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IIoT IN O&G
Modernize electronic flow
measurement with MQTT
MQTT is a publish/subscribe, extremely simple and lightweight messaging protocol
T
By Arlen Nipper o discuss modernizing electronic
flow measurement (EFM), let’s start
at the top.
In 1980 I was at Amoco Oil, and
EFM, or measuring how much oil or
gas flows through a pipeline, was cal-
culated using round chart recorders.
A pin would chart the pressure and tem-
perature over the course of a month and then
someone would physically collect the round
charts, if the ink hadn’t run out or it hadn’t been
eaten by mice (See Photo 1). Then, engineers
would integrate the temperature and pressure
with a calculator to determine volume. You can
imagine an engineer’s office with a couple of
hundred of these paper charts lying around
with the office inhabitants trying to make
sense of the data.
Sometime in the early 1980s someone real-
ized the data could be measured electronically
and integrated on a computer. Eventually the
American Petroleum Institute (API) released a
standard that said if you are going to measure
oil and gas and then sell it, the measurement
must be precise.
In the ensuing rush to automate EFM for bet-
ter measurement, millions of flow computers
Photo 1: A round chart
recorder. All images courtesy:
Cirrus Link
were installed at companies all over the world.
Over the next 30 years there were something
like a dozen different manufacturers and a
dozen protocols for EFM.
As a result, today we see a heterogeneous,
legacy infrastructure for EFM, with many
customer-specific, proprietary solutions.
Some oil & gas companies have thousands
of flow computers; therefore, upgrading to
new technology is not easy. A tech must go
out to unwire/uninstall the flow computers,
then reinstall new equipment. When you are
looking at tens of thousands of dollars to mod-
ernize each flow computer, the cost is often
prohibitive.
Not to mention, the flow computers in the
field today are accurate. They work. We all
know if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. The problem
is not accuracy, but consistency.
Challenges with varied EFM data types
Today’s flow computers do double duty, with
multiple hosts and multiple data types, which
is not conducive to typical SCADA processes.
From an operations standpoint the real-time
operational data includes configuration, alarm,
event, and history data. Per the API standard
these data points are atomic, meaning they
need to stay together, and you need to prove
they were all gathered at the same time, which
is incredibly challenging. These data points are
accessed by protocol.
On the other side of the flow computer is
the cash register which says — in the last hour
this pipeline delivered x barrels of oil or x cubic
feet of natural gas. Also, two hours ago some-
one changed the calibration of the flow com-
puter. This accounting type of data is accessed
differently but from the same instrument.
Several challenges exist with EFM today,
but the primary concern is that most existing
networks do not have the bandwidth to meet
all these demands for data. Companies are
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING AUGUST 2020 • 5
how much bandwidth we waste with the old
method. For instance, previously companies
would ask, every 30 or 60 minutes, “What is the
flow rate?” and the answer would be “10.” Thirty
minutes later, “What is the flow rate?” “10”.The
question is the same, and the answer is the
same — again and again. With MQTT you can
find out the flow rate is 10 and then not hear the
answer again unless it changes. Computers can
just talk to each other whenever they want to
send data — they report by exception.
Replacing a poll/response EFM network with an
MQTT-based network saves 80% to 95% of band-
width. That means stranded data can be rescued.
MQTT also allows for multiple data consumers
(See Figure 2). You can publish the data from an
EFM device and multiple applications can con-
sume it, all at the same time. MQTT allows for
a single source of truth for data and that data is
standard and open source, so anyone can use it.
MQTT is the most-used messaging pro-
tocol for an IoT solution, but it’s time for the
oil & gas industry to catch up for EFM. We
don’t have to prove that MQTT has become a
dominant IoT transport — everyone is using it
because it is simple, efficient, and runs on a
small footprint. You can publish any data that
you want on any topic.
We recently created a specification within the
Eclipse Tahu project called Sparkplug that defines
how to use MQTT in a mission-critical, real-time
environment. Sparkplug defines a standard
MQTT topic namespace, payload, and session
state management for industrial applications
while meeting the requirements of real-time
SCADA implementations. Sparkplug is a great
starting point for how to use MQTT in EFM.
One of the challenges with old EFM methods
is dealing with atomic data. SCADA systems
can handle single process variables, but multiple
variables put together as a record gives them
trouble. MQTT can publish this type of data as
records. MQTT and Sparkplug can handle both
single process and records as a whole object
with data standardization, data time stamped at
the source, data sent as an immutable object
and the ability to store and forward.
EFM and MQTT in practice
EFM creates vast amounts of data at the
source. With MQTT there is a standard way to
send that data across the enterprise so no mat-
ter what piece of equipment or what end appli-
cation speaks what language, it’s just a piece
of data, such as a temperature. All of those
backend systems now can use the tempera-
ture independently and however they like. EFM
data can be connected to the cloud, to big data
applications — the possibilities are endless.
