Skutneft (a subsidiary of Skutneft Gates Oil Company) is the oldest oil and gas refining company in western Siberia (Skut, Russia). The company recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. In 2003, during the planned reconstruction of the No. 1 booster pump station at the Piltanskoye oil field, a new TRACE MODE SCADA/HMI-based control system was successfully installed. Before the new booster pump station could begin operation, all control equipment, including sensors, operating equipment, and data transmission lines, except for the controllers and servers, needed to be updated. Therefore, even after the control system was installed, the installation team continued to work in the control room, where human-machine interface workstations and housings containing various oilfield facilities were also installed. Electrical wiring wasn't even laid to these housings. Meanwhile, engineers from AT Company (an authorized system integrator of AdAstrA) in Moscow, Russia, with the assistance of Skutneft's Control and Instrumentation business unit, installed the control system in the shortest possible time and put it into trial operation. Undoubtedly, without selecting the most suitable foundational software—SCADA/HMI TRACE MODE industrial control software developed by AdAstrA Research Group, Ltd.—successful installation and activation of the system would have been impossible. The Sgutneft oil and gas refining division has selected an M2000 programmable controller connected via an RS-485 interface for its No. 1 booster pump station. The eight PID controller control loops operating in the M2000 perform the following controls: [list] [＊] Maintain a specified liquid level at separators S-1/1 and S 1/2 using a controllable gas outlet valve; [＊] Maintain a specified liquid level at separators S-2/1 and S 1/2 using a frequency converter to control the pump flow; [＊] Maintain a specified pressure at separator G1; [＊] Maintain a specified inlet pressure at separator G3; [＊] Maintain a specified exhaust pressure at the heating processor unit; [＊] Maintain a specified pressure during separation stage 2 (S-2/1, S-2/2); [＊] Maintain a specified gas pressure at the basic gate valve. In addition to PID loop control, other control technologies are also used in the control system of the No. 1 booster pump station in the Sgutneft oil and gas refining unit: [list] [＊] A digital regulator to adjust the liquid level at the drain container; [＊] Semi-automatic control technology to discharge condensate from the hot water tank; [＊] Manual control of the electric gate valve; [＊] Manual control of the air pump. Furthermore, the M2000 controller collects data from standard sensors such as temperature, pressure, and current, as well as other various digital signals. Data from one of the controllers (operating as the master device in the RS-485 network) is transmitted via an RS-232 interface to a computer running the TRACE MODE real-time monitor (SCADA server). The monitor displays a graphical interface – the operator workstation. The main RTM screen is a simple operating interface containing all the basic process flow nodes. Using this main screen, the operator can monitor the measured values ​​of the main process flow parameters, change the regulator's task values ​​and monitor its operation, and interrupt regulation and switch to manual control of the actuators when necessary. Developing the main screen for the booster pump station's process flow was a challenging task. It needed to display all the information and show the process flow without loading any unnecessary screen elements. To address this, the TRACE MODE graphical object's visual control mechanism was used. This mechanism allows for operations such as setting regulators and clearing the condenser in pop-up dialog boxes. In the main process flow screen, in addition to the regulator parameters, the following information is also displayed: [list] [＊] Hydraulic level display at the input of the booster pump station; [＊] Oil temperature and pressure display at the output of the booster pump station; [＊] Pressure display at the output of the oil pump; [＊] Liquid level display in gas separator G1, oil storage tanks P1, PO-1, PO-2, PB1, PB2, and drain; [＊] Liquid level range display in the primary and secondary separators, gas separators G1, G2, G3, condenser K2, oil storage tanks P1, PO-1, PO-2, PB1, PB2, and drain; [＊] Pressure range value display in the secondary separator, gas separators G1, G2, G3; [＊] Gas contamination sensor in the oil pump room, and display of other auxiliary signals. [/list] All analog signals are equipped with independent disconnection indicator lights. This allows the booster pump station operator to visually monitor the system's operation. To display historical trends in pressure and liquid level charts, the system is equipped with a separate screen, with a keypad mounted at the bottom of the screen for easy navigation. Dedicated screens were developed for each M2000 controller to calibrate the PID loop and for routine maintenance and repair. The separate screens can also display alarm signals, pump control, and gate valve control indicators. The system includes an audible alarm signal for reporting emergency events. An alarm signal is emitted using a whistle. After two weeks of intensive work, the system entered service to indicate industrial operating status. The next phase of assembly involved automating the operation of the pump station cluster. This meant connecting the Gamma-7 level measurement controller and attaching numerous digital and analog meters to the booster pump station control system. The main difficulty in the second phase was the need for 24-hour on-site operation; therefore, the installation work was not completed for another two weeks. It should be noted that controllers from different manufacturers (M2000, Gamma-7) have been integrated into the system. As long as all necessary drivers for the TRACE MODE SCADA/HMI system are provided free of charge, there will be no difficulties. Approximately 650 TRACE MODE channels were used in the control system of the No. 1 booster pump station at the SCADA/HMI plant. The software development and installation for this project took two months. Maintenance of the control system was handled by the Control Engineering Technical Maintenance Department of the SCADA/HMI Oil and Gas Refining Division at SCADA/HMI. One engineer worked at the booster pump station on a long-term basis, responsible for maintaining the software and hardware of the control system. Later, the TRACE MODE SCADA/HMI-based control system was successfully integrated into the SCADA/HMI Gates OJSC full information system at SCADA/HMI Gates OJSC. The use of TRACE MODE SCADA/HMI demonstrated the advantages of this software. Users noted the ease of modification to the system; for example, when adding a new meter, system maintenance was very convenient. Maintenance of this TRACE MODE SCADA/HMI-based control system is very inexpensive because it eliminates the need for control engineers to be dispatched from headquarters—all work can be done by local staff. (Translator's Note: ① TRACE MODE is an industrial control software developed in 1992 by the Russian company AdAstrA Research Group, Ltd. TRACE MODE was the world's first industrial control software to integrate SCADA and Softlogic, and it is widely used in various important industrial sectors, including energy, metallurgy, oil, natural gas, chemicals, food, and other industrial sectors and municipal utilities. TRACE MODE is suitable for the development of distributed control systems and is Russia's best-selling industrial control configuration software, holding an absolute market monopoly. It is also one of the best-selling industrial control configuration software in the CIS countries, Eastern European countries, India, Italy, and other countries. ② SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) is a data acquisition and monitoring system; HMI (Human Machine Interface) is a human-machine interface.)