OIL & GAS UPSTREAM

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Oil and Gas Upstream Production

Upstream oil and gas production is conducted by companies that identify, extract, or produce materials. These exploration and production companies identify deposits, drill wells, and recover raw materials from underground. This sector includes those who bring usable products to end-users. Companies engage in the marketing and distribution. This sector also includes related services such as rig operations, feasibility studies, machinery rental, and extraction of chemical supply.

Downstream oil and gas production companies are close to the end-user or consumer, and operations begin after the production phase and continue to the point of sale. Companies engaged in the downstream process include oil refineries, petroleum product distributors, petrochemical plants, natural gas distributors, and retail outlets.

Between the upstream and downstream operations, there are also midstream activities, which include: storage, processing, and transportation of petroleum products.

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Primary Process Control Improvements for Oil and Gas Upstream

Prior to any advanced process control (APC) project, even in Oil and Gas Upstream processes, base-level PID tuning and optimization is a critical prerequisite step. Unless base-level PID control loops are well-tuned, advanced process control (APC) cannot function effectively, as APC will manipulate the set points of the base-level PID control loops. Therefore, the first necessary step in the overall process control improvement procedure for Oil and Gas Upstream processes is PID tuning and optimization of primary or base-level PID controllers.

The benefits of PID tuning and optimization in an Oil and Gas Upstream unit include the reduction of oscillationamplitude and an increase in controlleraction by a factor of 2 or 3. This enables smoother operation of the Oil and Gas Upstream processes with increased stability in all control loops, avoiding unnecessary Oil and Gas Upstream control problems such as equipment damage, rapid wear and tear, irregular shutdowns, or off-spec product properties and grades.

Nowadays, many examples could be found in oil and gas drilling operation.Drilling control systems typically use 4 cascade control loops for operation:

Rate of Penetration (ROP)
Weight on Bit (WOB)
Differential Pressure (DiffP)
Torque

Oil and gas drilling process is considered to be heavily nonlinear process.The process nonlinearities typically occur due to continuously changing drilling conditions, equipment and earth surfaces.Drilling through different layers of earth (sand, mud, rock, gas cavities, organic compounds and structures, etc.) produces different operating conditions, such as:

Start-up vs. Low/Medium drilling rate vs. maximum rate
Different temperatures and pressures (bottom and top)
Motor resistance and speed
Bit forces, and others

Another example is Offshore and/or Onshore gas distribution, where there are many pressure and other control issues, especially for processes and units having big deadtimes or response delays.

PiControl Solutions LLC has extensive experience in PID tuning and optimization of Oil and Gas Upstream controllers. We understand and can address typical PID control loop problems, and we offer customized PID tuning and optimization software. Our unique and novel closed-loop system identification technology allows quick, efficient, and precise tuning and optimization of base-level PID control loops. With our closed-loop technology, we can perform system identification and PID tuning optimization of the following critical base-level PID controllers easily.

Moreover, all process and data analysis, as well as PID tuning and optimization work, can be easily performed remotely by PiControl Solutions LLC process control engineers.

Advanced Process Control (APC) Improvements for Oil and Gas Upstream

PiControl Solutions LLC has extensive experience in advanced process control (APC) optimization for Oil and Gas Upstream processes in the cryogenic Oil and Gas Upstream industry.

We understand the economic factors that drive profit margins, and have developed customized multivariable closed-loop system identification and advanced process control (APC) design and optimization tools to improve Oil and Gas Upstream units.

Due to the relatively small size of many Oil and Gas Upstream plants, it is more cost-effective to implement modular PLC-based MPC (Model Predictive Control) rather than typically used big and cumbersome MPC (Model Predictive Controllers. The PLC-based MPC approach is compact, modular, much faster and cost-effective compared to typical MPC.

Oil and Gas Upstream facilities can have various process and process control configurations. We analyze each process and provide the optimal economic advanced control solution for each Oil and Gas Upstream. Our modular PLC-based MPC methodology has proven particularly successful in this area.

Our modular PLC-based MPC design will yield the following benefits for Oil and Gas Upstream processes:

Improve Oil and Gas Upstream process operating efficiencies.
Maximize production during high demand.
Minimize product venting (gas losses)
Enable fast throughput modulation to honor different real-time ways of operation.
Increase automation and control to allow control room operators to focus on more important and value-added duties.

Our modular PLC-based MPC technology is effective for all types of Oil and Gas Upstream processes. For Oil and Gas Upstream units, we have ensured a 4% increase in profits. For smaller units, we have ensured 1-2% savings. Additional benefits of our modular PLC-based MPC technology include smoother operation, automated loading and unloading, and less work for operators.