Data,: Bigger

11 SCADA remains relevant | 14 Tablet technologies
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leaving another 4% on the table because ing assets; its about creating value. You
you set your goals too low. tend to value those assets in economic
Set goals by optimizing people and terms; its really about outcome-based
resources through the understanding of engineering. Its about having the right
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any given moment. Those potential sav- asset. OG
2 DECEMBER 2016 OIL&GAS ENGINEERING

I NSIDE
Cover image courtesy: CFE Media
COVER STORY
6 Turning Big Data insights into bigger solutions
Energy forum attendees offer blueprints for using Big Data analytics to drive operational efficiencies, cut
costs, boosting production, and improving worker productivity.
6
FEATURES
11 SCADA remains relevant
for industrial automation
Part 2 of the series: Embedded workflow, engineering model
support, and auto-discoverable assets are among the technolo-
gies keeping SCADA alive.
14 Tablet technologies in traditional 14

engineering projects
The benefits of tablet-based tools are being realized versus
using traditional methods for engineering projects.
18 Control systems cant be overlooked

Investment in components a critical consideration for
pipelines, terminals.
24 Data, cloud will touch every area of

O&G business 27
Unlocking information will drive better performance at any price,
a new white paper suggests.
27 Wrapping up the intelligent

automation pyramid
Part 6: The guidelines and a case study for implementing
intelligent automation systems.
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2016 3

INDUSTRY NEWS
Best practices to maintain

and improve worker safety
Focus on engineering controls first in developing a safety plan in process plants.
I
By Mark Haboian
n the process engineering world, there when a critical piece of equipment or
Optimation Technology
are many ways to maintain and improve monitoring instrument does not function
Inc.
safety for workers on the job. One way properly.
to start is to lean on others to help you For those critical items, it would be
come up with the solution. Enlist the valuable to include data collection in the
help, experience, and suggestions of design for predictive maintenance for this
people in engineering, design, operations, equipment (also called condition-based
maintenance, and site safety for their input. monitoring). Logging the equipment data
Collaborating with multiple disciplines along with the process data helps monitor
reduces the chance of important safety its operation unobtrusively during normal
issues being missed, and it will help the production and warn maintenance per-
team list the credible hazardous scenarios sonnel when an individual component is
for all to see, evaluate, and give input to beginning to fail or reaching the end of its
the solution. Also, working together in a lifecycle.
larger multi-discipline team helps design These include items such as counting
and install a solution that is not only safe, valve or pump cycles, logging total motor
but reliable, maintainable, environmentally hours, evaluating instrument operation,
and ergonomically friendly, and cost-effec- and measuring current draw/resistance of
tive. Multiple factors should be taken into key electrical components. The experts on
consideration, but the emphasis always is process safety design teams can help you
on engineering controls first, as opposed identify the critical equipment or key indi-
to putting workers in personal protective vidual components that need to be running
equipment (PPE). 100% of the time for safe operation. This
extra enhancement goes a long way in
Plant and personnel safety reducing or even eliminating, an unplanned
Safety for the plant and personnel dangerous equipment shutdown, as well
always starts in the design phase and as avoiding a disruptive and expensive pro-
not when the system is already installed duction stop.
and running. The focus should be on
engineering controls first, such as process Identify critical variables for best
instrumentation to measure and control safety practices
key process variables and alarms if the Besides equipment monitoring, another
process goes out of control. The goal safe design practice used is identifying
is to stay within process control limits the top two or three variables that the
and shutdown/fix the problem when it group experts feel are most critical to
deviates. staying away from a hazardous situation
Once process control and monitoring is (level, flow, temperature, pressure, time,
taken care of, another helpful technique to etc.), and then choosing measurement
improve safety is to monitor equipment. instruments of different technology and
Its been seen on the news what happens manufacturers.
For example, filling a reactor with a
flammable solvent and monitoring the
level in the tank. Choose a continuous
level measurement device with high-level
Be mindful of workplace
safety at the back-
detection in the programmable logic con-
troller (PLC) and software and use that
end of a project, after
device for normal production activity, con-
trol, data collection, and high level alarm/ equipment installation
shutoff of the solvent addition automatic
valve. Monitoring the actuator position is complete and

with limit switches verify that when the
control system opens/closes the valve, the commissioning begins.
switches verify that the valve truly is open/
closed.
Note that in a critical operation like this,
flammable solvent filling, we would also Review and specify the personnel
design in a hard-wired point level probe needed
that bypasses all controls and software,
shutting off that same fill valve regardless The time-frame of the shutdown and
of what the control system indicates. This communication plan between commis-
design provides double protection on a sioning team members on different
critical process measurement, and it does shifts (if applicable)
cost more money, but this design philoso-
phy greatly reduces the risk of overfilling Production or commissioning specific
a vessel and running a flammable solvent product/tools and utilities that are
onto the production floor. needed
Create a step-by-step commissioning Individual component test procedures,

plan for equipment safety subsystem tests, and overall produc-
Be mindful of workplace safety at the tion line test
back-end of a project, after equipment
installation is complete and commissioning Training of plant personnel
begins. When new equipment is integrated
into an existing plant, great care needs Final documentation for a proper hand-
to be taken when starting up the off to the plant operating and mainte-
process, and a well-written step-by-step nance departments.
commissioning plan is critical to bringing
equipment online safely. A good commissioning plan is typically
The plan needs to be thought about dur- finalized during design, since that is where
ing the initial stages of project funding, most of the information about the equip-
so management knows the time-frame ment being installed and how to start
and resources needed for start-up and to up the process safely is known. Writing
run the equipment safely, especially in an and following a good commissioning plan
existing plant. Several things need to be enhances the chances of a successful
taken into account including: start-up, instills management confidence
in preparedness and leadership, and will
The equipment that needs to be allow workers to go home safely at the
started up end of the day. OG
The processes that are already running Mark Haboian is senior program manager at
in the area Optimation Technology Inc., a certified member of the
Control System Integrators Association (CSIA).

