Managerial level Report Needs for Operations Function of Oil and Gas

Sector company – Recommendations for Automation and Dashboards

for Correct and Quick Decision Making
1. Introduction:
The Oil and Gas Sector is highly dependent on parameters such as pressure, temperature, flow and level, parameters
which are controlled by pneumatic valves (valves that open or close with the help of air). The supply of this air to the
pneumatic valves comes from the Instrument Air Compressors (IACs), which get their supply from the air around us.
The moisture free air from the IACs to the various pneumatic valves across the plant are transported through both
underground and above-the-ground Carbon Steel pipelines. Over the period and the changing weather conditions
around the world, the efficiency of the IACs deteriorates, thereby increasing the moisture content in the air that is used
in the pneumatic valves. This phenomenon also leads to water-based corrosion in the carbon steel pipelines, thereby
decreasing the efficiency of the IACs and increasing the amount of air leakages in the carbon steel pipelines.

2. Objectives:

a. Problem Statement:
To prevent and localize the issues regarding decrement in efficiency of compressors and increment in carbon steel line
failures, Oil and Gas sector always wants to keep a track of IACs efficiency by keeping in track the time the running
hours of the compressor and wants to locate the possible locations of the air leakages. This procedure needs to be done
to plan maintenance, rectification and prevention activities for the IACs and the transporting carbon steel pipelines.
b. Requirements:
To understand the scenario and to act accordingly, the Oil and Gas sector needs to create a dashboard to locate the
regions where the pipeline leak needs to be rectified. The only way Oil and Gas companies can come to know this is
to calculate the required flow of the air of the compressor and to compare the theoretical flow of air to the actual flow
of air. To locate the exact location of the air leak in the pipeline is to get the pressure readings at various location and
then comparing the pressure difference across consecutive locations. The pressure difference between consecutive
locations and the difference between actual and theoretical flow will help us achieve what Oil and Gas sector requires.

3. Understanding Dashboard Design, Data Collection and Formatting Challenges:

a. Air Storage Tank and related Calculation:

The first thing to collect to address the issue in hand is to figure out the regions where the air from the IACs is used.
On getting down the list of items (pneumatic values. Emergency Shut down valves etc) where the air from IACs is
used, this list can be found from the Process and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID), we can move towards finding the
consumption of the air from the IACs. The consumption data can be found in the Data Sheet of the valves which is
provided by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) during delivery. For example – The following image below
tells us about the air usage in various valve sizes:

Figure 1: Consumption of IAC air at valves

Since the air from the IACs are stored in the Air Storage tank and then distributed to the various pneumatic valves, the
amount of air stored (in volume) in the Air Storage tank needs to be calculated. This calculation can be done by using
the values from the hold-up test (time taken for the air storage tank pressure to drop from 10 to 8.5 bar) that is
conducted every fortnightly. This can be calculated using the formula as mentioned below:

Figure 2 Formula for calculating the amount of Air in the air Storage Tank

b. Pipeline Leak Calculations:

Based on the amount of gas that is gone during the hold-up test time, we can find out the rate of amount of gas
consumed. Comparing the rate of the actual gas consumed from the hold-up test calculation and theoretical
consumption of the air through the various list of items that consume air from the IACs, we can find out the amount of
leak. The below table gives us an idea regarding the calculations:

Hold up time (min) Total amount (actual) of Theoretical Consumption Actual leak per hour
WellPad
Month - May air being used (m3/day) per day (m3) (m3)

BP01 12 1260 192.436 44.399

BP02 19 796 64.380 30.392
BP03 57 265 159.090 4.341
BP04 23 657 164.466 20.455
BP05 30 504 88.752 17.219
BP06 17 889 152.160 30.635
BP07 90 168 85.920 3.337
BP08 115 131 77.576 2.163
Figure 3: Calculation Snapshot of Air Leakages

Solution for Data Collection: Since the hold-up test values are done in a manual condition wherein, the operator
must manually go and conduct the test, this task is very mundane and time-consuming. If this task can be done by
collaborating the compressor controls in the Distributed Control System (DCS), the hold-up test would be conducted
with great ease. This would also lead to the possibilities of higher frequencies of the hold-up test.
c. Compressor Efficiency:
The efficiency of the compressor can be calculated in two ways – by comparing the actual and theoretical values of
the running hours of the compressor or by using the air compressor efficiency formula (in terms of energy usage) with
the adiabatic curve analysis. The formula for the compressor is as given below:

Figure 4: Formulas for the Compressor efficiency (Energy) Figure 5: Formulas for the Compressor efficiency (Energy)

To achieve the data as mentioned in the above, some of the data can be found using the data sheet provided by OEM
and the other data can be achieved through the DCS or the values that are from the IAC panel.

Point C During Pressurize temperature/Pressure

 Point D Air passing after the intercooler in the compressor
Point E After cooler Temperature/Pressure
Figure 6: Locations of the IAC as shown in Fig 7.

