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The oil and gas industry is incredibly huge and lucrative. It spans the globe, drilling on land and sea, and spurs worldwide competition between nations. But it also relies upon each of its parts - wells, rigs, compressors, tanks, and rectifiers. It's an industry whose worth is measured in the trillions but whose fortune comes down to protecting individual pieces of equipment.
That's why remote asset monitoring is key for any highly-valued equipment in the extraction industry.
A remote asset monitoring system, comprised of a network of RTUs and master stations, helps the oil and gas industry keep an eye on their investments. It allows quick reaction to dangerous situations and solves issues before they become problems (and before problems become disasters).
This monitoring system protects your highly-valued equipment and has a powerful impact on your ROI.
Transco had a problem. With over 10,000 miles of pipes for their midstream operation, they didn't have a reliable alarm system. They kept getting false alarms, and just as bad, didn't regularly receive real alarms. This meant a lot of time sifting through what mattered and what was invalid. To protect valuable equipment, they needed to secure a system that would help them get it right.
Responding to false alarms costs time and money. Not responding to real threats can start a cascade of equipment failure.
This is an issue throughout the oil and gas industry. The costs involved are enormous. Some of the typical costs in the extraction business include:
This is real money. Even if you are talking about a two-derrick station in a distant Oklahoma field, it is still a huge investment, and is connected to a dizzying amount of other equipment to distill, separate, and prepare for shipping.
Miles of pipes run upstream, midstream, and downstream. Valves are set to regulate against pressure of every kind. Monitors should be in place to measure and prevent danger as everything is important and needs to be monitored.
That's why more and more companies are doing what Transco did. They're empowering a remote asset monitoring system.
Is the oil flowing? Are things on fire? Are the things that are flowing on fire?
Chances are, you understand the high-level issues that need monitoring. However, a remote asset monitoring system can protect so much more, including the following.
Whether you're working with derricks or wells or both, you need to know that all systems are operating safely. This can involve everything from environmental conditions to illicit human activity. Your monitoring system can have alarms set for conditions related:
Security is hugely important. Access control lets you lock doors to people who shouldn't be in rooms and understand immediately if there are any breaches. It's no secret that oil field equipment is a high-value target for bandits and terrorists alike. Your RTU system helps you protect it.
Compressors are some of the most important parts of your entire drilling system, doing everything from condensing gas for shipment to preparing rocks for drilling. Monitoring them includes:
When temperatures get too high or low, compressors can break down. Monitoring them can help you understand when conditions are changing, and react immediately, and often automatically.
There are over 700,000 petroleum tanks in the U.S. alone, not to mention the international market. It's impossible to monitor everything in every one of them every second of the day. That's where remote monitoring comes in.
One of the keys to tank monitoring is level monitoring. This can be done with floats or ultrasonic systems comprising of speakers and microphones. All of these need to be constantly working or else there can be dangerous levels of gas built up, not to mention issues with understanding your supply and needs.
These are systems that protect pipelines and make them more sustainable. They do so by converting AC to DC, crucial for cathodic protection. They need to be running constantly, but being electrical, are very vulnerable to conditions including:
Rectifiers are so sensitive that they must be inspected six times a year. If you have a remote asset monitoring system that works, you can be inspecting them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Just like you may need to secure a remote asset monitoring system that effectively protects your highly-valued equipment, so did the Kuwait National Petroleum Company. As the company was ready for a change in their monitoring system, they chose a partner that was well-known in the field.
They also sought out training. This training showed them the full extent of what their RTUs and masters could do for them, setting up discrete and analog alerts. It was factory training that provided a solid base of technological knowledge their team needed to be successful.
Gaining a custom system designed exactly for their huge, sprawling needs and their particular equipment, was crucial. As a state-run oil company, they had very high standards for all their equipment. They were able to get a system that protected everything.
No matter how large or small your operation, you need remote monitoring. Failing to receive alerts about problems can be a spiraling disaster costing you millions of dollars and alienating partners in every stream.
That's why a trusted, custom remote asset monitoring system is absolutely critical.
It does more than monitor: It brings all of your operations into one room and makes your vast system comprehensible. It shrinks the daunting into the manageable, protecting your expensive assets and your ROI.
DPS Telecom has the experience and expertise to help companies monitor what matters most - including their costs. Our technicians can work with you to install RTUs with easy-to-use interfaces for more automatic responses. Reach out and get a quote today!
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