Understanding the Remote Field Data Communications Challenge

Editor's Notes

• #2: Last Updated: Nov 2, 2015 (small changes) IEEE CS&I Speaker Series Feb 4, 2016, Calgary, AB. https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/36884 Image Source: Lia Rogers
• #4: Image was modified based on the source image found here: Redline Communications Webinar Aug 22, 2013 “What are the White Spaces and Why Do They Matter” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_71nIr7VCI&feature=youtu.be
• #5: There is no communication system silver bullet. Video is a bandwidth driver and use of it is beginning to go beyond security… everything visual can be sensed, tracked and discussed. E.g. is everyone wearing PPE? Collaboration requiring field visual and geographically disperse experts to resolve quickly. Once video is introduced, bandwidth usage expands at 50% CAGR (Doubles every 1.5 years). Note, Video for Oil & Gas is upload centric, not download centric as most internet services are delivered. Source: Clearcable networks www.clearcable.ca End user expectation is for absolute reliability, resilience and robustness. Source: “Field Telecoms in Oil & Gas – Getting Connected: How the Telecoms Industry is Enabling the Digital Oil Field” - by Arthur D. Little 2013 http://www.adlittle.com/downloads/tx_adlreports/TIME_ENRUTL_2013_FieldTelecomsInOilGas.pdf Note: “The following are some of the main licence-exempt frequency bands in Canada [Industry Canada’s SP = Spectrum Utilization Policy, LE=License Exempt, PCS=Personal Communications Service]: • 902-928 MHz (see SP-896 MHz) • 1910-1930 MHz (LE-PCS) (see SP-1910 MHz) • 2400-2483.5 MHz (see SP-2285 MHz) • 5150-5250 MHz, 5250-5350 MHz and 5725-5825 MHz (see SP-5150 MHz) • 59-64 GHz (see SP-47 GHz) • 46.7-46.9 GHz and 76-77 GHz (see SP-47 GHz)” Source: Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP), “Open Spectrum and Community Wireless Networking in Canada: a Preliminary Review of the Policy and Regulatory Landscape”, Graham Longford, 2007 http://www.cwirp.org/files/longford_spectrum.pdf Image was modified based on the source image found here: http://www.denkikogyo.co.jp/en/business/elec/frequency/
• #6: 10 Commandments of Wireless Communications Since wireless is subject to considerable variables much of it can be opinion-based and subject to considerable debate. This author recommends that several experts come to an agreement on system design parameters however this is an excellent summary on the considerations for installing wireless systems (laws of physics, fade margin, decibel math, receive sensitivity, obstructions, curvature of the earth, etc.). http://www.bb-elec.com/Learning-Center/All-White-Papers/Wireless-Cellular/10-Commandments-of-Wireless-Communications.aspx Cooper’s Law Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Law#Cooper.27s_Law Image Source: http://wcomm.ulsan.ac.kr/research/research.htm
• #7: By itself, communications does not save money. Communications is an enabler. That is, it makes things possible. Its absence either prevents negative events from happening or increases the cost of doing business in terms of capital and time. Therefore, it is a utility, just like electricity.
• #8: TCO represents true cost to Oil & Gas business since it measures business value. Telecommunications works best when it is intentionally designed as a system of different technologies working to address all the needs of the business. So how much does downtime cost the Oil & Gas industry? Here are some “what if” scenarios: What if the Operational Control Centers can’t see a plant? This scenario involves a call-out and causes a safety concern because of lack of visibility. What if no production information is reported? What if incident response is delayed? TCO helps to different telecom technologies, especially based on the need it addresses. The cost effect of a telecom outage can vary from: As little as $3K/day/site. This is the average cost to repair based on low energy prices and largely factors in call-outs and labor to repair. (operator call-out, IT, wireless rigging crew) To as much as Millions of dollars per day. The example I have for an impact of millions is Direct Transfer Trip. DTT was required for a substation powering all of the compressors in a region. DTT is an intelligent electrical management system to ensure the grid is stable. Each DTT node shares information with all of the other nodes. If the communications link goes down, DTT automatically shuts off the power due to lack of power quality visibility. Image Source: http://www.istockphoto.com/
• #9: This comment is in regards to mid-to-large size upstream oil & gas companies. Many smaller companies do not have the resources to get help. However, if mid-to-large upstream O&G companies have a strategy that also assists its subcontractors it would go a long way! After all, these companies are the authority in many remote areas. Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo#/media/File:Ralls_Texas_Grain_Silos_2010.jpg
• #10: Capture whole cycle’s value by starting early. Intentional coordinated telecom design aligns to this need.