Let’s take one last look at a customer who
implemented MQTT on their EFM system. Its
number one goal was to get more production
from its wells. With MQTT it can adjust its
well once per minute instead of once per hour,
which led to an increase in field efficiency of
five percent, or hundreds of millions of dollars.
It was able to eliminate three different host
systems, each representing hundreds of rack
servers and moved to a single source of truth
for data with one large MQTT broker, simplify-
ing the overall infrastructure significantly.
The misnomer in the industry is that modern-
izing EFM requires a large financial investment
along with a lot of time and effort. MQTT is
open-source, and it can be implemented on
existing legacy equipment. OG
Arlen Nipper is president and CTO of Cirrus Link. He
brings more than 40 years of experience in the SCADA
industry to Cirrus Link as president and CTO. He was
one of the early architects of pervasive computing and
the Internet of Things and co-invented MQTT, a publish-
subscribe network protocol that has become the domi- Figure 2: The basic MQTT
nant messaging standard in IoT. Arlen holds a bachelor’s architecture allows for unlim-
degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (BSEE) ited clients over a publish/
from Oklahoma State University. subscribe protocol.
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING AUGUST 2020 • 7
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EDGE, FOG & CLOUD
Flare stack monitoring made easy
with edge-enabled video analytics
Real-time remote monitoring of a pressing concern in oil & gas
By Ramya Ravichandar
Photo 1: Emergent technolo-
gy can help reduce flare stack
emissions, alerts workers or
even shut down operations
when emissions are outside
of an acceptable range. The
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is enforcing a
comprehensive set of regu-
lations surrounding flares,
particularly to reinforce the
need to control hazardous air
pollutants.
M
cKinsey estimates that effec-
tive use of digital technologies
in the oil & gas industries could
cut capital expenditure by up to
20%. At the same time, it fore-
casts that total cash flows will
improve by $11 per barrel across the offshore
oil and gas value chain, adding $300 billion a
year by 2025.
Even with the rapidly maturing solutions of
the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), there are
still areas of immediate and pressing concern
for the oil & gas industry. One of these is moni-
toring flare stacks. Gas flares pose a threat
to both the environment and worker safety,
but the current method of monitoring them is
expensive and problematic, with no margin for
error. Since humans are only human, errors can
creep in. Errors can not only bring on environ-
mental disasters, but they also put workers at
greater risk.
In addition to the time and labor issues, and
the opportunity for human error, manual moni-
toring often causes a delay in identifying poten-
tially life-threatening problems like equipment
failure. Even though flares can now be moni-
tored via streaming analytics, there still needs
to be visual monitoring of the stack to maintain
safety. Nothing changes in the end.
What’s needed is a fully automated system
capable of both processing stack analytics and
keeping a watchful eye on the flare itself. The
deeper the dive into
the data, the better
visibility and foresight
into potential issues.
Digitalization of
flare monitoring
That deeper dive
brings IIoT technol-
ogy to the surface.
It’s been estimated
IIoT will have a
$930 billion impact within the next decade.
Regardless of exact numbers, the industry is
investing heavily in IIoT.
However, it’s not as easy as simply install-
ing sensors and cameras — oil & gas experts
also need to process and glean insights from
the data. IIoT devices generate data on a mas-
sive scale, which must then be transmitted
(in most cases) to a central control center for
processing. However, the transport, storage
and processing of video data soon becomes
prohibitively expensive. And if one is not going
to take immediate action on flare anomalies, is
it worth the opportunity cost of high latency?
How can we ensure operators execute on
actionable insights in time to prevent poten-
tially catastrophic issues?
There is a solution for processing video from
flare stack monitors, and it involves edge com-
puting, and, more specifically, edge intelligence.
Video analytics comes of age
What type solution eliminates having to store
massive amounts of data and makes it possible
to react in seconds rather than hours or days?
It involves bringing computing to the edge.
All sensors, cameras and other IIoT-enabled
devices sit at the edge, typically the edge of
the cloud. Edge computing takes the data cen-
ter out of the equation by performing compute
functions in situ and communicating directly
with other devices and systems.
By moving compute functions to the edge,
network connectivity and speed are no longer
an inhibiting factor. While the data is still trans-
mitted to the central data center in the cloud
or on-premises, it’s possible to do the transfer
in batch or send only the outlying data points.
Most of the compute is done at the edge to
spare bandwidth costs and relieve network
congestion.
Edge computing solves several problems
inherent in collecting, processing and reporting
on sensors, cameras and other IIoT devices
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING AUGUST 2020 • 9
 Belt/Sheave
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New Green laser delivers these
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● Reduces Vibration
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your answer to better alignment for rotating machinery
for insights into flare stacks in particular?