BIG DATA
Turning Big Data insights

into bigger solutions
Energy forum attendees offer blueprints for using Big Data analytics to drive operational
efficiencies, cut costs, boosting production, and improving worker productivity.
A
By Sidney Hill Jr. t the core, oil and gas companies by various systems across an enterprise.
have always been data-driven This puts TIBCO in the class of vendors
enterprises. From their earliest offering Big Data analytics solutions.
days, these companies have relied At its energy forum, TIBCO was show-
on geologists studying rock forma- casing its Insight Platform, a suite of data
tions to pinpoint the most likely management and analysis solutions that
spots for finding oil or gas and then pass that allow companies to build an infrastructure
data to engineers for analysis to determine for plucking data from disparate systems to
the best method for extracting the product generate reports that can be customized for
from the ground. different groups of users.
Despite the forums exclusive focus on
Investing in digital technologies TIBCO technology, there were real perfor-
for the oil and gas industry mance improvement metrics presented
Over the years, the tools used to perform by users. Its likely that similar metrics are
this data collection and analysis have being produced by other companies employ-
become more sophisticated. Generally, the ing data management and analysis solutions
new tools produce more accurate results, from other vendors.
partly because they generate greater The results of a survey of upstream oil
volumes of data. and gas concerns released earlier this year
Some oil and gas companies have found indicates oil and gas companies are relying
ways of harnessing these new troves of on digital technologiesand specifically Big
data to help boost profits by streamlining Data analytics solutionsmore heavily than
their operations. Recently, more companies ever.
are realizing that mastering the art of data In a study commissioned by Accenture
analysis is not just a good ideaits becom- and Microsoft, the 2016 Upstream Oil
ing essential to survive as the era of low oil and Gas Digital Trends Survey included
and gas prices shows no signs of ending. responses from individuals involved in infor-
That was the predominant sentiment as mation technology (IT) purchasing decisions
several hundred oil and gas industry pro- for international oil companies, national oil
fessionals converged in Houston this past companies, independents, and oilfield ser-
September for the TIBCO Energy Forum. vices firms.
This event was primarily a gathering of In the current challenging environment,
individuals who use technology from TIBCO the upstream oil and gas industry is focus-
Software, Inc. in some aspect of their opera- ing digital technologies on areas that help
tions. The agenda was packed with presen- them work smarter and deliver significant
tations recounting the performance improve- efficiencies and savings in the short term
ments achieved after adoption of various while enabling them to make better deci-
TIBCO products. sions faster, said Rich Holsman, global head
The TIBCO product portfolio consists of an of digital in Accentures energy industry
array of software programs that help to inte- group. So in the short term, we expect
grate, organize, and analyze data generated these companies will continue to invest
Figure 1: Oil and gas compa-
nies clearly are reaping value
from the use of digital tech-
nologies, including advanced
analytics, and many say it
is helping them cut costs in
response to tough market
conditions. All graphics cour-
tesy: Accenture
in areas that help lower operations costs The survey also indicates oil and gas
through technologies like increased worker companies believe they can continue reap-
productivity, with mobility, lower infrastruc- ing these benefits by focusing their spend-
ture costs through the cloud and drive better ing, at least in the near term, on three pri-
asset management through analytics. mary technologies:
Mobile applications
Seeing business value Cloud-based platforms
in digital technologies Analytics solutions.
Oil and gas companies believe strongly
in the power of technology to help them A majority of respondents said they no
achieve those goals. Even as they continue longer view the cloud as merely part of
to cut spending on personnel and capital an IT infrastructure, but instead see it as
equipment, in the face of persistently an enabler of productivity tools, including
low prices, 80% of upstream oil and gas mobile devices, and smart sensors spread
companies plan to either maintain, increase, across fields, and now considered part of
or significantly increase spending on digital the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
technologies over the next 3 to 5 years, Two-thirds of respondents (66%) identi-
according to the Accenture-Microsoft survey. fied analytics as one of the most important
More than 90% the survey respondents capabilities for transforming a company, but
said digital technologies are already bringing only 13% felt their firms analytical capabili-
value to their businesses, with more than ties currently are mature enough to foster
50% saying they consider that value to be true organizational transformation. There is,
significant. however, a strong desire to rectify that situ-
According to survey respondents, most of ation, with 65% of respondents saying they
this value is coming in two areas: according plan to implement more analytic capabilities
to survey respondents including Identifying over the next 3 years.
ways of reducing costs and providing infor- By taking advantage of the intelligent
mation that helps workers make better deci- cloud, greater use of analytics and IoT go
sions in less time. hand-in-hand with what we are seeing in our
BIG DATA
Figure 2: Improved decision-

making, increased pro-
ductivity and better asset
management top the list of
benefits oil and gas compa-
nies report after installing
new forms of digital tech-
nology.
business todaythe advent of the indus- Even as it was reducing the com-
trial Internet enabling the power of digital panys overall IT spending, Banerjee said,
across the oil and gas landscape, said Craig Halliburton management saw fit to boost its
Hodges, general manager of the Gulf Coast investment in certain technologies
District at Microsoft. You can see this trend specifically business intelligence, data min-
gaining traction from connected wells and ing, and analyticsby 58%. This also
intelligent pipelines to highly-efficient digital brought a new focus to our business intel-
refineries. ligence group.
Survey respondents said digital technol- Banerjee said this new focus resulted
ogy is having a major positive impact on the from managements realization that the
industrys workforce by fostering greater analytics solutions deployed in the business
employee engagement, making workers intelligence group offered the best chance
more productive, and providing opportunities of successfully tackling Halliburtons most
to get training and develop new skills. urgent needs in the current market environ-
Multiple presenters brought the numbers ment. Those needs, according to Banerjee,
compiled in the Accenture-Microsoft survey are boosting operational efficiency, increas-
to life at the TIBCO Energy Forum. Among ing asset utilization and availability, and opti-
them was Abhi Banerjee, senior IT manager mizing labor costs.
at Halliburton. He spoke about the impor-
tance of IT and operations professionals Identifying key performance indicators
collaborating to build technology platforms with Big Data
that can create the actionable intelligence Addressing those needs required IT staff
needed to improve margins by, among other to engage with colleagues from various
things, increasing production and reducing business units. However, in doing so,
unplanned downtime. Banerjee said, Halliburtonlike most of the
In 2015, we realized that this big dip in companies represented in the Accenture-
oil prices was not temporary, Banerjee said. Microsoft surveydiscovered that its
That triggered immediate spending cuts analytics capabilities were not yet mature
across the business, and we saw a 50% enough to drive the desired business
reduction in our IT project portfolio. transformation.
Most of the problems were due to the created more than 1,400 reports for users
historical practice of having business units across the enterprise.
monitor their own performance indepen- Using this system has doubled over the
dent of one another. As a result, there past year to 575 unique users per month,
were no uniform definitions for key perfor- McConkey said. McConkey adds that this
mance indicators (KPI) across the business, usage is widespread and the demand
nor were there any standard methods for continues to grow, spanning departments
publishing or sharing that information. As such as engineering, geoscience, drilling
a result, Banerjee said, it was difficult to and completions, operations, supply chain,
identify any trends, spot potential risks, or finance, environmental health andsafety,
even identify true efficiencies. audit, and IT.
Eventuallythrough continued col- The system is so popular, in McConkeys
laboration between the IT and operations view, because it helps to analyze vast
teamsHalliburton solved these problems, amounts of data from a variety of sources
and in the process, discovered meth- in an intuitive, visual environment to spot
ods for deploying analytics that Banerjee trends, outliers, anomalies, threats, and
believes would also benefit other compa- opportunities.
nies.
Our IT delivery approach is to standard-
ize and automate dashboards for all users
within a specific group, Banerjee said.
Survey respondents said
digital technology is
The interfaces for those dashboards must
having a major
be intuitive, with no training required to use
them. If theres any pain involved, users positive impact on the
will abandon them. All data presented
should be easy to understand.
industrys workforce
Users seeking detailed data should be by fostering greater
able to drill down to find it, Banerjee said,
but top-level data should be as simple employee engagement,
as a pie chart. By following these rules, making workers more
Banerjee said, Halliburton created a one-
stop shop for users across the enterprise productive, and providing
to find the information they need to per-
form their jobs at optimum level. They can
opportunities to get
instantly find KPIs related to cost, compli- training and develop
ance, labor or productivity, with much of
that data showing up in real time.
Banerjee also noted that as the number
new skills.

