Dennis C Williams examines the growing interest in remote monitoring and control solutions using small satellite terminals that not only collect data but analyse and process it at source and communicate exception and trend information.

The need for sophisticated telemetry capabilities in the oil and gas sector has several drivers. The problems are focused around the remoteness of major assets and their ever-rising maintenance overheads, as well as the task of managing multiple sites from a single operations centre. Solutions that address these issues have to accommodate real-time data monitoring and remote system control, and must incorporate the functions of data processing and presentation. Made-to-measure data management systems are an integral part of modern business practice, with oil and gas applications no exception.
Collecting the data from remote installations is only part of the problem, and data overload has to be avoided. It is essential that information, not data is delivered in an easy-to-understand format, pre-organised in such a way that critical conditions and general trends are noticed quickly, and analysis can be as simple as possible - enabling the appropriate action to be taken instantly.
The combination of intelligent, programmable, low cost satellite terminals that you can hold in the palm of your hand and web or local-server technologies is placing much more useable information and control capability directly onto operators' desktops.
A number of economical applications are already available to operators, covering such activities as monitoring remote wells, tanks, cathodic protection systems, valve positions, compressors, asset usage and location, as well as lone-worker security. The specific task of pinning down the location of a problem in a pipe, identified in a pigging operationfor example, can also be addressed, by using a satellite based telemetry system to track the position of the pig.

Enabling take-up

These services are provided to an operator by application service providers (ASP). Typically each is expert for a particular application such as cathodic protection systems. They supply the hardware, software and communications as a single end to end solution. These solutions are really a range of defined services that can monitor - and as required, control - a set of assets a number of times per day.
Increasingly, this is being done on an exception-reporting basis to bring down costs and avoiding 'data overload'. As ASPs supply the information to the operator via a secure web interface or directly into their server, an unlimited number of users anywhere in the world can have access to any asset - anywhere in the world in real time.
A key element in the systems' technology is Inmarsat D+, a global, low cost, small data packet service, which is proving particularly well suited as a communications medium for telemetry. Satamatics is one company that specialises in the provision of satellite-based services using D+, and it operates its own satellite gateways, located in receiving stations around the world. Also operating its own data centres and message handling software, the company provides communications for a number of leading ASPs between remote sites and their servers.

Real-world examples

Understanding the advantages of these services is best evidenced by real-world examples. Wildcat is an ASP already active in the petrochemical industry. Matthew Nutting, the company's managing director, explained their involvement with satellite telemetry: "We are working closely with companies such as Satamatics, to enhance our cathodic protection, wellhead, tank and lone-worker monitoring applications. An understanding of the industry, combined with innovative engineering, is a key factor in this process."
In this dynamic industry, with its very diverse range of equipment, it is important to engineer solutions that fit an operator's requirements as closely as possible - in terms of the technology, the budget and the data management potential. Field trials have taken place in a number of remote terrains, including Alaska and Brazil, to ensure solutions can offer a proven level of reliability. Cathodic protection monitoring systems, for example, have to take into account security issues, as well as providing advance indication of pipeline failure, to help meet regulatory conditions.
Kurt von Plonski, CEO of Houston-based Sentry TI, commented on their applications: "We see the D+ technology as an ideal fit with our compressor monitoring activities. A lot of the equipment is outside the reach of conventional communications, and the D+ system provides us with a robust and cost effective solution."
Sentry, in common with all ASPs, has a choice of communication media for land-based applications, using cellular where it is applicable and satellite where the extended reach is required. This is typical in the vehicle location market and is becoming common in other areas, with hybrid transceivers being developed that will combine cellular/satellite and radio/satellite functionality in a single system. Oceantech Datawatt, a SCADA and Telemetry solutions provider, also consider D+ systems effective for the remote monitoring of wellheads and pipelines.

Extending the technology

Given this background, a healthy future can be predicted for satellite telemetry in the energy sector. Other applications for the technology include a system to re-calibrate remote instrumentation viathe HART protocol - a significant step forward,as re-calibration of process instrumentation has meant service technicians travelling vast distances,at great expense, to work on a small numberof sites.

Lone worker security is a further example of how satellite telemetry can be adapted for niche applications. Operators are becoming increasingly concerned for staff safety in view of recent global events, and to meet this concern, low-cost solutions have been developed that use a combination of D+ and short-range radio.
A small transmitter can be carried by a lone worker, and should an emergency be encountered, a panic button can be pressed. The unit is also fitted with a tilt switch that, in the event of a fall, will activate the transmission of an alarm signal after a given time, indicating the man-down situation.

Conclusion

Small packet satellite telemetry systems together with the latest information logging and presentation user interfaces, can address a large number of niche applications for the oil and gas industry. This approach can successfully overcome the problems involved with accessing remote assets in difficult locations, saving the costs of site-visits merely to check the status, or monitor the performance, of a particular installation. The business benefits of being able to manage a global network of assets from a desktop are immense.
Checking a pipeline can be as straightforward as checking email, and as long as the right information isdelivered at the right time, very high efficiencylevels can be achieved.

Enquiry No 23

Dennis C Williams is vice-president Oil & Gas, Satamatics Ltd, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK. www.satamatics.com