There’s a common misconception
that machine learning (ML) and artificial
intelligence (AI) can only be performed
by powerful, large-scale systems. But a high-
powered server isn’t necessary to take advan-
tage of these technological advances. One of
the ways edge intelligence differs from simple
edge computing is the ability to perform sen-
sor fusion with the incorporation of ML and AI.
Add those capabilities together, and something
impressive emerges — edge intelligence.
The inclusion of ML and AI based applications
allow for the most benefit from IIoT-connected
monitoring cameras. Edge-enabled ML and AI
allow for issues to be assessed and acted upon
in real-time on streaming camera data.
Putting that kind of advanced intelligence at
the edge of the network, and where the stacks
are, reduces the size and required memory by
approximately 80%, enabling fast and efficient
execution in real time.
Ensuring safety
Video analytics with edge intelligence in flare
stack monitoring can help reduce flare stack
emissions and immediately alert workers, or
even shut down operations when they are out-
side of an acceptable range. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has produced and is
enforcing a comprehensive set of regulations
surrounding flares, particularly to reinforce the
need for careful controls over hazardous air pol-
lutants (HAPs). HAPs can cause health issues,
such as cancer or birth defects, or serious envi-
ronmental damage. Using advanced, intelligent
video analytics to closely monitor flares helps
ensure full compliance with EPA regulations, as
well as protecting your people and the environ-
ment. OG
Ramya Ravichandar is vice president of products,
FogHorn.
REMOTE OPERATIONS
Cloud solutions enable remote
work productivity, without
replacing SCADA
Use SCADA to best advantage, and the way it’s meant to be used
N
By Eric Fidler ot long ago, operations and facilities
engineers went to work each day,
logged into the supervisory control
and data acquisition (SCADA) system,
and went about their business of view-
ing production status and alarms to
manage assets or facilities. They adjusted setpoints
and dispatched technicians to make sure that pro-
duction remained within targeted parameters.
SCADA is an integrated system that directly
controls a company’s production operations, a
function critical to any company. It traditionally
is isolated on an operations network, separate
from business IT networks, to reduce the risk of
unauthorized access while connecting it with the
control and automation assets. This isolation was
necessary to avoid risk to their revenue stream.
In early 2020, COVID-19 forced some tough
decisions in this regard. COVID-19 and the
resulting stay-at-home orders for non-essential
businesses forced companies to make risky deci-
sions to maintain operations continuity. Engineers
using SCADA systems were no longer able to
go to an office to access the company’s isolated
operations network. IT and operations network
professionals scrambled to come up with plans
to enable access while executives grappled with
whether to accept the risk of doing so.
Security approaches that most had gotten com-
fortable with for their IT networks suddenly seemed
risky to use for the operations network. They didn’t
have much choice. No one knew how long the orders
would stay in place and operations had to have a
way to continue to manage facilities. COVID-19 stay-
at-home orders, the potential for similar orders in the
future, and changing behavior, as well as the concerns
and preferences of the workforce, all conspired to
make accommodations for remote operations part of
the new normal for operations executives.
As executives come to terms with remote
workers, concerns about employee productivity
are inevitable. Although it may be natural to think
their immediate concerns are whether remote
employees maintain focus on work, the larger con-
cern quickly becomes whether remote employees
have what they need to be productive.
SCADA challenges
Opening SCADA up for outside access remains
a highly debated decision. In addition, other
enterprise employees need information SCADA
contains as well, including for oversight, manage-
ment and planning. SCADA wasn’t designed to
meet their needs. They are often frustrated by for-
mats and presentations they don’t understand.
Further, widening access to SCADA compounds
the risks involved, and therefore heightens the
terms of the debate. Some SCADA providers offer
an optional web server add-on to provide secure
visibility, but this modality doesn’t address the for-
mat and presentation issues involved.
The truth is that, given the risks involved,
SCADA must be securely isolated on operations
networks. Network isolation presents challenges
to those personnel working remotely, yet isola-
tion needs to remain the practice.
Employees working at home can work more
efficiently when furnished with a series of report-
ing dashboards that display simple visuals on pro-
cess variables and operation status and output.
Required actions can be initiated with a text or
phone call to other employees, accelerating per-
formance improvement in these difficult times.
Further, in many companies, SCADA has inad-
vertently become the repository for production
data. While originally intended to support per-
formance of specific tasks related to production
control and visibility, it’s ended up becoming a
collection point for data.
Remotely located subject matter experts
and production engineers needing this informa-
tion struggle to access SCADA data. Once the
OIL&GAS ENGINEERING AUGUST 2020 • 11
REMOTE OPERATIONS
raw data is obtained it must be manipulated
each time to provide the required performance
insights.
Testimony from operators in recent months
reinforces their struggles with remotely manag-
ing operations with SCADA. They dislike exposing
their operational network externally.