of dashboards increased, the cost of build- The future of data analytics in the oil
ing them decreased because much of the and gas industry
data going to any dashboard already had At the TIBCO Energy Forum, McConkey
been placed in a central location and could identified six specific reports that are widely
simply be directed to multiple interfaces. used at Hess, and outlined both the use
Our cost per dashboard decreased by case and value derived from each report
58% over 2 years, he said. (See table 1).
David McConkey, IT manager for enter- One report, which Hess has labeled
prise operations at Hess Corp., a global Bakken Asset Manager, is an example of
independent exploration and production what many experts believe is the future of
company, had a similar story to tell at the data analytics in the oil and gas industry.
TIBCO Energy Forum. McConkey recounted This report tracks the performance of Hess
Hess experience with TIBCO Spotfire, a assets in North Dakotas Bakken shale play.
data visualization and analysis tool. Hess It blends data on well performance and res-
installed Spotfire in 2012, and to date, has ervoir behavior with other data.
BIG DATA
Table 1: These are six of

more than 1,400 reports that
Hess Corporation employees
rely on to perform their job.
All of these reports have
been created since Hess
adopted a data analytics
solution from TIBCO in 2012,
and the companys IT man-
ager says the demand for
reports continues to grow.
McConkey said all this data flows into of poor performance in advance, and take
Spotfire, where its combined for viewing action to avoid the problem altogether.
through an interface thats known within Halliburtons Banerjee agrees that predic-
Hess as a data visualization center. Users tive analytics solutions are on the horizon,
can tap into this interface and get a com- and hes already envisioning a step beyond
plete picture of how any given well is per- thatsomething called prescriptive analyt-
forming, or they can get a reading on things ics. That would entail systems that not only
such as gross oil production within any predict that an operation is about to go
area of Hess Bakken play. The report also awry, but also have the capability to instantly
is linked to a predictive modeling tool that tell the user how to rectify the situation.
allows for forecasting how various assets Michael OConnell, TIBCOs chief analytics
will perform given current environmental officer, shares Banerjees vision of the future
conditions. McConkey says this capability of analytics, and says it reflects the journey
has helped Hess improve its decision mak- that TIBCO has been on with its oil and gas
ing in the Bakken fields. industry customers.
The use of predictive modeling puts Hess Weve been on this journey with you to
a bit beyond where most oil and gas compa- digitize your business for quite some time,
nies currently are when it comes to the use OConnell said in his opening remarks at the
of analytics. TIBCO Energy Forum. It started with look-
Currently, even the most advanced users ing in the rearview mirror to describe what
of analytics within the sector are review- happened in the past. Now, were on to
ing operational data to measure their past predicting whats going to happen next, and
performance. They can use that information determining what to do about it. We call that
to make adjustments to processes and see using data to turn insight into action. OG
real improvementin terms of reduced cost
or increased productivity going forward. But Sidney Hill Jr. is a graduate from the Medill
this improvement typically happens after the School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
fact. With predictive modeling, the theory He has been writing about the convergence of
goes, users will be able to see the signs business and technology for more than 20 years.

SCADA - SECOND OF TWO PARTS
SCADA remains relevant

for industrial automation
Embedded workflow, engineering model support, and auto-discoverable assets are among
the technologies keeping SCADA alive.
P
By Kevin Parker lacing computer power onto edge tem input or output value. Examined in series,
devices as near to production as these value-time stamp pairs track point his-
possible is a major goal pursued in tory. Metadata may also be stored with tags.
todays industrial automation circles. Systems with many thousands of tags are
Whats more, in just the past few common today.
years, copious amounts of process SCADA includes tools for process design
and operations data moved to the cloud. and development. Of prime importance is
Yet these developments by no means obvi- the ability to efficiently implement multiple
ate the role of supervisory control and data instances of a system. SCADA implementa-
acquisition (SCADA) systems as a convenient tions often include pre-integrated data histori-
and secure aggregation point. SCADA is found ans and portal connectivity to aggregate data
across the oil and gas industries and in all major and communicate results, analytics, etc., to
production industries. In fact, smart instrumenta- interested parties.
tion and cloud modalities make SCADA more To deal with the complexity of it all, modern
relevant to the entire business enterprise. SCADA uses object-oriented programming
One basic difference in todays oil and gas to define virtual representations of each par-
environment is that it is expected that opera- ticular entity mirrored in the graphical inter-
tions data can be accessed from the corporate face. These virtual objects included address
office, said Doug Rauenzahn, a product direc- mapping of the represented node and other
tor at Weatherford International. valuable information. Virtual objects also play
a role in supporting SCADAs ease of imple-
SCADA installation mentation since they are available for reuse in
A SCADA installation typically includes multi-plant scenarios.
computer workstations, programmable logic Object orientation opens a wealth of pos-
controllers (PLCs), and other instrumentation sibilities. The object model created in SCADA
for system inputs and outputs (I/Os). Unlike is an abstraction that can be used by other
a distributed control system (DCS), SCADA systems aimed at analytics and optimiza-
control functions may be limited. The feedback tions and to feed first-principle engineering or
loop passes through the PLC, while SCADA other type models, said Andy Weatherhead,
monitors loop performance. That is, PLCs manager of global engineering at Rockwell
assume parameter control, while operators Automation.
monitor results and, for example, change set SCADA increasingly incorporates the
points. Peer-to-peer communications among Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology.
the controllers may be lacking. Smart instrumentation and cloud technolo-
The more modern programmable automa- gies lead to more complex control algorithms,
tion controller (PAC) addresses these concerns while open network protocols improve SCADA
to compete with a DCS by acting as a control cybersecurity.
paradigm.
Another element of a SCADA installation is Upstream SCADA territory
a distributed database and tag- or point-data As previously mentioned, SCADA is used
elements. Each tag represents a single sys- extensively in industries including energy and
SCADA - SECOND OF TWO PARTS
Figure 1: Supervisory con-

trol and data acquisition
(SCADA) increases operator
efficiency. In the Enerchem
facility, use of modern
SCADA means that data is
accessible and all needed
functionality is found in a
single system. Image cour-
tesy: Kymera Systems
power, water and wastewater, manufacturing, Compressor stations in a pipeline system

