day to day monitoring

[clayth]

hi,

i am a process engineering intern for an oil/gas industry. one of my key role is to day to day monitors the surface facilities before daily meetings.

one of the monitors used is Plant Information Process Books that shows live field information and also helps u to see past events. there are so many equipment (heater, dehydration tank, separators, etc)

i would like to get tips on what to prioritise, what parameters to look at. what could i do to bring value in my daily activities.

thank you

 

[zdas04]

That is a fair question and the short answer is "the stuff that needs attention". The real trick is isolating that subset. Every algorithm that I've ever seen to let a program do that has been a failure. The reason for this repeated failure is that every well has a personality (and most of them are unpleasant). One well may be having a problem with a 10 psid pressure drop from the wellhead to the separator and another may be fine with 50 psid. So if you start programming "abnormal" for each well, it will be like the guys who paint the Golden Gate Bridge--by the time they get to the end the beginning is in need of attention. I've seen people look at "today vs. yesterday", "today vs. 7-day average", "today vs. offset well", etc. for each parameter being monitored. None of them work very well. The most common "analysis" is deviation of production rate from forecast, this doesn't work very well, but it is easy.

The best advice I can give you is to start at an entity and learn what "normal" looks like. Once you know that, then "abnormal" becomes vivid.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[clayth]

thanks zdas04 i appreciate.

keep updated

 

[LittleInch]

The key thing to identify is anything that changes the cash register. Also look for short term and longer term issues. An insignificant change one day can add up over time so look at daily, weekly and monthly trends (most systems now will let you choose the time scale for an instrument plot)to see increases or decreases in flow, pressure, temperature and any trips, faults or changes, e.g. wells or equipemtn coming on stream or being shut for work overs etc.

My motto: Learn something new every day

Also: There's usually a good reason why everyone does it that way

 

[clayth]

thanks @LittleInch

 

[racookpe1978]

It almost seems odd to say it, but "trust your instincts."
If you ever find yourself saying
"Hmmmn. That's odd."
"Gee, it didn't do that last week."
"Funny, that's never happened before."

"Weird..."
Or - worst of all: "But it must be OK, because they would have told me that I should have noticed that if it were important."

If any of those come up, bring it up as a "question:" "I'm not sure if this is important, but I noticed ..."