins of a pump are, with no sure way to recover the information. An alternative suggestion One alternative method for replacing a pump in an existing installation is to do so with a “reengineered” pump. Note that while a “remanufactured” pump is an upgraded, modified, or repaired older pump, the reengineered pump is brand new. The improved value proposition with a reengineered pump comes from avoiding modification of the original installation. The existing piping connections, locations, insulation, and instrumentation, as well as the original driver and mounting configuration, are maintained. The reengineered pump fits into the original envelope, with the mounting pads, nozzles, and drive shaft suited to the location of the original pump installation. Thus, the overall installed costs of a replacement pump are significantly lower than they might have otherwise been. One type pump, typically well-suited to a reengineering approach, is the screw pump, a common type of positive displacement pump. It is known for its good suction lift, for use with viscous liquids, and for low fluid pulsations. A screw pump’s flow rate is directly proportional to the speed of the pump. Therefore, when speed control is realized using a variable speed drive, flow can be controlled closely, saving on power consumption.
Use of a direct drive from a synchronous motor eliminates the need for speed reducers. With internal hydraulic rotor balancing, the thrust load is compensated for without using thrust bearings. It is a straightforward design, which makes it easy to install, operate, and maintain. One type of screw pump often reengineered is a three-screw pump design. The reengineered components come as a standard pump element, called a cartridge, which can be installed in a fabricated pump casing. The cartridge is sized based on the hydraulic data of the installation and separately tested in the factory. The casing, most often made of fabricated steel, allows for almost infinite variations of nozzle locations and mounting feet. A modern CAD system can import dimensions and locations of an existing pump installation and apply it to a new casing design, customized to fit an older installation. Customized casings The casing can be customized with a pressure relief valve. This can be a great help for any existing installation equipped with a separate relief valve, if its function is questionable or the operating data has been modified. Installing the relief valve integral to the pump saves the expense of piping modifications and troubleshooting. Uses for reengineered screw pumps are typically in some form of mineral oil service in refineries, pipelines, terminals, or power plants. The original pump most often is another positive displacement pump, such as a gear, vane, piston, or screw pump. Liquids that reengineered pumps handle include everything from distillate to No. 6 oil, pitch, asphalt, crude oil, diesel, or regular lubrication and hydraulic oils. Applications can include charge and transfer applications, pipeline and loading service, as well as general lubrication of turbines and reduction gears. Besides positive displacement pumps, a reengineered pump can also replace centrifugal pumps. The need for replacement may follow from pumps that were incorrectly sized or misapplied for a certain service. Other times, when the original
process conditions change, the pump no longer works. In one example, a vertical centrifugal pump for lubrication oil service of major rotating machinery was replaced because of its difficulties maintaining the oil pressure when air was present in the oil. Matching the dimensions and nozzle location of the original pump, a direct replacement screw pump was dropped in the original lube-oil tank without system modifications. The original centrifugal pump did not require any pressure relief valve. The screw pump, however, needed to have this valve, which was installed on the pump mounting plate and connected back to the tank. The new installation doesn’t interfere with existing structures or expand outside the original pump envelope.
A reengineered pump transported to an oil field.
Three-screw pumps are good candidates for reengineering.
How it’s done A reengineered pump can match an existing pump’s envelope, eliminating the need to redo piping or foundations. Typically, when users need a reengineered pump, they need it “yesterday.” The need OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 17
MAINTENANCE & REPAIR
A cartridge with customized pump casing is shown.
This re-engineered pump is equipped with an integral pressure relief valve.
18 • DECEMBER 2017
for a quick turnaround is a key feature in any reengineered pump program. Leistritz stocks cartridges for most flow rates in the range between 50 and 400 GPM and pressure up to 600 psi. Hardened and finish ground carbon steel rotors, cast or ductile iron liners, and use of mechanical seals are standard. Full-flow cartridge testing is done on a factory test stand, ensuring a cartridge from inventory is ready to be installed in the customized casing. Pump casing specifications are based on user input data, typically including the maker and model number of the original pump. Past operating data, motor information, and
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
existing instrumentation complete the picture. If an integral relief valve is needed, the pressure setting and location on the pump body must be decided. Fabrication takes place in a certified shop, where the rotor liner bore is machined; mounting feet and flanges are installed; and surface preparation and finish painting are done. ASTM standard pipe material, flanges and structural steel are used. The pump service determines the pressure rating of the casing, which is hydro tested per API Standard 676, Third Edition. If necessary, additional pipe spools with flanges and instrument tabs are provided. Shims or a pump bedplate can be offered, if the motor or driver needs to be modified. In times of constrained budgets, a reengineered pump offers a competitive alternative that simplifies the change-out of old, obsolete, and inefficient pumps. A cartridge style screw pump is ideal for mating with the customized casing for quick turnaround and easy direct fit with a minimum of onsite disruption and installation work. OG Sven Olson is a senior consultant and former CEO of Leistritz ATC.
A vertical centrifugal lube oil pump is being replaced.
DATA AND ITs UsERs
Collaborate with computers to improve asset management Smart data and your team’s intuitive grasp can shape the future By Dave McCarthy
Digital technologies allow management and control of remote field assets from a central location. Graphic courtesy: Bsquare Corp.
