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After
the BP Exploration Alaska Milne Point expansion project was
completed in 1996, BP doubled its production capacity from 32,000
barrels per day (BOPD) to 65,000 BOPD. Emerson Process Solutions’
Hydrocarbon and Energy Industry Center provided experienced
automation and information systems professionals to assist BP
with the implementation of this project.
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| The
Project Challenge |
| Milne
Point, which is located 240 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is one
of the northernmost oil-producing fields in North America. The expansion
project, which included new well and well pad facilities, required
a major upgrade of the process control and production reporting system.
The existing process control system was isolated to specific areas
with limited data available on other plant processes. Operators needed
to quickly respond to dynamic process conditions and to increase the
visibility of the entire plant operation. Historical data collection
and production reporting to optimize throughput were additional requirements
on the project. A series of daily operation reports were required
by oil movements and engineering staff in Anchorage. Off-the-shelf
reporting systems did not meet all of BP’s needs, so a custom
reporting application was necessary to collect data and fulfill reporting
requirements for both regulatory and trending purposes. Improved communication
was essential to meeting both the process control and production reporting
system objectives. The project design required a way to connect the
various process control points to a central system that could share
data with the production reporting system and plant operations. |
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The
Solution |
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We
provided assistance to BP Alaska in the following areas:
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·
network design
· programmable logic controller (PLC) programming
· human machine interface (HMI) configuration
· custom production reporting system development
· support and maintenance
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We
provided experienced staff with a variety of skills. Throughout the
project, our personnel collaborated closely with the BP MPX-1 project
staff to ensure that project goals were met. Our PLC programmers provided
well logic and configuration of the HMI and communications experts
designed the network that tied together all PLCs, PC servers, and
workstations to form a single logical bus. The Milne Point supervisory
control and data acquisition (SCADA) and production reporting system
(PRS) were developed so that multiple layers of systems worked together
to:
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perform process control
· provide operators with a view of all plant and field production
processes
· collect, archive, and report key well and plant operating
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Our
information technology specialists designed a custom production reporting
application with an intuitive Windows interface to accommodate new
wells and other changes to the system. |
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The
Process |
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Our personnel
became an integral part of the Milne Point project team and continue
to be involved today. We assessed the existing network and provided
a design that would integrate existing equipment with the new system.
The new design included a fiber optic backbone that terminates in
the process modules, plant office complex, and offices of the automation
engineers. At the primary level, the field instrumentation connects
to the PLCs, which continuously scan for quick response to process
upsets. The SCADA system provides operators with a view into the plant
and well pad processes and a method to respond to changing conditions.
It also feeds data to the PRS. The PRS incorporates data for production
volume accounting and reporting of operations to the Anchorage Reservoir
Management Group. The PRS creates and distributes daily and monthly
reports that are sent to Anchorage for incorporation into the production
accounting and field database applications. We continue to provide
a rotation of staff to the site for ongoing engineering maintenance
and support. |
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Project
Benefits |
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As
a result of this expansion, Milne Point doubled its production and
became one of the top 10 oil producing fields in the United States.
The upgrade to the existing process control system increased visibility
of plant operations by allowing operators to quickly respond to dynamic
conditions. The collection of real-time data enables BP to achieve
maximum throughput across the plant. Operators are now able to work
on higher-value tasks. Access to qualified personnel who understand
the automation system and enterprise continue to be available to BP
through a close relationship with us. |
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