American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016 - 64

Dynamic Operating Model
The IT and telecommunications team performed surveys to
precisely define each site's location, topography, and distance to
other pads. An initial engineering design was performed to identify possible radio solutions, leading to a "mesh" radio solution
to increase telecommunications coverage, reliability at the remote
pads, and expanded bandwidth to support the increased process
values and live streaming video.
Wi-Fi access at each pad became a part of the final solution,
giving operations technicians complete access to all new data captured. The low-power, multifrequency mesh radios use nodes to
create a fully redundant network. All telecommunications equipment on the pad is powered by a central solar/battery source.
A BHP Billiton-owned site that housed a gas processing facility was selected to construct the surveillance center. It was an
ideal location in the center of the field with access to all pads.
The operations team was relocated approximately 50 miles from
an office in Cuero, Tx., to the new surveillance center near Karnes.
The building includes a control room, meeting space, supervisors' offices, and an open seating workroom for technicians.
The surveillance room contains four, wall-mounted, 65-inch monitors, and is secured behind controlled-access doors. A video matrix can display any PC source on any of the monitors, allowing
technicians to monitor well pad operations and production, vehicle locations, and closed-circuit-television video feeds 24 hours
a day.
Implementing the IWPP solution drove key changes to operations technicians' normal routines. By instrumenting all the
process values required for manual daily data collection, the IWPP
solution eliminated the multiple hours technicians had spent collecting data and manually entering values into the field data capture system.
Several field operations technicians, selected based on their
previous experience working in control room environments, were
shifted to permanent positions in the surveillance center. Capabilities were developed through the IWPP solution to not only
enable surveillance technicians to provide centralized support by
monitoring asset performance continuously, but also by optimizing scheduling and dispatching operations, and improving data
reporting.
For example, since inception, the IWPP system's alarm features have greatly enabled faster reaction times and increased the
speed of resolution, preventing unfavorable occurrences and the
duration of downtime events. The team is able to use real-time
data and vehicle location information to perform dynamic dispatch, rerouting the closest, most appropriate personnel. Consequently, the operations team has evolved from static inspection
routes to a more dynamic model in which well sites were visited on an exception basis only.
SCADA and data historian training was provided to all operations technicians, both in the field and in the surveillance center, and all technicians are provided the same tool set to moni-

Total Well & Resource Count

FIGURE 4
Productivity of Operations Technicians

64 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

100

Jun-14

Jul-14

Aug-14

Sep-14

Well Count

Oct-14

Nov-14

104

Dec-14

104

Jan-15

Feb-15

Mar-15

Apr-15

May-15

Operations Technicians

American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016