and refining. In the oil and gas industries, maintain pressure for gas delivery to desti-
sub-sea level drilling and production control nation. A gas pipeline typically has multiple
are typically the purview of DCS, although compressor stations. A gas or liquid pipeline
SCADA implementations tend to proliferate has block or segmenting valves that can shut
as a means to roles, based on collaboration or down pipeline segments. Valued information
cross-functional operations. includes pressure, temperature, flow, and
According to Darren Schultz, director, of valve position. Pump stations maintain system
SCADA, oil, gas, and chemicals at ABB, in pressure or match flow demand. Multiple
todays North American upstream gas mar- pump stations connect to the pipeline, with
kets, the gas, well, or pad is typically PLC- connectivity back to a central location.
controlled, as are the gathering systems
connecting the pads, including the com- Beyond supervision and control
pressors involved. On the other hand, gas Whats exciting about the upstream today
processing facilities, transmission gas lines, is the great uses it has for cloud computing
and gas delivery typically are under an inde- and for something that is happening right
pendent DCS, and SCADA is widely applied now, the advent of auto-discoverable assets
in pipeline and distribution networks. technology, said Weatherhead.
Oil production is similar in that field Use of auto-discovery will significantly ease
operations are most often addressed with the pain of field implementations. The cloud
SCADA, refining with DCS, and pipelines offers a ready-made infrastructure for SCADA,
are again SCADA-equipped. In the oil indus- said Weatherhead. Combined with a services
try, you also have tank farms, which may approach, an operator can have power, use a
be managed using DCS from nearby pro- wizard to set up, and be processing data in
cessing plants, said Schultz. 5 minutes. Unfortunately, today, in too many
Actual control requirements differ by well cases, you see sites where despite using
type. For natural-flow wells, casing pres- the very latest drilling technologies, after 3
sure, temperature, and flowing-valve posi- months of work, they still havent tied into
tion are monitored, while gas wells further SCADA. Three months of lost optimizations is
rely on compensated flow calculations. real money.
Remote control is limited to the shutdown Another interesting element to SCADA
valve on a natural-flow well. For an artificial- to petroleum industry efforts aimed at best
lift well, motors or gas lift valves are also practices actually has been available for some
controlled. time. Over the last several years Ive found
intense interest in the subject of workflows in IT-based automation strategies for the
upstream oil and gas, said Weatherhead. oil and gas industry
Workflows are the traditional discipline of Rauenzahn said a more strategic approach
industrial engineers or operations manage- to IT-based automation use in oil and gas
ment specialists, types not typically found at industries will involve collecting data and
wellsites. But workflow isnt something applied managing operation in a way that approaches
exclusively in offices and factories. A defined closed-loop control.
process and defined work flow are important SCADA can furnish data to first-principle
benefits for an upstream sector with opera- physics and other type models extensively
tions that employ multiple third party-specialist used in the upstream. Model output is in turn
suppliers. used to tune predictive analytics models,
What [are] wanted are workflows for such which allow operators to see a wells prob-
things as take a well test, said Weatherhead. able future direction. This is the advent, or at
It sounds simple, but if you dont have the least contributes to, the ability of the oil and
different systems involved well-test integrated, gas industry to achieve the kind of closed-
you cant create a relevant workflow. Again, an loop control familiar in plant-based process-
object data model as found in SCADA provides es, said Rauenzahn.
a level of abstraction that allows easy linkages, Weatherhead agreed. Upstream produc-
much as a bus where elements use device tion is not a closed-loop process, but thats
drivers to plug in. where the industry is headed. It will come, Figure 2: Enerchem Inter-
According to Technical Toolboxes, an indus- and its not so far away. national, a producer and
try software provider, when thinking about At the end of day, Rauenzahn concluded, distributor of hydrocarbon
SCADA implementations, one way to segment you have to take a holistic approach to justi- drilling and fracturing fluids,
uses fractionation to treat
upstream operations is pertaining to a) reser- fying automation expense in oil and gas. You
crude, unprocessed oil.
voir, b) completion, and c) production. Once the have silos of data and silos of people. You
With just more than 30,000
requirements of each are defined by means have to look at the costs of poor coordina-
tags, the facility recently
of production workflows, improvements can tion. When you can build workflows to reflect updated its SCADA to take
be made. Cross-functional objectives can be actual processes you can build a culture that advantage of built-in cross-
addressed as role-based goals for reservoir encourages the information sharing [and] that platform open platform
surveillance, well-test validation, and production leads to productivity growth. OG communications unified
optimization. architecture (OPC-UA)
With a Web browser, all interested parties Kevin Parker is a senior contributing editor to Oil & servers. Image courtesy:
and no malicious partiesaccess a reliable, sin- Gas Engineering magazine. Enerchem International
gle source of truth. Its the
availability of a relevant,
configurable interface that
can kick off an evolution in
how things work.
Whats more, Web-
based interfaces provide a
self-service environment
so resources arent wasted
laboriously building or
modifying screens. Users
quickly become adept at
building them and the
dashboards that serve
their needs. That being
said, hesitations persist
about using Web inter-
faces in a control network,
as opposed to a business
network, said Rauenzahn.
TABLET TECHNOLOGIES
Tablet technologies
in traditional engineering projects
The benefits of tablet-based tools are being realized vs. using traditional methods.
T
By Timothy Lemoine, P.E. he majority of engineering fieldwork Many engineering projects begin by col-
and Scott Byrne, P.E. is still done the old-fashioned way lecting field data to determine current field
Matrix Technologies Inc. with paper drawings, pencils, and conditions. This requirement typically involves
highlighters. This method is time- a tedious process of locating the instrument
tested and adequate to get the job or piece of equipment and the paper-and-
done. However, there are certain pen method of confirming drawing accuracy.
projects that present challenges using this Existing drawings are taken to the field and
traditional method. Efficiencies plummet marked up by hand to represent actual condi-
when large projects with hundreds of draw- tions.
ings, thousands of pieces of data, and envi- There are inherent challenges when doing
ronmental issues affect the output. this type of work. For large projects involving
The use of wireless tablets and database a lot of data, the challenges become magni-
technologies for large engineering projects fied. When working outdoors, this becomes
with massive amounts of fieldwork are even more demanding. These challenges
increasing. The following project used the often lead to a loss in efficiency, schedule
traditional method in the first phase and delays, poor quality, and ultimately higher
tablets in the remaining phases. A compari- project costs.
son of both methods and additional uses for For example, a project involved the replace-
this technology in engineering and industrial ment of over 3,000 field instruments in
applications are explored. a large petrochemical facility. The project
goal was to upgrade the distributed control
Tablet market penetration system to a new control system based on
Today, tablets are becoming commonplace Foundation Fieldbus (FFB). All instrumenta-
in the industry. As shown in Figure 1, the tion would be replaced with an instrument
tablets market penetration for the first that could communicate using the FFB proto-
5 years of product history has greatly col. The project team was tasked to specify
exceeded other mobile and nonmobile new model numbers for each instrument to
computing devices. This exponential curve be replaced and devise a migration plan for
is assisted for a couple of reasons. First, the hot cutover of the majority of the instru-
the enterprise is rapidly adopting tablets ments. The remaining instruments will be
within the workforce. In many cases, laptops replaced during an outage.
and desktops are no longer provided for
employees. Second, the devices are used New instrument models
for more than consuming content such as The first step in creating new instrument
Internet browsing. model numbers is to obtain information related
Some studies indicate that greater than to the existing instruments, locations, process
20% of the tablets are actually used to cre- data, electrical ratings, etc. The team initially
ate or edit content. This article explores how turned to the facilitys documentation, such
tablets can be used in an enterprise to both as the International Society of Automation
consume and create content and increase (ISA) specification sheets, loop drawings, and
efficiency. loop folders. The plant documentation was
quickly dismissed as unreliable
or unavailable. The team needed
to start with practically nothing
regarding instrumentation and
would gather it all from the field.
The instrument survey involved
several field engineers completing
the following tasks:
Confirm the field location

Confirm representation on
process and instrumentation
diagram (P&ID)
Gather 15 data points relating
to the instrument
Place identification tag on the
instrument
Take several photographs of
each instrument installation.
This data was then analyzed in

the engineering offices to specify
the FFB-equivalent device to pur-
chase for the new control system. The type of Web interface was chosen Figure 1: Above is a chart
The project team encountered many obsta- so the database could be accessed from based on tablet technologys
cles that caused budget overruns and sched- anywhere with an Internet connection, not penetration into the market.
ule delays. Several factors played a significant just the tablet. The tablet would be a means All graphics courtesy: Matrix
Technologies
role in missed project goals. For one, the of storing all drawings and eliminating the
team found human error in handling the large need to carry everything into the field. Figure
amounts of data and documentation. Also, 2 shows the flow of data. The intent of the
design engineers found further difficulties in database itself was to create a real-time,
communicating data with the team. Even the single repository of information. The database
logistics of carrying stacks of drawings in the alone solved the following issues:
field, in normal and adverse weather condi-
tions, caused missed goals. Multiple spreadsheets with repetitive
data
Creating tablet solutions Data entry errors from handwritten forms
The initial instrument survey was completed to electronic spreadsheets
for the first 40% of the instruments using the Stale or incomplete data
traditional method. The schedule and budget Reliance on voicemail or email communi-
problems prompted the project team to find cation to detail the main data source.
a solution through a brainstorming session
with the companys information technology (IT) The WUI had to provide a way to extract
group. this data for the engineering design. The proj-
The first part of the solution was to imple- ect team created custom reports to access
ment a custom database accessible via a the database that could be configured by the
Web-based user interface (WUI). Together, they WUI.
replaced the paper forms used to manually
gather the instrument data. The second part of Criteria for input device
the solution addressed the data entry method. The design of the user interface was
An electronic tablet with basic Internet access developed with the limitations of the tablet
was chosen as the preferred means to enter and nature of work in mind. Screens were
data since it could be accomplished in the field. designed to fit the size of the tablet and
TABLET TECHNOLOGIES
Implementing tablet technology