• #11: Image Source: http://www.istockphoto.com/
• #12: “passive components” are the civil engineering works that allow active components to operate. What is important to notice is that 80-95% of the cost of the network is in this passive layer. These are things like towers, data centres, electrical systems and laying duct or fiber. It is important to note that these passive components do not involve IT but are engineering projects handled by Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM / EPC) companies. These projects take anywhere from weeks to years to complete.
• #14: Telemetry example of two tower designs and their direct economic impact (excludes indirect impacts, such as poor coverage, outages, poor performing services). Subsequent Well cost is based on small towers/masts at wells. With an improved LMR range there is less need for additional repeaters. LMR = Land Mobile Radio (push to talk - PTT) Telecom engineer / expert makes tower size recommendation based on radio frequency planning requirements for entire lifecycle of Oil & Gas. Each stage is then “ready to go” with no need to wait 3 months to a year for a tower build. Many times a tower build is a tower re-build, pushing up capital costs. In addition, if place right tower early, capture Oil & Gas’s main capital outlay and reduce communications costs immediately. It follows then, since passive assets are so critical to performance that more time, effort and expense should be spent here to yield the best return on investment on communications expenditures.
• #15: To enable a successful brownfield evaluation, consider a System Design Approach which addresses all sites within a region and looks for economies of scale and location-based opportunities. This is contrasted by a piecemeal approach in which each site is considered one at a time.
• #16: A multi-client study by IHS CERA in 2003 is often cited and describes the technologies that make up the digital oilfield of the future, also known as a smart oilfield. A connected field is required to implement many of these technologies. A connected field refers to a private communications system that covers the Oil & Gas firm’s area of interest with appropriate SLAs and committed information rates. Seminal study: The Digital Oilfield of the Future: Enabling Next Generation Reservoir Performance, IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc., 2003. The study is obtained by purchase only from IHS CERA. It is not posted online due to the age of the study. You must contact them. http://www.ihs.com/products/cera/multi-client-studies/index.aspx Other Digital Oilfield whitepapers: Unleashing Productivity: The Digital Oilfield; Booz&co, 2008 http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/UnleashingProductivity.pdf Expectation is for absolute reliability, resilience and robustness. Source: “Field Telecoms in Oil & Gas – Getting Connected: How the Telecoms Industry is Enabling the Digital Oil Field” - by Arthur D. Little 2013 http://www.adlittle.com/downloads/tx_adlreports/TIME_ENRUTL_2013_FieldTelecomsInOilGas.pdf Cisco Whitepaper: The Connected Oilfield http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/wp/Connected_Oilfield_0629b.pdf
• #17: I’m not an expert in any of these areas, but I was personally responsible for delivering the bad news to 100s of projects and business cases. That is, the rural communications system could not support the technology they wanted to implement and it would cost many times their project budget to make it so that it could. This effectively killed many promising projects. The question is, does lack of communications block full implementation of the many business cases required to fully implement a smart oilfield? How much money is on the table? It’s hard to put the published percentages into context. So, to illustrate the possible effects of a digital oilfield and its disruptive change using a large, publicly-traded company’s annual report I converted the percentages into dollar amounts. Let us assume that 50-70% of the technologies since 2003 have already been implemented successfully. The remaining digital oilfield changes could still translate to significant savings of $35M to $182M each year per upstream company. Conceivably, we’re talking about $350 Million to nearly $2 billion in operating savings and revenue increases in a decade per upstream company. The cost of such a connected field would be less than 1% of these figures. This then, is the final misconception to address. A connected field is entirely possible and inexpensive when compared to the business cost reduction and revenue increases it enables. Note: Most current real time drilling applications use satellite which is considered “near real time” due to the lags created by signals travelling 50K miles or 80K kms, the round-trip distance of a geosynchronous satellite. ========== Additional information from CERA: From CERA report who uses the term “Digital Oilfield of the Future” (DOFF): “Most of the DOFF’s impact will result from the use of five key technologies. • Real-time drilling. RTD enables petro professionals to monitor and direct the drilling of a well from a remote, centralized control room, using a combination of seismic, measurement/logging while drilling data, and steerable drilling assemblies. • Intelligent completions. The industry expects these new completion assemblies to isolate multiple producing horizons, incorporate controllable choke and valve assemblies, and enable continuous pressure and temperature monitoring. The goal is to modulate production across multiple producing horizons to control withdrawal/injection rates. This allows petro professionals to more effectively manage water influx, flood fronts, and near wellbore “coning” and to add operational flexibility in the face of mechanical problems. • 3D visualization and modeling. These tools will increasingly be used to create and represent complete asset characterizations to facilitate fuller understanding and cross team analysis. This will require better integration across a large set of disparate databases (including geological interpretations, well tracks, reservoir models and facility characterizations), analytical tools, and performance models. There is also considerable interest in more widespread use of multisite simultaneous work sessions—e.g., linking Aberdeen and Houston in real time. Additionally, combining 3D visualization technology with real-time operational data and information to track and control production and drilling operations will likely continue to expand. • Remote sensing. Advances in seismic, especially refinements of time-lapse technology, are leading to its growing use as a production management tool. The ability to resolve in-reservoir fluid phases (i.e., oil versus gas versus water) and flow barriers such as faults and stratigraphic discontinuities is essential for maximizing oil recovery from large, complex oil fields and for achieving the increased reserves outlined in the introduction. • Monitoring and control. This topic covers a wide range of applications, from basic SCADA systems for simple onshore gas wells to advanced, fully networked systems designed for demanding mission critical applications such as high-volume, high reliability floating production, storage, and off-loading (FPSO) operations. The focus is to increase the reliability, density, and accuracy of data capture from all surface facilities and to apply this same type of control/acquisition philosophy to downhole equipment. These improvements will increase automated data capture and distribution, thereby enabling remote, centralized monitoring and optimization. The objective is to reduce the number of field personnel and to raise production volumes.
