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For more than 30 years, most of the fields in Ecuador have reached a high level of maturity that demands several operational and control challenges for multiple processes such as chemical injection, high gas volumes, water cut incremental among many other issues affecting the useful life of downhole equipment installed in the well or devices located on the surface. Furthermore, implementing digital solutions in a field also faces the challenge of allocating faster and agile solutions that add efficiency to production, but at the same time avoid or minimize deferred production for implementation. Fortunately, current digital technologies such as IoT and Edge Computing are combined with cloud applications, controllers and even software to connect and use unimagined solutions for the oil and gas industry. These controls make an easier, faster, and more reliable way guaranteeing the production integrity operations, while reducing carbon footprint and improving work-life balance. Operations case studies in Ecuador will be discussed including not only production engineering analysis but also production operations in the field with a major focus on asset surveillance. Both activities require time-consuming tasks such as field trips and well-by-well analysis, showing the transformation in the way we operate leveraging the use of data, promoting remote operations, and automating the workflows used within the production engineering department. The starting point of this implementation was the well surveillance workflow, carried out at the field level because there was no mature SCADA system. Thus, the Edge was implemented with capabilities based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology to connect the different elements of the production chain. Currently, more than 400 pieces of equipment have been connected to a unified platform, including electro-submersible pumping equipment (ESP), wells with Beam Pumping (BM), injector wells, injection pumps, high-pressure injection equipment, multiphase flow meters and others, which allow us to integrate data, perform real-time analysis and remotely control any equipment that is connected. The impact of this solution is the reduction of production losses by 9%, the reduction of field visits by 23%, the increase in the useful life of the equipment by 32% and the reduction of CO2 emissions by 22.6% in surveillance activities. On the other hand, the integration between the intelligence at the edge and the corresponding instrumentation allowed the creation of two tailored solutions. The first, to automate the annular gas handling process, and the second, to automate and optimize the efficiency of the chemical treatment. The tangible benefits of these solutions are: 12 gas handling equipment operating in the field, resulting in a 12% increase in production compared to wells that do not have the solution, chemical injection accuracy increased up to 99% and corrosion/fouling failures reduced by 50%. Using the benefits of IoT, different applications (more than 14) were implemented such as: flare monitoring and gas volume measurements, virtual flow meter, smart alarms, surveillance of portable multiphase flow meters (Vx Units), pumping equipment of high pressure (HPS) and monitoring and diagnosis of vibrations in rotating equipment
For more than 30 years, most of the fields in Ecuador have reached a high level of maturity that demands several operational and control challenges for multiple processes such as chemical injection, high gas volumes, water cut incremental among many other issues affecting the useful life of downhole equipment installed in the well or devices located on the surface. Furthermore, implementing digital solutions in a field also faces the challenge of allocating faster and agile solutions that add efficiency to production, but at the same time avoid or minimize deferred production for implementation. Fortunately, current digital technologies such as IoT and Edge Computing are combined with cloud applications, controllers and even software to connect and use unimagined solutions for the oil and gas industry. These controls make an easier, faster, and more reliable way guaranteeing the production integrity operations, while reducing carbon footprint and improving work-life balance. Operations case studies in Ecuador will be discussed including not only production engineering analysis but also production operations in the field with a major focus on asset surveillance. Both activities require time-consuming tasks such as field trips and well-by-well analysis, showing the transformation in the way we operate leveraging the use of data, promoting remote operations, and automating the workflows used within the production engineering department. The starting point of this implementation was the well surveillance workflow, carried out at the field level because there was no mature SCADA system. Thus, the Edge was implemented with capabilities based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology to connect the different elements of the production chain. Currently, more than 400 pieces of equipment have been connected to a unified platform, including electro-submersible pumping equipment (ESP), wells with Beam Pumping (BM), injector wells, injection pumps, high-pressure injection equipment, multiphase flow meters and others, which allow us to integrate data, perform real-time analysis and remotely control any equipment that is connected. The impact of this solution is the reduction of production losses by 9%, the reduction of field visits by 23%, the increase in the useful life of the equipment by 32% and the reduction of CO2 emissions by 22.6% in surveillance activities. On the other hand, the integration between the intelligence at the edge and the corresponding instrumentation allowed the creation of two tailored solutions. The first, to automate the annular gas handling process, and the second, to automate and optimize the efficiency of the chemical treatment. The tangible benefits of these solutions are: 12 gas handling equipment operating in the field, resulting in a 12% increase in production compared to wells that do not have the solution, chemical injection accuracy increased up to 99% and corrosion/fouling failures reduced by 50%. Using the benefits of IoT, different applications (more than 14) were implemented such as: flare monitoring and gas volume measurements, virtual flow meter, smart alarms, surveillance of portable multiphase flow meters (Vx Units), pumping equipment of high pressure (HPS) and monitoring and diagnosis of vibrations in rotating equipment
In a brown field with over 50 years of production in the middle of the Amazon region, it is essential to optimize the operational processes from drilling to the real-time production monitoring, as well as to improve the speed of decision making to minimize downtimes, non- productive times (NPTs), maximizing production and the return of investment of an asset, and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. By applying multi-domain digital solutions to automate the drilling operations to bring oil to production earlier and to remotely operate and monitor an artificial lifted system, optimizing production, and providing better decision making, these objectives were successfully achieved, establishing an integrated digital solution that generates tangible values to the operation. The rig automation with a digital solution uses a goal-based approach to handle constantly changing drilling conditions and repetitive tasks such as pre and post connection procedures without the constant need of human intervention. It commands the rig control system to control the surface equipment within the context of standard operating procedures incorporated into the system configuration. Its powerful data analysis and learning systems assist and enhance every task. Once the well is drilled and completed, the installation of gateways that applies cloud and edge computing, has enabled the field team to remotely start up the artificial lift equipment, real-time monitoring, run automated workflows and more effective decision-making to troubleshoot bottlenecks. This has unlocked remote operations to improve production, reduce downtimes, CO2 emissions, and safety-related events. Since 2021 the Operator has drilled 25 wells applying a digital solution for rig automation and has also changed the drillers training, resulting in an average reduction of 46% in pre-post connection times, an 2% increase in on-bottom rate of penetration (ROP), a total saved time of 27.22 days, and an average 82% drilling in automated mode, enabling the field to bring production forward and improve its performance and also reducing 1014 tons of CO2. Since 2020 the asset has implemented gateways to supervise 270 producer wells and several surface equipment's. This has granted the field team the chance to carry out an average of 2,800 remote operations and 2,100 alerts per year, which has had an effect of 1200 barrels of oil per month saved from the related activities and a travel reduction of 72,000 kms per year and a decrease of 60.5 tons of CO2, improving the process efficiency by 96% and increasing personnel efficiency by 17%, generating available man-hours to improve other activities. This successful showcase of the potential of Digital Transformation in the oilfield illustrates how digital tools can help to optimize efficiency and early production, decrease downtime, reduce the carbon footprint, minimize operational risks, and cut costs, making it a game changer for the oil and gas industry.
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