There were three obstacles to overcome prior
to the implementation of the tablet solution:
1. Safety department approval to work in a

class 1, division 2 hazardous location
2. Reliable Internet access
3. Tablet environmental protection.
The facility safety policy states that elec-

tronics that could potentially cause a spark
and possibly ignite the explosive gases are
not permitted. This includes mobile cellular
phones, laptops, flashlights, and any tablet.
The team met with plant safety personnel and
agreed that the use of explosive gas detecting
monitors was an adequate solution. All team
members were safety trained and equipped
with a four-gas monitor.
Figure 2: An illustration of rotate as needed. Any buttons placed on the To gain Internet access, the team investigat-
the database and Web user interface considered the user wearing gloves. ed two options; connect to the facilitys local
interface (WUI). The color scheme was chosen based on the Wi-Fi network or use local cellular towers.
user standing in outdoor light. A tablet was Usage and security tests were done. Results
chosen over other options because of various showed Wi-Fi did not exist in some areas and
reasons including: had security complications. Cellular towers
were chosen for Internet access.
Portability Blowing debris scratching the screen, drop-
Inherent instant-on capability ping the tablet from ladders or scaffolding,
Adequate viewing area banging tablets against sharp corners, or
Long battery life (up to 10 hours) getting them wet in the rain were all environ-
Relative low cost mental concerns. An Internet search provided
Available accessoriescarrying straps, options for sturdy cases that would protect
hardened case against all concerns. A case with a hardened
Custom or user-ready apps shell, removable shoulder strap, and a water-
Built-in security features proof cover was chosen.
Instant communications between team
members (even in CL 1 Div 2 environ- Instrument surveytablet method
ments). Table 1 summarizes the major issues
affecting quality, schedule, and budget of the
The tablet was used to facilitate three main instrument survey. Both traditional and tablet
functions to improve the efficiency and quality methods are compared. Once the database,
of the instrument survey: Web interface, and tablet solution were fully
implemented, the results were dramatic.
1. To get the instrument data into the data- Using the paper-and-pencil method, the team
base was limited to documenting 12 instruments
2. To provide instantaneous access to all each day. After the initial learning curve using
current drawings, documents, and data the tablets, team efficiency increased to more
used in the project to all members work- than 20 instruments per day.
ing on the project As a result, what once took 49 weeks to
3. To keep all members of the team con- complete now only takes around 29 weeks.
nected (i.e., via email and through instant Using an average engineering labor rate, this
messenger applications). represents approximately a $240,000 savings
for the project.
Security concerns The success of the tablet and database
The data that this system is transporting led to an expanded role in the project that
is generic compared to phone and email included commissioning activities. Unique
data packets. However, security is always a forms were developed for each instrument
concern. This system relies upon security at type, and the forms were used as a checklist
multiple levels of the OSI 7- layer model: for quality assurance measures and progress
Physical layer (1): Remote wipe of tablet tracking.
if lost or stolen Efficiency is not always measured by how
Network layer (3): Server hardware long it takes to complete a task from start
behind the firewall to finish. It should also take into account the
Session layer (5): Strong 14-character amount of extra work caused by the meth-
password requirement with auto-lockout odology used in completing the task. Simple,
feature effective methods are the most efficient. The
Presentation layer (6): Transport layer tablet-and-database solution simplified instru-
security (TLS) using encryption ment documentation. There werent longer,
Application layer (7): Unique access lev- multiple sets of drawings and documents
els per user (read-only, r/w, deletion, etc.). owned and manipulated by multiple people
in multiple locations. The solution brought
Analyzing traditional methods vs. everyone and everything to a single, simpli-
tablet technology fied point of reference.
The traditional method resulted in budget This project demonstrated that there is
overruns, schedule issues, and quality definitely a place for tablets in engineering
problems. These were only overcome by long projects. The dominance and fast growing
hours and a lot of rework. The tablet method tablet market will be further strengthened
resulted in significant savings to the budget as more firms use and develop tablet-based
and the schedule. The quality can be measured tools in the future. OG
by customer satisfaction. The migration was
smooth, and the construction package was Timothy J. Lemoine, P.E. is associate director of
well put together and easy to understand. This engineering
is a result from spending more time creating a
useful and clear package rather than spending Scott J. Byrne, PE, is senior manager, both for the
countless hours in the field and reworking power, instrumentation and control department at
items due to lost or unreadable data. Matrix Technologies Inc.
Table 1: The chart illustrates

Major Issues Traditional Method Tablet Method the timelines associated
Manually counting each days with using a traditional
Progress Tracking Instant reporting
progress approach versus using a tab-
Communication between let approach.
Phone Calls/Voicemails Email and Instant Messaging
Field and Office Teams
Logistics of Drawing Manage-
Clipboards filled with drawings PDFs retrieved from the cloud
ment
Blowing, stained, soaked No papers required, hardened
Environmental
documents case protects against weather
Drawing Editing Hand-marked redline Electronic redline overlay app
Instant delivery via database
Hand-delivered at prolonged
Transfer of Data reporting over Internet
intervals
connection
Twice; once on paper then into
Data Entry One time via tablet
spreadsheet - prone to errors
Lost or Illegible Data High probability Near zero probability
Multiple drawings, documents, Tablet strapped over the
Safe Working Conditions
pencils to carry shoulder, hands-free climbing

CONTROL SYSTEMS
Creating standards for

controls systems for mergers
and acquisitions
Creating and following controls system standards and guidelines can help mitigate costs
during a mergers, acquisitions, and expansions for the pipeline and terminals industry.
T
By T.J. Gibbons he pipeline and terminals industry is (HMI) screens with control systems. If you
Mangan Inc. in a constant state of upheaval and go to a facility and ask the local personnel to
change. In busy times, new players show you their control system, most often
emerge while existing companies they show you their programmable logic
expand and grow. In slower times, controllers (PLCs), distributed control system
there seems to be an increase in (DCS) panels, and their operating screens.
mergers and acquisitions. A consistent theme These are considered traditional controls
exists: the industrys landscape is constantly systems.
changing and increasing in complexity. While they certainly are critical compo-
Companies spend exorbitant amounts of nents of any controls system, when dealing
money investigating these growth opportuni- with expansions and mergers, a strong argu-
ties by exploring the potential for new markets, ment can be made that they are actually the
new transportation channels, and increased least important aspect. If needed, they can
throughput, and capacity. Considerations are be relatively easily upgraded or changed in a
given for the real estate, infrastructure, person- cost effective manner.
nel, and existing contracts involved. The control During an investigation and consideration
systems involved in these mergers and expan- of growth and expansion, there are other
sions are often overlooked. aspects of control systems that must be con-
Control systems are critical components sidered, and many oil and gas professionals
of these facilities, and the failure to properly need to expand their understanding of what
understand and account for them can result your control system truly entails.
in higher unintended costs and philosophical Failure to properly consider the holistic and
compromises to properly integrate these new comprehensive nature of controls systems
assets into an organizations existing systems is a perilous exercise. If the entire system is
and structures. not completely understood and accounted
So how do you effectively investigate, under- for, you are doing a disservice to your com-
stand, and consider control systems during pany, setting your projects up for failure, and
potential acquisitions, mergers, and expan- opening up the door for significant additional
sions? There are two critical aspects: unexpected cost, scope creep, and major
1. Understanding what actually comprises a headaches and integration issues.
control system
2. Establishing, maintaining, and following Creating standards for a
a strong philosophy regarding control controls system
systems. The primary foundation for a successful
controls system is a strong and sustainable
What is a control system? philosophy outlining a companys controls
Typically, people only associate the physical system identity. Every aspect of a controls
hardware and human-machine interface system outlined above should have
standards and guidelines that a
successful company can adhere
to and follow. These guidelines
establish a minimum baseline
for how a company is going to
develop, operate, and maintain
their controls systems and serve
as a roadmap to assist growth,
expansion, and acquisition decisions.
The philosophy should be based
off of how to manage and maintain
control systems while accounting
and supporting relevant industry
regulations and standards (American
Petroleum Institute, Pipeline
and Hazardous Materials Safety
Institution, OSHA, etc.).
At a minimum, a true controls sys-
tem philosophy should include:
Automation philosophies: How are the hensive philosophy resides in the ability for a The failure to properly
assets/facilities automated? Is it a highly company to standardize and maintain a base- understand and account for
manual, highly automated, or hybrid line set of requirements to consider when control systems can result in
process? Are the facilities locally or making expansion and growth decisions. higher unintended costs. All
images courtesy: Andrew B.
remotely controlled? Is there an external Additionally, when a strong controls phi-
Chambers, Atlanta Captures
monitoring system involved? losophy is in place, more flexibility is avail-
Photography Services
Documentation: What documentation able for system support. Assets across a
requirements exist? These standards company are developed and maintained
mandate what documentation must using standard documentation, hardware,
be developed and maintained at all and code bases. Tribal knowledge and
facilities. It should include standard tem- single points of failure are minimized, if not
plates and formats. eliminated entirely, through standardization.
Hardware/software: What systems, When done correctly, companies should be
platforms, or requirements does the able to seamlessly maintain their facilities
company standardize with? with little issue and more efficiently grow,
Programming guidelines and style without finding themselves forcibly bound
guides: These guidelines affect the look to any individual employee or contractor for
and feel of a companys controls system system support.
code bases.
Migration and update procedures: It is Controls systems external connections
critical to have a plan for migrations and The external connections are arguably the
updates. When hardware, firmware, or most important. External connections refer
software has been upgraded or re-envi- to anything that extends outside of the fence
sioned, how do you analyze and decide line of a facility. These connections include a
if and when to upgrade your systems? companys enterprise or corporate systems
(accounting, inventory, scheduling, etc.) and
Establishing a robust controls philosophy interactions and integration to customer
is only the first step. Most importantly, once systems.
a company has established their philosophy External connections have major implica-
and controls identity, it is imperative to stand tions not only to how a terminal or pipeline
by it. It does not make sense to invest in company makes money (customer systems),
developing standards and guidelines, only but also to how that money is tracked,
to deviate from them or consistently make accounted for, and collected (enterprise and
exceptions. The value in having a compre- corporate systems). These interactions must
CONTROL SYSTEMS
Once a company has established its