• #18: I use Petroleum Development Oman as an example since it is the largest and most complete adoption of a smart oilfield that I know about. In addition to being 45,000 sqr km, it has 200 active rigs & 90 trucks. ================== Additional Info on PDO: As of the end of 2013, Petroleum Development Oman field has: 6600 broadband connection points 52 base stations 13 Gbps total capacity, the equivalent of 500 connected homes or the bandwidth provided to a 4000 person office building 130,000 end devices Together it collects 36 times more data enabling more accurate and improved decisions. It delivers 4 Mbps anywhere within the field of coverage. Adoption of IHS CERA’s 2003 study’s recommendations and a connected field has enabled them to deploy technologies that: Increased a mature oilfield’s production by 100K barrels/day. At $90/barrel this is $3.2 Billion/year in additional revenue. Reduced drilling time from 39 to 14 days ($1M per drill saved). Saved $5M per-well cost (includes drilling and completions).
• #19: A central coordinating function should be supported by executives (as champions), business development (budgeting) and engineering (civil projects). Did not touch on business and organizational models to further enable due to time.
• #20: A central coordinating function should be supported by executives (as champions), business development (budgeting) and engineering (civil projects). Did not touch on business and organizational models to further enable due to time.
• #21: Image Source: Lia Rogers
• #22: Here are some other factors to consider when comparing vendor’s radio products. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list. Receive sensitivity refers to how well the radio can hear; the smaller the number the better it hears. (e.g. -90 dBm is better than -64 dBm) Packets per second is a metric to measure the quality of the processor and memory in a networking device. Networking behaves like a traffic light. Based on the type of networking device, it may have to do additional operations on each vehicle that passes through the intersection. Each operation takes time. Modern radios do more than just store and forward. They now encrypt traffic, enforce quality of service and/or add trunking tags. As a simple rule of thumb, compare the packets per second of the device with no software features enabled to start as this is the maximum packets per second of the device. Also ask for acceptance testing results for radios that vendors make. Acceptance tests are the tests done in factories to prove what is written in the technical datasheets. Is it a Software defined radio (SDR)? SDR is moving out equipment refreshes from 5-7 years to 15-20 years since SDR radios can take a simple firmware upgrade for most feature improvements. Be wary of Class 1 / Div 2 radios. The certification requires less transmit power which translates to a link budget hit. Only have it if you need it.
• #23: I often get asked, “why is Telecommunications not handling towers”? The short answer is because they don’t make enough money providing rural service. If Oil & Gas designs and/or builds towers, proving out a need, there is an emerging tower industry that owns towers as real estate and would be interested in owning the tower. There are many engineering considerations however to complete a successful match-up. But it is possible. =========== The top 3 tower companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange are: SBA Communications American Tower Crown Castle   Collectively they own, lease and manage 95,000 towers and are worth $69 Billion. One of these top 3 companies, SBA, has moved into Canada. Canada, at present, has a very small passive asset marketplace to enable buyers and sellers of this crucial commodity. That is, it is very difficult to determine ownership and there is little support for enabling rentals. If one was implemented, it would be owned and managed by Industry Canada. Source: TowerXchange: http://www.towerxchange.com/the-art-of-tower-design/ TowerXchange is an open community for thought leaders in the emerging market tower industry.   “We engage with the passive (and active) infrastructure market along two axes. On a horizontal axis we foster dialogue between MNOs, towers, investors and their advisers, accelerating to market investible, high quality telecoms infrastructure assets. On a vertical axis, we examine the impact of tower transactions on the product and service supply chain, from turnkey installation and O&M subcontractors to energy equipment, monitoring and management and static asset manufacturers. TowerXchange is actively profiling suppliers with a proven track record of success at multiple cell sites in emerging markets.”