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Abstract

The latest generation of Subsea Electronics Modules used for control & monitoring of subsea producing wells is able to offer great improvements in data bandwidth for "smart" subsea oil & gas applications, providing very high speed fibre optic links to surface facilities. These devices provide IP enabled data links, with transparent interfaces to subsea sensors and surveillance systems.

Even with such communications advances, the challenge is to interpret this data effectively to provide added value to the operators and prevent data overload. One area of added value is in Flow Assurance and the application of on-line flow assurance techniques to better understand the behavior of the produced fluid/gas and the effects that the various change agents have on production as well as the infrastructure. Also, with the growth of high-speed global communication networks, linked to Smart Operations centers, and the improvements in data security, the use of Remote Condition Monitoring & Diagnostics techniques to provide interactive support and proactive maintenance is a key concept for integrated operations based on expert system and historical data sharing. This approach is a fundamental driver in enhancing the efficiency of a facility through collaborative data and knowledge sharing. 

This paper will describe the practical details and challenges for a service provider of setting up a Remote operations center, establishing connectivity and data security / integrity as well as setting to work the day to day operations and manning procedures. The paper will also describe a new generation technology and product for subsea projects, which provides a system micro-controller function as well as acting as the data communications router.

Paper Text:

The Subsea e-Field starts with remote monitoring.  Remote monitoring of subsea oil and gas production facilities should, in principle, be straightforward.  We require connectivity to a facility, allowing data collection and aggregation, which leads to data analysis, and affords the opportunity to improve recovery/performance with additional tools.  There are many precedents in onshore and mobile applications as can be seen in the illustration in Figure 1.

In this illustration there are some examples of remote condition monitoring within the GE organisation.  You will see that these technologies have been applied to both asset management for a mobile fleet, and to the long-term monitoring of in-flight data from the GE high by-pass turbo-fan engines, such as, for example, those on the Boeing 777. On landing all the flight data is transmitted to a central i-Centre.  Here, through a process of automatic diagnosis and predictive maintenance, this critical asset for the airlines given an increased “on-wing” time.

Similarly there are examples from fixed installations of gas turbines where some 1000 gas turbine sets are monitored routinely from i-Centres in Atlanta and in Florence.

Lastly we can see an example from the rail industry in the United States where over 10,000 locomotives on the track can be monitored in their day-to-day operation, which allows increased utilisation and, more importantly, avoids the all-important failure while the unit is on the track, part way through its journey.