The oil and gas industry is increasingly incorporating advanced automation technologies to enhance production, reduce risks, and improve operational methodologies. Innovations such as IoT, robotics, and multi-disciplinary approaches are transforming operations, fostering real-time data utilization, and allowing for better decision-making within smart fields. The future holds significant potential for integrated technologies to further optimize resource management and operational efficiency.

1. Technology
Oil and gas fields
get smart
“WE USED TECHNOLOGY
to change what we do,
rather than op timise
what we have always
done.” —Jim Williams, Chevron manager.
Oil and gas companies are applying the
latest automation technologies not only to
enhance exploration and production
capabilities, but also to diminish risks to
employees, preserve the environment and
optimise daily operational methodologies.
Present technologies have redefined how
companies manage real-time data,
automated workflows, analytical decision-making
and corporate key performance
indicators (KPI) tracking.
With the advent of smart wells and real-time
automation technologies, oil and gas
companies are looking at assets in a new
light, which helps in making informed
decisions while reducing risks. Such
methodologies will not only improve overall
operations, but will also allow companies to
adapt data-driven operating models.
However, the big question remains: how will
these real-time data-driven models and new
technologies shape the future of the oil and
gas business?
The present
Developments in informational and operational
technologies have been groundbreaking in the
past decade. Our generation has witnessed
this, with the average human easily adapting
to the newest, state-of-the-art smart phones.
The Schneider Electric model of the smart oil and gas field
This same philosophy is finding its way into
daily business practices in the oil and gas
sector. Producers have readily invested in such
technologies and are now reaping the results.
Technologies find ways into an oil and
gas group through different channels and
stakeholders. For example, a production or
reservoir team might bring in distributed
thermal sensing (DTS), zonal flow control
(ZFC), down hole gauges (DHG), and artificial
lift systems (ALS) under its portfolio. On the
other hand, an automation team might be
working on bringing in smart sensors,
telemetry and data communication systems.
Finally, an IT team within the company will
be responsible for providing data
management and will assist with software
and collaboration projects. All stakeholders
will then play key roles in bringing together
the building blocks to construct a smart field
model that best meets the company’s
unique requirements.
With the availability of real-time data and
new insight in daily operations, oil and gas
companies are now looking into further
enhancements to automate - to some
extent, if not all - key optimisation tasks. The
development of innovative ideas resulting
from present smart field initiatives will pave
the way for new technological advances,
which will define the future of oil and gas
fields.
The future
The adaptation to smart fields has allowed the
oil and gas industry to break away from silos
Javier Díaz Lugo and Fahd
Saghir on how new technologies
will lead to an increasingly
intergrated operations approach.
Technologies find
ways into an oil and gas
group through different
channels and stakeholders”
154 oilreview.me Issue 7 2014