controls philosophy and identity, it
is imperative to maintain it and hold
true to those principles.
to be sure that they only see

or access what they are sup-
posed to.
During an expansion or
acquisition, companies will
undoubtedly be encountered
with a challenge associated
with an external connection
to their control system, be it
during a due diligence period
or following the growth
decision. Failure to properly
address these issues proac-
tively may result in decreased
efficiencies, unbudgeted
occur for any facility to properly function. As efforts to remedy an issue, or compromised
such, the failure to account for these sys- controls philosophies. Any of these problems
tems during an expansion or growth deci- will ultimately cost money. Decreased opera-
sion can incur significant cost to modify sys- tional efficiency and facility throughput may
tems to properly integrate the new asset. be the biggest risk.
With respect to a controls systems exter- Operational processes will need to rely on
nal connections, when making expansion manual methods if a facility is unable to:
and growth decisions some critical things to Properly, accurately, and efficiently
comprehensively consider include: receive schedules/orders
Operational requirements: What is Process tickets
the intended operational intent of the Receive or update accurate manifests,
facility? bills of lading, or authorized driver lists.
Information requirements: Depending
on the facility, this could include cus- In order to continue to operate, the local
tomer information, tickets, reports, teams workload will have to increase to
orders, schedules, manifests, etc. What accommodate the more manual process. As
do your corporate systems require? opposed to being able to rely on the success-
Data availability: Do you even have ful operation of the controls systems, opera-
access to all of the information that your tors must be manually processing, communi-
corporate systems require to include cating, and validating all of their information
access to customer info that you need and operations. Increasing their workload can
to process tickets/orders? lead to a need for additional manpower or
Data compatibility: Assuming you increased operator errors.
have access to all of the data that you Data and information errors may also
require, to what extent is that data occur if external connections are not properly
going to need to be manipulated in considered. Errors or trouble with sched-
order to integrate it into your systems? ules, orders, or tickets will directly impact
Security: It is imperative that any exist- operations and create accounting issues that
ing connections meetor can meet will require investigation and remediation.
your companys security requirements. Additional systems or middleware may be
Information access control: When required to ensure that this information is
sharing info with customers, it is critical properly received, processed, and tracked.
Data security and unintentional information Segregated networks: Often times, it is
exposure risks are potentially looming, as desirable to have segregated networks
well. separate networks for controls, business,
Finally, a significant concern of poorly and corporate, for example.
planned external connections to a controls Supporting real-time operations:
system is complicated supportability and Are you expecting to support real-time,
unnecessary complexity. If there are 14 facili- dynamic operations? Will there be many
ties with 14 different local inventory/tracking changes happening quickly or will opera-
systems, you need to be able to support all tions be fairly stagnant?
of them. If it is an off-the-shelf system, the Remote accessibility: Will operations
company will need someone familiar with it. require remote accessibilitybe it for
If it is a custom system, the company may remote control of the facility, remote
be tethered to a contractor or third-party who monitoring, or remote support?
built it.
Early and proper attention to the IT challeng-
Addressing communications es involved with a growth decision can mitigate
and network challenges many of the issues inherent in expansions.
The backbone for any control system is However, depending on the required operating
going to be the communication paths that conditions, failure to account for the above con-
it relies on. Whether it is communications siderations can literally take a station down and
between two pieces of hardware at a facility halt operations. Some of these pitfalls can be
or communications with an important crippling and extremely expensive to mitigate
customer, control systems can quickly be or correct after the fact.
rendered useless with the loss of a critical Network failures or loss of communications
communications path or network. Having at a remotely controlled facility may force an
an understanding of the existing networks emergency shutdown. If the station is remotely
and communications structures at your monitored, network outages or communica-
existing facilities and those you are looking tions failures can result in the loss of critical
to acquire and integrate with is tantamount situational awareness at the facility.
to a successful integration. How do the Facilities with remote access have an addi-
new acquisitions fit into your existing tional set of pitfalls to avoid. While the ability to
infrastructure? remotely access and support a controls system
Networking and information technology has a myriad of benefits, a downside of access-
(IT) is a complex, and often confusing, realm. ing a live production system remotely is the
However, asking the right questions and tak- opportunity to inadvertently or adversely affect
ing the following into consideration when that system.
making expansion and growth decisions will Additionally, if there is a remote facility that
establish a baseline to be sure that an acquisi- relies of remote access, a network or com-
tion/expansion goes smoothly: munications failure may result in the need
Existing internal and external com- to deploy a physical resource, which can be
munications: What communications extremely costly. That cost is exacerbated if
channels are currently in place at all of the the facility and operations go down while the
facilities? appropriate resources are mobilized to correct
Available external communication and fix the issues. Finally, when remote access
methods: What communications options is available, the potential exists for an unauthor-
are available? Depending on a facilitys ized access event. Obviously, security breaches
location, there may be challenges to vari- are bad and need to be minimized, if not com-
ous forms of communication. pletely eliminated.
Operational uptime requirements: How
critical are the operations? How depen- Electrical system safety
dent are they on communications? The state of the electrical systems and the
Security: How vulnerable are the net- associated drawings and documentation is a
works at these new facilities? consistent concern with expansions, mergers,
CONTROL SYSTEMS
and acquisitions. Due diligence must be paid monetary outlay to investigate, assess, and
to assessing and understanding the electrical update/create the necessary drawings and
infrastructure to be affected and integrated documentation.
when making acquisition and expansion Systems in disrepair also represent a major
decisions. Substandard electrical systems concern. Systems in bad shape will need to
and documentation should be a major cost be fixed, updated, or replaced. Depending
consideration. The following are things to on the systems, this can be very costly and/
consider: or create unintended outages and downtime.
Electrical drawing requirements and Additionally, there may also be outdated, lega-
standards: What do your approved phi- cy, or even obsolete equipment that will need
losophies require? Do you have standard to be maintained or is reaching the end of its
device, panel, or P&IDs drawings? serviceable life. If one of these systems fails,
State of existing electrical systems: often times replacements or spares are hard to
What is the current state of any systems? come by, presenting an untenable situation that
Drawing repository and availability: may result in unsafe conditions or complete
Does the facility have accurate as-built facility outages.
drawings? Failures in electrical systems generally pres-
Power availability: Do the facilities have up- ent themselves quickly, unexpectedly, and with
to-date load studies? What additional power dangerous potential. Above all else, dealing
loads may be placed on the systems? with electrical systems comes with significant
safety concerns. The potential for an arc flash
When a facility is acquired, its electrical event exists in many legacy facilities with anti-
infrastructure and documentation are acquired quated switchgear. Inaccurate drawings can
with it. If the condition and quality of these create a safety risk. Companies must be sure
systems and drawings are not properly under- to not expose their people to unnecessary risk
Data and information errors stood and accounted for, it can present a and hazard when expanding and growing.
may also occur if external significant hidden cost to remediate them.
connections are not properly Insufficient or inaccurate electrical drawings Traditional controls systems during
considered. Errors or trouble can be a major black hole. This information is Traditional controls systems (PLCs, DCSs,
with schedules, orders, or
critical for system upkeep and troubleshoot- HMIs, SCADA, etc.) are another consideration
tickets will directly impact
ing. Without accurate drawings, in an available in a growth or expansion decision; however,
operations.
and editable format, there may be a major they do not have a significant impact. If
needed, their cost to update
or replace is relatively small
when compared to the other
elements outlined earlier. Still,
they are important and should
be considered when making
these decisions:
Corporate philosophy:
What is your philosophy?
What do you standardize
on?
Existing platforms and
systems: What is current-
ly deployed and in place?
Spare capacity and
expandability: Do the
existing systems have any
spare capacity?
Supportability: How sup-
ported are the deployed
systems?
Compatibility: Will the
existing systems be com-
patible with the required
corporate systems, third
party systems, or other
controls systems?
Reliability: How reliable
are the existing systems?
As mentioned, the cost to

