Cainan Oil Company SCADA System

The Site

The Cainan Oil Field is located in the east part of the Zunger Basin in Xinjiang province of China. The nearest city is Urumqi 150-km southwest from the oilfield base town. The oil field area is 16-km east-to-west, 6.6-km north-to-south. The oil field is in a continental desert area with many fixed and semi-fixed crescent shaped dunes which are 10- to 20-m high. The temperature can reach a maximum of 42°C in the summer and -42°C in the winter.

The Application

The oil field is arranged with clusters of wells around satellite metering stations. Each meter station controls and measures the production and injection for up to 12 production wells and 6 injection wells. The field operates water injection recovery. Some of the production wells are free flowing, most are equipped with conventional pumping units. Pipelines connect each meter station to a central processing and water treatment facility. Treated oil is piped and trucked from the field.

System Operation

The oil field automation system gathers data and controls operations at the 275 eP CAC 8800 rod pumping controllers (RPCs), 40 CAC 6532 remote terminal units (RTUs)/meter stations, CAC 6532 RTUs/central processing facility and the water treatment facility via two radio channels and a local communications channel.

Central Master Station

The central master station computer system is located in the Cainan oil field control room near the central processing facility. From this control room the system communicates to the 40 meter station 6532 RTUs, the central processing facility RTUs, and the 275 8800 RPCs on radio channels. Two microwave channels connect the central station to a data and control central system at the oil base town. Field data is displayed and controlled with computer screens representing the oil field process layout. Chinese language was used extensively on the system process displays.

An automatic well testing program was designed to specifications developed in cooperation with the Cainan engineers. From the test results and data from the pumping units the system creates oil field daily and monthly production reports. The central station, from RTU data, also calculates and reports the daily and monthly injection volumes and duration. The report data files are transferred to a Chinese DOS Windows networked computer and by microwave channel to the data and control center subsystem.

In the networked Chinese DOS Windows computer the data files are merged with Chinese operator enterable field data to produce field reports formatted in the Chinese language. The Chinese DOS Windows machine is also data bridged into the master station RealFlex database, and real time data is directly linked into Chinese Microsoft Excel for Windows, giving the Cainan operators access to both scanned and historical oil field data.

The central master station is linked, by microwave channels, to a computer subsystem at the Cainan oil base data and control center. From this center, via RemFlex data link, operators have full access to the data and control capabilities of the central master station. A second microwave communications channel is used to upload the data files of daily/monthly production and injection reports. These report files and additional data are automatically transferred into a eP delivered SunSparc workstation where they are combined with Cainan oil field operating and planning systems.

The computer equipment at the central master station is housed in a custom eP designed multi-bay operator console.

The Schedule

The Cainan project began in December 1993. The first delivery of 175 RPCs, associated field devices, and 20 RTU meter stations was in March 1994. The second delivery of 17 meter stations, 100 RPCs, associated field devices, and process transmitters and devices was in June 1994. The final equipment delivery was made in July 1994.