2. Technology
and adopt an integrated operations approach.
The outcome is new ideas that can be
converted into future technologies specifically
developed for the smart oil and gas field.
Some technologies are already knocking at the
door. Here is a look at what the future holds:
Internet of Things (IoT)
Recently, we have seen IoT being discussed
in numerous papers and it is currently a buzz
word among technology enthusiasts. Simply
put, it is the idea of allowing inter-machine
communication through embedded
communication devices. It is an exciting
prospect, as it will allow machines to provide
detailed diagnostics and data while sharing
key information about processes in real-time.
Preventive maintenance reporting capabilities
will be embedded directly at the source,
allowing for immediate corrective responses,
and thus minimising production loss. This will
be particularly advantageous in scenarios
where resources are scarce and assets are
located in remote facilities. Adaptation of IoT
in the oil and gas industry alone could improve
maintenance, safety and optimisation.
However, as is the case with any internet
service, cyber security becomes a key
building block for IoT. It is imperative that
while companies become more open to data
connectivity, they also pay attention to cyber
security infrastructure by following sound
and proven industrial practices.
Robotics
Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have been
used for many years at offshore production
facilities. However, given that exploration is
now being done in further inaccessible areas,
using robots for conducting routine
maintenance and inspection activities is
becoming more attractive. Robots provide a
24/7 surveillance option to operators at
remote offshore facilities. ROV tasks could
range from running a routing visual inspection
routine to conducting minor maintenance
tasks. This would allow operating companies
to save on travel and reduce exposure to
health, safety and environmental factors.
Drones, on the other hand, are already a
popular method for surveillance. In
hazardous locations, such as flares and oil
storage tanks, drones can be useful in
providing real-time surveillance in hard-to-reach
areas. Equip a drone with an infra-red
camera and you have a real-time, mobile
ROVs have been used at offshore facilities for many years (photo: Ocean Networks Canada)
leak detection device at your disposal.
These technologies are already available
and being used on a very small scale by a
few oil and gas companies. However, it will
be interesting to see how these
technologies integrate into operational
activities once applied on a larger scale, and
if this changes the approach toward robotics
in the oil and gas industry overall.
Multi-disciplinary workforce
With people from different disciplines
increasingly coming under one roof to optimise
production and improve daily operations, the
trend will be towards companies adapting a
multi-disciplinary approach.
Automation and IT disciplines now better
understand overall exploration and
production dynamics, and have become
conversant with identifying gaps to improve
the smart fields approach that caters to a
company’s core business of oil and gas
production. Concurrently, production and
reservoir disciplines have become more
aligned with real-time technologies and can
now assist in the selection of appropriate
tools that will help enhance the smart field
concept.
A multi-disciplinary approach will have a
positive impact on how companies
collaborate in the future. This will allow
better understanding across the board, and
effectively enhance individual performance
and boost company productivity.
Improved real-time fluid and petro-physical
analytics
The reservoir is the oil and gas company’s
main asset, and the only money-source.
Ironically, the reservoir is the most unfamiliar
place in an organisation. Principal data from
petro-physical and fluid characterisation are
used to build the reservoir model and
determine the field development plan.
Most of the petro-physical and fluid
analyses is carried out manually in
laboratories. The complexity of protecting
the in-field samples and reproducing
reservoir conditions in laboratories, together
with the costs involved, mean this kind of
data is particularly precious to engineers in
charge of models.
With the smart oil and gas field of the
future, properties like viscosities, pressure-volume-
temperature, chemical reactions
between injected fluids and the diverse rock
types in the reservoir could be monitored in
real-time. It is necessary the oil industry
invest in R&D to support this technology.
Nothing should be more important to the oil
industry than knowing what is in the
reservoir.
Closed loop reservoir optimisation
The main dilemma in managing a reservoir is
discovering how to increase the oil recovery
factor of a field. Even by applying enhanced oil
recovery, mature fields still keep too much oil
at the end of the life-cycle of a reservoir.
Current technologies do not make a total
sweep of oil.
Today, reservoir management is limited
to following field development plans with
dynamic models that are updated
sporadically due to the lack of new rock and
fluid information. Future models need to be
updated in real-time in order to react to
dynamic reservoir conditions.
Automation and IT
disciplines now better
understand overall
exploration and production
dynamics”
156 oilreview.me Issue 7 2014

3. In addition to enhancing dynamic
reservoir simulation, there is a large gap in
how production technologies interact with
automation technologies. With the number of
smart completions increasing steadily, not all
oil and gas operators are able to reap the full
benefits from multiple smart well
technologies. DTS, ZFC and DHGs are
working independently from surface-based
automation systems. The value of these
smart well technologies will increase
exponentially if they are used as part of a
closed-loop control with surface automation
technology. The ability to manage water
Technology 
The number of
combinations is countless
and requires an out-of-the-box
approach”
injection by controlling motor-operated valves
based on real-time DTS data can improve the
injection regime throughout the reservoir.
Tying in multi-phase flow meters with ZFC
can allow operators to maximise production
by optimising flow from each zone.
The number of combinations is countless
and requires an out-of-the-box approach to
merge production and automation
technologies. Additionally, by combining real-time
models with the above-mentioned
approach, IoT will not only optimise the way
we produce, but will radically change the
way we operate an oilfield, thus really
optimising the field development plan. n
Javier Díaz Lugo is an upstream oil and gas
solution architect and Fahd Saghir is a system
and architecture expert at Schneider Electric.
IoT will not only optimise the way we produce, but will also radically change the way we operate
an oilfield
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