correct or remedy a failure or
shortcoming of a traditional
controls system is relatively
minor, but it can still be
problematic, bothersome,
and time-consuming. In any
growth activity, these sys-
tems will require some level
of maintenance and upgrade
to properly integrate them.
Failure to account for this
work prior to the growth decision, however, what to investigate and what questions to The cost to correct or reme-
will result in unaccounted for and unintended ask can uncover potential shortcomings that diate a traditional controls
work to ensure that the integration is ultimate- can be addressed or accounted for in the system failure may be rela-
ly successful. Unavailable or inaccurate con- decision-making process. Ensuring that con- tively minor, but it can still
be problematic, bothersome,
figurable documentation or code will require trols systems are properly considered during
and time-consuming.
an as-built effort. Incompatible systems will the decision-making process is a critical step
require middleware or complete replacement. to safeguarding a successful controls sys-
Systems that are in conflict with your corpo- tems integration and growth activity.
rate philosophy will need to be addressed, So how does a company successfully navi-
according to that philosophy. gate this process? It all starts with the sound
development and commitment to a controls
Critical controls systems identity. This philosophy can be based off of an
and executing a growth activity analysis and baseline of a companys existing
Growth activities are a necessary and natural assets, developed from scratch based off of
evolution within the oil and gas industry. The overarching goals and best practices, or some
considerations and pitfalls outlined above combination of both. Professional systems
are not intended to dissuade the pursuit or integrators and controls systems consultants
consideration of expansions, mergers, and specialize in and can support the development
acquisitions. They are intended to provide of a cogent and sustainable controls system
information that should give you pause and philosophy. Once established, a strong con-
make you think when pursuing growth, trols identify can, and should, be followed dur-
as they can make an extreme impact and ing the pursuit of potential growth.
are expensive to remedy or correct. It is Following these measures ensures that the
important to plan for these considerations/ acquisition and expansion opportunities are
pitfalls when doing due diligence. One way identified and analyzed with respect to that
or another, all of these issues have been philosophy, ensuring that necessary consider-
encounteredmultiple timesand the cost ation is given to the opportunitys fit within the
to correct, troubleshoot, or fix them can be philosophy and the efforts required to properly
substantial. integrate it into a companys inventory. OG
A critical controls system failure or over-
sight when pursuing a growth activity can be T.J. Gibbons is the director of operations at
a multi-million dollar mistake. Understanding Mangan.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT
The new age of data

management and analysis
in the oil and gas industry
Optimizing oil and gas operations will involve connectivity
and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
I
f oil is black gold, then overlooked data Internet of Things (IIoT) and cloud com-
from the oilfield is a diamond in the puting as one system. Why is that impor-
rough. tant?
Informational value is the most
important commodity throughout CuTTEr: The only way to manage the
the oil and gas industry, a recently rapid advancement of IIoT is to treat it as
released white paper from Quorum one would any other resource requiring
Business Solutions concluded. Newly massive scale to harness. Cloud computing
embedded devices and sensors make it systems are designed to meet the challeng-
easier to collect data at an ever-increases of data ingestion, storage, and analytics
ing rate, while cloud storage technolo- on larger and larger volumes of data.
gies make it simpler to store the data. Another inarguable fact is the massive
However, real value is created from data amount of capital required to build the infra-
when informational context and associa- structure demanded for scale that effective-
tions are made inside and outside of an ly replaces itself every few years. Oil and
organization. gas companies should stick focus on their
The move to cloud data is changing core business.
the way oil and gas operators are analyz-
ing operations. Those analyses, Quorum OGE: How should oil and gas compa-
concluded, will help out producers at nies take advantage of such a system?
every level of the supply chain, even in
uncertain times. Current market volatility CuTTEr: Since there is no single vendor
provides proof that optimization is needed that can deliver IIoT, it is not a single box that
across the oil and gas value chain, the can be checked. Rather, IIoT will be layered
white paper stated. Companies that in, quarter over quarter and year over year.
leverage data to optimize business pro- As such, for companies to start taking
cesses will not only thrive, but survive advantage, they first have to start with
during market downturns and dominate defining their strategy and determining
the industry on the next upswing. what questions need answering where
Shawn Cutter, a vice president at insufficient operations data and information
Quorum specializing in field production exists. The journey of successful companies
optimization, operations, measurement, in this space will be very iterative.
and SCADA, discussed the implications
of this new age of data management and OGE: Oil and gas companies are notori-
analysis with Oil & Gas Engineering: ously slow adopters of technology, and
deploying IIoT is a big adoption. What
OGE: The white paper talks about do you see as the major benefits for the
the importance of seeing the Industrial industry?
Cutter: While it is true that the oil and
gas industry has traditionally been slow to
adopt, I do not think that will be the case in
certain areas of the industry and particular
units within an organization. Initially, IIoT will
augment legacy devices and facilities with
additional devices.
The cost of all forms of computing con-
tinues to decrease.
Hardware vendors will force the intro-
duction in their quest for growth.
The younger generation has an appetite
for and an expectation of information.
The benefits will touch every area of

the business. IIoT enables an organization
to move away from manual, reactionary

methods of managing their operations to a panies are struggling to
proactive and continually adaptive style that weather the storm, cutting The only way to manage
functions in a mode of continuous improve- as many costs as possible,
ment. A few examples of immediate benefit sometimes with no regard
the rapid advancement
include: to future implications. of IIoT is to treat it as
Elimination of all unnecessary field Cuts in personnel and
travel reducing overhead and liability preventative maintenance one would any other
Elimination of all unplanned downtime overhead without providing resource requiring
caused by equipment failures alternatives will yield more
Maximized production output and lon- expense or decreased out- massive scale to
gevity of wells through proper pressure,
rate, and artificial lift optimization.
put later.
When oil is $100, bad
decisions are hidden by
harness.

