Amoco Production Co. / Gulf of Suez Petroleum C

The Site

A complex of 11 offshore production platforms composing the October Oil Field, situated in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. Each platform operates a gas lift for 6 to 12 oil production wells, 2 are equipped with master control panels, controlling the production facilities equipment (test sep, pumps, etc.). All 11 platforms are unmanned.

The System

Amoco/Gupco required an automated system which could, when installed on each platform, measure the injected gas, perform local injection flow control, monitor and control wellhead valves, and interface to an existing eP wellhead control panel. The system had to be low power to allow operation from a solar power subsystem. While the system had to be capable of stand-alone operation, Amoco/Gupco required reporting and control capabilities at a central offshore platform, system reporting and control capabilities at an onshore base station, and system data input into a main frame system at the head office in Cairo, Egypt.

The Application

Gas Lift Injection/Measurement and Control

The eP CAC 6532 Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) met the customers' specifications and requirements for the input/output point count, the requirement for AGA 3 Gas Flow Calculation on 12 meter runs and the control of gas injection on the 12 wells. The RTU was designed to minimize power requirements; operate with low power field transmitters, differential, static pressure and RTD inputs; and operate the solar system charge control.

Central Platform Monitoring and Control

Each RTU communicated to a central platform on VHF radio system. BJ Software's Realflex System operating on a Texas Microsystem industrial computer scanned all the platforms through a Johnson master VHF radio. Graphics and tabular displays were designed to allow the operator on the central platform to:

• Monitor and control injection rates to injection setpoints
• Control the control loop parameters
• Download AGA calculation parameters
• Operate and monitor platform valves and status of each well on each platform.

The Realflex system was designed to produce daily, monthly and year-to-date production and injection reports for each well, platform, and for the overall field.

Onshore Monitoring and Control

The operating company requirement for onshore monitoring and control was fulfilled through a second computer system operating BJ Software's BJScan, host-to-host communication to the central platform computer. All the data available to the operator at the central platform was made available to the onshore operator. The same daily, monthly, and year-to-date production/injection reports were available at the onshore location. Two additional computers were locally networked from this BJScan computer at the onshore site.

Head Office Data Collection

Data collected onshore was integrated into the operating company's main frame system for MIS purposes by installing an emulator card in the onshore computer and communicating via microwave channel to the company's head office in Cairo.

Since installation and commissioning of the system in late 1993/early 1994, the operating company has upgraded the system to Realflex Windows and is integrating a second field, the Ramadan Oil Field, into the system.