What Are Oil And Gas Smartfields?

Posted by Binita Jaiswal on January 24th, 2020

Smartfields, or smart oil and gas fields, are the product of the application of digital technology, infield measurement devices, real-time data, models for simulation and complex algorithms employed to maximize the productivity by means of automating best practices. Thus, smartfields are able to add value to the current systems and enhance the entire production process.

This platform brings in enhanced communication between the engineers and the workers of units and is making the traditional way of working in separate silos, redundant. Thus, engineers would now be able to focus on enhancing the current processes.

Why We Need Smartfields?

Information technology (IT) is one of the major driving forces in modern businesses practices. It expands the industry boundaries and even reshapes the industries. The oil and gas industry should exploit this tool to derive maximum benefit out of its operations. Process automation can drive efficiency in complex and dangerous operations. The increasing complexity of petroleum production operations, over the past few decades has depleted many of the large conventional hydrocarbon reserves. This has forced companies to shift their production to offshore locations as well as to non-conventional petroleum reserves. These operations are manpower and cost intensive, requiring frequent interventions at remote locations and subsea wells. These harsh operating conditions created a demand for innovative process control tools in order to ensure efficiency of cost and effort. Direct communication between the operator and their equipment spread over several remote and inhospitable areas thus became crucial.

Shell emerged as one of the pioneers in the use of Smart Fields, or Digital Fields technology.  Thousands of sensors were deployed on equipment in the field, such as valves and pumps, which would send data about temperature, pressure and other field conditions to control centers on land. Teams of specialist engineers would then monitor production in real-time and work with colleagues in the field to optimize it. This enabled quick and prompt decision-making and problem-solving, which might otherwise have taken a week and have slowed production down.

Smart Technologies Impacting the Oilfield Service Companies:

Some of the important technologies impacting the oil field companies are explained below: 

• Internet of Things (IoT)- The IoT opens up exciting prospects by allowing field equipment to provide detailed diagnostics and data while sharing information about processes in real-time. This further allows for preventative maintenance reporting to be embedded directly at the source, thereby enabling immediate corrective responses and minimal production losses. The use of IoT will have great advantages where resources are scarce and assets are located in remote facilities.

• Robotics- With oil and gas exploration increasingly being shifted to remote and inaccessible areas, the use of robots for routine maintenance and inspection is fast gaining acceptance.  Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are also used as surveillance tools by some oil and gas companies. Equipping these ROVs with infra-red cameras could transform a drone into a real-time, mobile, leak-detection device.

• Multi-disciplinary Workforce- More and more oil and gas companies are adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to operations. With increasing influence of automation and IT in this sector, gaps in production are being quickly identified and plugged. This will positively impact future collaborations and aids in enhancing individual performance and boost overall productivity.

• Improved Real- time Fluid and Petro-physical Analytics- With improving technology, oil and gas fields of the future would monitor in real-time the viscosity, pressure, the diverse types of rocks, volume-temperature and chemical reactions. Thus, operational effectiveness will vastly improve due to timely and informed decision-making.

• Closed-loop Reservoir Optimization- As oil and gas wells get smarter with technology, the use of closed-loop control, along with surface automation technology will increase, thereby enhancing the value of technologies such as DTS, ZFC, and DHGs.

• Smart Supply Chains- Traditionally, the supply chains in the oil and gas industry have had to deal with a host of bottlenecks. However, adoption of block-chain technology along with the IoT technologies offer great opportunities to automate many of these processes and reduce or eliminate bottlenecks.

Conclusion:

The adoption of modern technologies such as IT and IoT along with the convergence of real-time data-driven models is set to drastically alter the landscape of the oil and gas industry. IoT alone, will not only help optimize the way production is carried out, but radically changing the way oilfields are operated. Smartfield technology, though still in its nascent stages, holds great potential for the oil and gas industry.

Source: 

https://www.oilandgasproductnews.com/article/19978/why-the-smart-oil-and-gas-field-is-needed-now