OGe: In the same vein, what are some easy profit. Any company that can stream-
of the short-term challenges that com- line operations now, nurturing a culture of
panies need to address when moving to data-driven decisions, can achieve profitabil-
IIot? ity even in the current macro-environment.
The companies that do will accelerate out of
Cutter: In the short-term, for companies the next market recovery.
to get started in IIoT, they need to close a
few gaps in their infrastructure, knowledge, OGe: Connected systems seem to hold
and security. A gap in one or more of these great promise in an industry where price
areas will lead to uncertainty, high probably volatility still exists. What should be the
of failures, and resistance to future change. strategy for upstream and midstream
companies looking to manage such vola-
OGe: You mention an important con- tility?
cept in the white paper: that its not just
about producing more oil and gas, but Cutter: The strategy should be one
producing it in an optimized way. Can of continuous improvement where every
you expand on that idea, and why its process can be incrementally analyzed and
more important today at $40 bbl oil than adjusted widening the gap between red
it was 2 years ago at $100 bbl oil? and black. This agile approach is not a new
concept to upstream and midstream compa-
Cutter: This concept is actually a lot nies; however, applying it in the form of 1s
easier to explain at $40 oil when the break- and 0s is vastly different from drill collars
even price is $50; as we are seeing, com- and pipe wrenches. OG
Engineering is personal.
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AUTOMATION PYRAMID: PART 6
Understanding the process

of automation systems
A framework for implementing intelligent automation systems.
T
By Alex Marcy he first five installments of this overflowing. Understanding how the tank levels
series covered the different levels fluctuate over time requires a process historian
of the automation pyramid and how to collect and store the amount of material in
to turn process data into informa- the tanks. Combining the analysis tools at Level
tion. Levels 1 and 2 consist of the 3 with the skills and experience of operators
process equipment, instrumentation, and production staff yields some information
and control systems that automate produc- but may require a lot of effort to get the most
tion. Level 3 is comprised of the information value out of this information.
systems used to collect and analyze raw data Level 4 systems reduce the amount of
from the control system. effort required to find actionable insights, by
Level 4 provides more detailed analysis tools means of statistical analysis tools and addi-
combined with other information systems tional data sources to provide the context to
such as quality control that add context to the turn raw data into information.
raw process data. Level 5 forms the basis of Using raw material as an example, Level 4
a fully connected enterprise with bi-directional systems might include quality control sample
integrations between production and business data describing the condition of the raw mate-
operations systems. The easiest way to under- rials when they are brought into the plant.
stand the pyramid as a whole is to see how Based on this information, process setpoints
information moves from Level 1 to Level 5. may need to be adjusted to ensure adequate
product quality.
Getting value out of data analysis Integration of Level 5 systems might
Much like the flow of raw material through the include a data entry system the operators use
process, data can be traced through to generate an unloading ticket that combines
the various systems that turn it into quality control data, information from the
information. This begins with raw shipping company, and actual process data to
material brought into the facility. A verify shipped and received quantities. This
Level 1 and 2 system monitors system can be synced with accounting sys-
the tank levels as material tems to ensure shipping/receiving information
is unloaded from supply is correct.
trucks or rail cars. This Applying the same concept to final produc-
provides operators tion amounts leads to a system to understand
with a real-time overall production costs and losses based on
view of what is the amount of material going into and out of
available for the process. This can be combined with util-
processing ity usage information for even more detailed
and can trigger cost breakdowns. It allows operations staff
alarms if the to spend time using this information to make
tanks are close higher impact decisions than they would be
to empty or able to do if they spent their time only comb-
in danger of ing through raw data.
AUTOMATION PYRAMID: PART 6
This approach can be applied to any part of This Level 1 to 5 approach yielded a system
the process, resulting in an overall system to for Jaxon that surpassed the capabilities of sys-
understand the health of the entire process at tems at their other facilities, and gave them a
any given time. solid foundation for continuous improvement of
their operations.
Applying the automation pyramid
The automation pyramid was implemented Implementing the automation pyramid
at the Jaxon Energy facility in Jackson, Miss. What the facility must understand is what level
The system was designed from the ground it currently is at. From there, the next step is
up with Levels 1 and 2 in mind; it comprised a to prioritize what systems at the current or
programmable logic controller (PLC) and human next level would provide the most value, and
machine interface/ supervisory control and data search for who can best design and implement
acquisition (HMI/SCADA) system for process those systems.
automation. Other common systems companies imple-
As part of the process-control design discus- ment as they need more information are
sion, the idea of implementing a process histo- manufacturing execution systems to track
rian was proposed and adopted as part of the downtime, additional statistical analysis tools
overall system design. This brought the facility that may include machine learning algorithms,
up to Level 3, along with historical trending and or even finding ways to implement Industrial
reporting tools for data analysis. Internet of Things (IIoT) devices, such as bea-
During a subsequent design meeting, cons, safety tracking devices, or even Geo-
requirements for reconciling raw material ship- fencing in the facility for a real-time view of
ping and finished product shipping documents their staffs locations.
were discussed, and the idea of a product rec- One important piece of the puzzle is to start
onciliation system was proposed. This system small and allow everyone to get used to the
was originally envisioned as a Level 4 system, new systems without overwhelming employ-
with the integration of quality control sample ees in the process. As technology improves,
data into the shipping and receiving tickets the capabilities of each level of the pyramid
enabling production operations staff to better will increase, and it is always a good idea to
understand the process setpoint for the varying research new tools as they come out. The
grades of material received on any given day. amount of data is always increasing, and it is
When the product reconciliation system more important than ever to find ways to turn it
was commissioned, it was quickly elevated into information. OG
to a Level 5 system, supplying information to
accounting staff and generating the forms they Alex Marcy, P.E., is the owner and president of
use to check production data against bills of Corso Systems, a system integration firm based in
lading to double check transactional data. Chicago.
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11 SCADA remains relevant | 14 Tablet technologies

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input #100 at www.controleng.com/information

Oil & Gas Engineering is written specifically for

Each issue will provide timely and actionable information to

Upcoming topics include:

EMILY GUENTHER, Associate Content Manager

2 DECEMBER 2016 OIL&GAS ENGINEERING

14 Tablet technologies in traditional 14

18 Control systems cant be overlooked

24 Data, cloud will touch every area of

27 Wrapping up the intelligent

OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2016 3

Best practices to maintain

Create a step-by-step commissioning Individual component test procedures,

OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2016 5

Turning Big Data insights

Figure 2: Improved decision-

Table 1: These are six of

10 DECEMBER 2016 OIL&GAS ENGINEERING

SCADA remains relevant

Figure 1: Supervisory con-

power, water and wastewater, manufacturing, Compressor stations in a pipeline system

Confirm the field location

This data was then analyzed in

Implementing tablet technology

1. Safety department approval to work in a

The facility safety policy states that elec-

Table 1: The chart illustrates

OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2016 17

Creating standards for

Once a company has established its

to be sure that they only see

As mentioned, the cost to

OIL&GAS ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2016 23

The new age of data

The benefits will touch every area of

CFE Media is home to four of the

delivers a wide array of strategies

Understanding the process

28 DECEMBER 2016 OIL&GAS ENGINEERING

The American Petroleum Institute created strict API Certified

baldor.com 479-646-4711 Unmatched Quality

2012 Baldor Electric Company

input #102 at www.controleng.com/information

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