A better way
Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solu-
tions are lower-cost, accessible-from-anywhere
alternatives to either building or licensing tools
hosted in a company’s own infrastructure. SaaS
benefits apply in production operations as well.
Solutions exist today that combine cloud with
edge processing that are quick to launch, scale
and manage at a lower cost than traditional
approaches.
Cloud solutions are designed from the ground
up with secure accessibility in mind. Well-
designed solutions have responsive pages that
adapt to a variety of screen sizes. They have con-
nectivity when and where they need to. Security
of cloud solutions has been a concern since their
introduction. Most solutions have strong encryp-
tion and other capabilities, to meet or beat the
level of security associated with financial institu-
tions, and to comply with company requirements.
Rather than serving up raw or cryptic tag data,
data brought into cloud solutions typically has
context, so users can understand what is there
and focus on what interests them. Cloud solu-
tions include modern user interfaces with built-in
analytical tools and data visualization capabilities.
Production accountants, production geologists,
maintenance engineers, management and others
can view current or historical data, at any time.
A cloud solution such as that described
improves worker productivity while leaving
SCADA to do the job it was meant to do. SCADA
and a cloud/edge solution together gives employ-
ees in different roles access to what they need
in ways that make the most sense to them.
Although operations employees that use SCADA
may also come to prefer cloud capabilities to
monitor operations and know when they need to
take action in the SCADA system, other employ-
ees will prefer the cloud information presenta-
tion and ability to easily use preferred tools for
analysis. This parallel system approach delivers
the benefits of cloud and software as a service
without disrupting existing operations.
12 • AUGUST 2020 OIL&GAS ENGINEERING
What to look for
Some key areas to investigate or consider when
evaluating cloud/edge solution providers to
improve productivity of remote employees:
• Speed and ease of deployment: Cloud setup,
edge deployment, edge setup, and manage-
ment should be as easy as possible.
• Choose a partner that has professional servic-
es, including a framework to plan and manage
deployment with high quality and repeatability.
• A solution that is configurable is preferred to
those requiring programming. This reduces
initial setup and testing, while decreasing
long-term costs required to sustain the solu-
tion through future changes.
• A solution should have easy-to-use tools to man-
age software updates and configuration changes
with minimum risk over the solution’s lifetime.
• Select partners with an open, standards-
based approach to integrating their platform
with existing assets. This should include a
combination of operations technology (e.g.
automation controllers, sensors) and informa-
tion technology standards.
Something new
Taking on something new is the last thing com-
panies want to do right now. But with the right
cloud/edge solution partner, they can expedite
deployment, minimize disruption to operations,
and improve productivity quickly by empowering
employees to do their work remotely without
having to struggle with SCADA.
Here are things to look for in a fast-tracked
solution:
• An open platform, with technology to ensure
it is secure, that delivers timely data smooth-
ly into the hands of personnel in a manner
they are comfortable using.
• Right data, to the right people, at the right
time, to speed decision making.
• Professional services with strategic planning
for implementation, and platform features to
manage a scaled deployment, to help you
execute quickly and easily.
• Breadth of solutions to maximize ROI.
With the right partner, results can be seen in
weeks, not months. OG
Eric Fidler is founder and chief strategy officer, Lavoro
Technologies.
 I n this 2020 ABB webinar series, our experts are
providing practical solutions to everyday challenges
faced by operators and facility owners alike.

August 24, 2020

Until now, buying high horsepower motors meant a lot of customization, time and complexity. However,
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D
etecting
Water Carryover
in Natural Gas
Instrumentation improves
control of the water removal
process from natural gas.
Natural gas, as it comes from a
well (Figure 1), contains water.
Before transferring the gas into
a pipeline for distribution, as
much water as possible must be
removed to eliminate carryover,
with any remaining water detected
to alert operators.
Although a separator is designed
to remove all water from the
natural gas, carryover of water
sometimes occurs, and this
condition must be quickly
detected to alert operators.
Figure 1: Natural gas well with piping.
By detecting liquid carryover, we accomplish a few things:
1. Understand how efficient the mist eliminator is functioning in relation
to gas flow rate
2. If a step change in the “moisture diagnostic variable” occurs it could
indicate that the mist eliminator is damaged
3. Proper gas-liquid separation isn’t taking place and the separator
performance should be evaluated. The control system can adjust dump
cycle time and retention time, or adjust back pressure at the gas outlet.
Detecting liquid carryover can allow a producer to adjust the separation
process. Downstream plants are designed for certain gas properties
and wet gas could result in higher operating cost at the plant due to
reprocessing and wasted energy.
The Prosonic Flow G 300/500 flowmeter from Endress+Hauser produces
a wealth of information that process and instrument engineers can use
to detect water carryover, and to better understand how a particular
separator is working and how to improve its control.
www.us.endress.com • 888-ENDRESS • Info.us.sc@endress.com
 We understand how you need to reduce
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