Figure 7: Adiabatic Curve

For the second method, which includes the comparing the actual and theoretical running hours of the IAC. The actual
running hour of the IAC is available at the IACs panel. To calculate the theoretical hours, we need to understand the
functioning of the IACs. The IAC functions is such a way that when the pressure in the Air storage tank to 9.5 bar, the
IAC starts and pressurizes the Air Storage Tank to 10 bar. The compressor stops when the Air Storage Tank is
maintained at 10 bar.
Now that we understand the functioning of the IAC compressor, we need to find how much time it takes for this
complete cycle to take place and how many times this cycle takes place. To do so, we need to find the theoretical air
consumption rate in the region (which was done when we were calculating the Pipeline leak) and the amount of air
flow that the compressor provides when it starts. Considering the amount of gas at 10 bar pressure in the Air Storage
Tank and the time taken for the Air pressure to reach 9.5 bar in the Air Storage Tank (which can be calculated by the
consumption of air within the particular region and the amount of gas which is there is the Air Storage tank when the
pressure is 9.5 bar), we can find out the total time the compressor to charge the Storage tank from 9.5 bar to 10 bar
and the amount of time it takes for the Air Tank to depressurise itself from 10 bar to 9.5 bar (which differs from region
to region as consumption is different in different regions).

Theoretical time including No. of cycles of on-off Theoretical time the

WellPa Theoretical time
compressor charging up the compressor per day compressor functions
d (sec)
receiver (sec) (Theoretical) per day (hr)

BP01 1705.935 1858.169 46.497 1.966

BP02 4691.566 4831.767 17.882 0.696
BP03 2025.073 2174.793 39.728 1.652
BP04 1964.230 2113.667 40.877 1.697
BP05 3474.228 3619.499 23.871 0.963
BP06 2106.944 2254.200 38.328 1.568
BP07 3580.356 3724.501 23.198 0.929
BP08 3940.106 4083.680 21.157 0.844
BP09 1808.447 1960.081 44.080 1.857
BP10 4252.202 4395.125 19.658 0.780
BP11 5169.947 5311.310 16.267 0.639
BP12 1775.905 1927.493 44.825 1.887
BP13 2217.401 2365.598 36.524 1.504
BP14 2114.957 2264.129 38.160 1.581
BP15 642.530 836.041 103.344 5.555
Figure 8: Theoretical Calculation and Time
Solution for Data Collection: To resolve the issue of manually getting the running hours which has to be noted down
every 24 hours, we can integrate this system at Distributed Control System (DCS) and create a time stamp where in
everyday at 00:00 hours a complete excel sheet is created for the complete month or the complete year as per the
user’s requirement.
 4. Dashboard Outlook:

Calculated Actual
Theoretical Difference Difference in
Hold up Difference Actual average
Theoretical Theoretical Actual Actual compressor between Latest the Latest and
time - in hold up compresso Running
WellPad hold up Consumption Consumption Leak running and Theoretical Calculated
May time r running hours of
time (min) (m3/hr) (m3/hr) (m3/hr) hours per compressor run working hours
(min) (min) hours per compressor
day (hr) hours (hr) (hr)
day (hr) (hr)
BP01 12 85 73 8.018 52.500 44.399 1.966 8.794 14.000 13.034 6.206
BP02 19 241 222 2.683 33.158 30.392 0.696 6.330 12.929 12.304 6.670
BP03 57 102 45 6.629 11.053 4.341 1.652 2.605 5.214 2.348 1.395
BP04 23 99 76 6.853 27.391 20.455 1.697 5.545 10.000 8.303 4.455
BP05 30 174 144 3.698 21.000 17.219 0.963 4.523 6.929 7.037 3.477
BP06 17 107 90 6.340 37.059 30.635 1.568 6.897 19.857 17.432 12.103
BP07 90 181 91 3.580 7.000 3.337 0.929 1.714 2.071 1.071 0.286
BP08 115 199 84 3.232 5.478 2.163 0.844 1.363 4.929 5.156 4.637
BP09 43 90 47 7.514 14.651 7.054 1.857 3.341 5.500 3.143 1.659
BP10 37 215 178 2.980 17.027 13.964 0.780 3.778 4.143 3.220 0.222
BP11 39 263 224 2.420 16.154 13.651 0.639 3.600 5.571 6.361 3.400
BP12 15 89 74 7.666 42.000 34.251 1.887 7.591 10.643 10.113 4.409
BP13 58 112 54 6.000 10.862 4.779 1.504 2.559 4.143 1.496 0.441
BP14 65 106 41 6.320 9.692 3.289 1.581 2.315 2.786 1.419 0.685
BP15 12 30 18 27.942 52.500 24.475 5.555 8.657 18.786 15.445 12.343