F
ield production, transportation networks, and processing facilities generate large amounts of data across the oil & gas industry. This data, on a day-today basis, gives operators key insights needed to maximize production. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology solutions use this same valuable data stream—even from remote production sites— and combine and organize the data within a cloud-based system. Advanced functionality, like machine learning and data analytics, can identify issues, trends, and patterns. You’ll hear this described as “predictive analytics.” Simply put, using historical and real-time operational data, the technology makes predictions about future events. Supplying insights unique to your equipment and operations, it can warn about approaching critical issues before a failure happens, and pinpoint root causes of a problem. Money is saved by avoiding unexpected downtime and related production loss, while simplifying diagnostic and repair processes. Production, maintenance, and engineering teams know more about a facility than anyone else, including the mechanical quirks or unique equipment parameters. IIoT technology
harnesses this in-depth knowledge, combined with machine-learning capabilities, to create the rules that refine raw data into meaningful insights. Getting smart Data doesn’t start out “smart.” At first, it’s just a long stream of numbers. Interpreting it requires identifying, gathering, and analyzing relevant information, such as regular equipment maintenance schedules, repair history, manufacturer’s specifications, and expected equipment life. IIoT software can learn the equipment’s safe operating parameters, and inform, through automatically triggered alerts, when it is operating outside its safe range. Moreover, a team’s unique understanding of equipment issues and how to resolve them can be recorded and integrated into the rules. Take, for example, a compressor with a history of breaking down. The team knows the problem and the solution. The steps they take, from issue identification to its resolution, can be fed into the IIoT system to accelerate the diagnosis and repair process. The right combination of human insight and machine learning can transform raw data into a digital analytics model, or digital twin, for each connected piece of equipment. This digital model can provide real-time status information and historical operating traits, as well as compare equipment performance against other similar or peak-performing equipment at a facility. The digital model also can optimize operational efficiency a number of ways. It can prioritize repair work based on the urgency of the equipment issues in OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2017 • 19
DATA AND ITS USERS the queue. It can introduce prescriptive repair procedures to streamline maintenance. And it can determine precisely the replacement parts and expertise required to resolve upcoming problems, improving your inventory management and work scheduling. Monitoring equipment operating conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and power, provides an early warning of critical issues that could lead to equipment failure or operating issues. The solution also provides actionable recommendations to prevent or correct problems. Of course, just because equipment briefly operates under conditions that could lead to failure doesn’t mean it will fail. However, by considering the unique operating states of all connected equipment, operators can fine-tune equipment service schedules based on actual conditions. Uniform populations To illustrate the use case for this level of tailored maintenance, take a uniform population of compressors with the same manufacturer-recommended maintenance schedules. Although they’re all the same make and model, operating conditions vary from one compressor to the next, causing oil lubrication properties to break down at the different speeds. If some compressors are exposed to operational or environmental factors that accelerate this breakdown rate,
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those assets will need oil changes more frequently than others. Identifying what pieces of equipment are thereby impacted isn’t feasible for most people. Machine learning, on the other hand, can sift through an enormous quantity of information to pinpoint the patterns that lead to premature breakdown. In the oil & gas industry, using analytics to identify trends and patterns in raw data, IIoT software can monitor operating conditions across an entire portfolio of connected equipment. This can include field equipment, pipelines, trucks, and refinery equipment. In a failure situation, it also shares datadriven insights into the likely root cause so technicians fix the issue faster. IIoT solutions continue to learn, absorbing the diagnostic steps taken, the issue detected, the solution found, and the result. The recommendations it provides evolve and improve over time, optimizing and adapting through machine learning. An IIoT technology solution enables real-time monitoring through dashboard visualizations that provide insights into equipment performance, as well as leading indicators of potential future issues. Dashboards can be integrated with existing data management and control systems and, when connected to the cloud, prove highly accessible. What’s more, a dashboard allows comparison of insights taken from multiple operations—be it production sites, pipelines or refineries—to optimize equipment performance, efficiency, and safety across the board. By incorporating the team’s expertise, an IoT system can act as a central depository for operating history and the deep, unique technical knowledge the team has developed. Combined with the ability to deliver precise data-driven predictions, this can streamline workflows and enable more informed business decision-making to enhance operations, increase equipment uptime, and maximize production. Scale and scope Before implementing any technology solution, it’s important to consider the scope, cost, and schedule risk. Oil & gas companies are invested heavily in technology solutions. The idea of ripping out existing systems and starting again is unappealing. To avoid unnecessarily disruptive, time-consuming, and expensive technology upgrades, look for an IIoT solution that doesn’t require excessive up-front costs, or invasive application or hardware installations. Insist on a solution that can integrate with existing systems, and avoid wholesale changes. Set defined, measurable business goals and implement IIoT on a piece-by-piece basis. Focusing on a small number of assets better manages costs and avoids operational interference. OG Dave McCarthy is senior director of products at Bsquare Corp. Dave earned an MBA with honors from Northeastern University. 20 • DECEMBER 2017
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
Get accurate flare gas heat values fast, with the FlarePro™ Mass Spectrometer
With impending EPA rule changes for flare gas stack combustion, you’ll need to measure heat value at the stack quickly, accurately, and often. AMETEK Dycor®’s FlarePro mass spectrometer has the speed and specificity for the task, calculating make-up gas quantities 10X faster than chromatographs. It can speciate and quantify alkanes and alkenes up to C7 and convert ASTM calculations of concentration to yield flare gas BTU values, even with wildly changing flare gas streams. Features include: • 24” footprint (general or C1, D2 areas) • 16-valve inlet system • 1 to 100 amu mass range • Easy-to-service modular design Learn more at www.ametekpi.com.
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