Abstract: This paper proposes a solution for building a real-time database system and data visualization application in offshore oil production based on satellite communication environment by applying GE Proficy Historian 3.0 and GE Proficy Real-time Information Portal 3.0 (hereinafter referred to as RTIP) software in the information construction of Yacheng Operations Company. This solution enables timely and effective automatic collection of production report data and other key production parameters; and realizes the automatic generation and remote release of daily production reports, meeting the needs of customers in multiple sites and geographically dispersed areas for daily production reports and understanding of the actual production situation.
Project Name: Offshore Oil and Gas Production
Application Background
CNOOC (China) Limited Yacheng Operations Company is the operations manager of the Yacheng Y13-1 offshore gas field and is a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The Yacheng Y13-1 offshore gas field is located 100 kilometers south of Sanya and is jointly developed by CNOOC, BP, and Kuwait International Petroleum Corporation (KUFPEC). It comprises three main production facilities: the Y13-1 offshore production platform, the Sanya Nanshan Base, and the Hong Kong gas receiving terminal. The operations company headquarters is located in Shekou, Shenzhen. Gas from the Y13-1 offshore gas field is transported to the Hong Kong gas receiving terminal via a 778-kilometer subsea pipeline and to the Nanshan Base in Sanya via a 97-kilometer subsea pipeline.
The Y13-1 offshore platform, Hainan Nanshan terminal, and Hong Kong gas receiving terminal of the Yacheng Operations Company possess comprehensive automation systems and networks. The DCS systems (DCS) at these three regional sites include OPC servers. This system, based on the current field automation control systems, automatically acquires field production data through OPC and related communication technologies. It integrates real-time database technology, Ethernet technology, satellite communication technology, data integration technology, and data exchange technology to connect the control systems of the various sub-sites of the operations company. This centralized management of process data from the independently operating automation systems at each dispersed site forms a complete production management information system based on a real-time database. Data exchange interfaces facilitate data exchange with relational data, and reporting tools automatically generate daily production reports. Real-time and historical data are used to track and analyze the production process in real time. This constructs a complete, high-level, high-efficiency, and low-cost intelligent production management information system, serving as a data support platform for scientific decision-making, enhanced safety, manpower savings, and improved efficiency in production operations.
Customer needs
Based on production management needs, the application includes the following:
1) Automatically collect real-time production data from each control system through the field interface machine.
2) Establish a real-time database to monitor key production parameters and integrate real-time information.
3) Develop a data exchange program with SQL Server through the OLE DB real-time database and SDK standard interface.
4) By using automatically collected data and combined with manually entered data, the system automatically calculates data and generates daily production reports for four areas: offshore platform, Nanshan terminal, Hong Kong gas receiving terminal, and office.
Solution
The real-time database software uses GE's Proficy Historian 3.0 real-time database system and Proficy Real-time Information Portal 3.0 data visualization analysis and report web publishing system to realize the functions of the Yacheng Operation Company's enterprise real-time database platform and production report web publishing system.
System overall architecture:
1. Data Acquisition: Interface units are deployed at three sites: the offshore platform, the Nanshan terminal, and the Hong Kong gas receiving terminal. The offshore platform interface unit communicates with the Emerson Data V OPC Server via the GE iFIX Power Tool to acquire data from the offshore platform's central control system. The interface unit is equipped with a GE Historian OPC Collector, which retrieves data from the iFIX Power Tool and transmits it to GE Historian. Similarly, the Nanshan terminal interface unit communicates with the Emerson Data V OPC Server via the GE iFIX Power Tool to acquire data from the Nanshan terminal's central control system. The GE Historian OPC Collector deployed on the interface unit retrieves data from the iFIX Power Tool and transmits it to GE Historian. The central control system of the Hong Kong gas receiving terminal is Emerson RS3 (Rosemount) (hereinafter referred to as RS3). RS3 does not support OPC Server. By upgrading the old RS3 system, the RS3 RNI OPC Server is used to convert the RS3's automated data into OPC standard data for external publication. The interface unit communicates with the RS3 RNI OPC OPC Server through GE iFIX Power Tool to realize automated data acquisition, and transmits the data to GE Proficy Historian through GE Historian OPC Collector.
2. Network Status and Data Acquisition Deployment: The system has a relatively complete network infrastructure. The office, offshore platform, Nanshan terminal, and Hong Kong gas receiving terminal are connected internally via a 10/100M wired local area network. Simultaneously, the four areas (sites) are interconnected via DDN or satellite communication. The communication methods and bandwidths between the four different local areas are as follows: Office – Hong Kong gas receiving terminal: DDN 256K; Office – Nanshan terminal: DDN 128K; Office – Offshore platform: Satellite communication 64K; Nanshan terminal – Offshore platform: Satellite communication 128K. The offshore platform, Nanshan terminal, and Hong Kong terminal areas each transmit automated data through the office. Details are as follows:
Data transmission between the offshore platform and the office is achieved via satellite communication with a bandwidth of 64K, 256 data acquisition points, and a data acquisition cycle of 1 second.
The Nanshan terminal and the office transmit data via DDN, with a bandwidth of 128K, 62 data collection points, and a data collection cycle of 5 seconds.
Data transmission between the Hong Kong terminal and the office is achieved via DDN, with a bandwidth of 256K, 171 data collection points, and a data collection cycle of 10 seconds.
The offshore platform and the Nanshan terminal are connected via satellite communication. When the satellite link between the offshore platform and the office fails, data can be transmitted through the satellite link between the offshore platform and the Nanshan terminal.
Based on the above deployment, data collection between the three sites and the GE Proficy Historian office is running stably, with a daily data increment of approximately 30MB.
3. Utilization of GE Proficy Historian OLE DB and SDK: Historian has an open application interface, providing two standard interfaces: OLE DB and a software development kit (SDK), along with various optional client tools and applications. This system fully utilizes the standard interfaces provided by Historian to achieve data exchange between the real-time database and SQL Server 2008. A timed data exchange program was developed to periodically store data from the real-time database into SQL Server. SQL Server then accumulates and calculates the data to generate the monthly, yearly, and total cumulative data required for the daily production report.
4. Daily Production Reports: After saving the data in Historian to the SQL Server database through the OLE DB interface, the SQL Server database uses stored procedures and JOBs to automatically accumulate and calculate the data. Then, the reporting tools can be used to generate the daily production reports required by each site.
5. Data Visualization: This system utilizes GE Proficy's RTIP product to achieve visualization and analysis of real-time and historical data. See the image below:
Implementation Results
The breakpoint resume technology based on GE Proficy Historian OPC Collector ensures the stability of data acquisition in satellite communication environments.
Leveraging Historian's superior data acquisition and query capabilities, it provides accurate, reliable, and timely data for the production management information system, while also ensuring the processing of production data at three production sites. It integrates control system data resources distributed across thousands of kilometers from offshore platforms, Nanshan terminals, and Hong Kong terminals. It solves the networking, integration, and management problems of multiple DCS systems across various operating companies.
The RTIP software was used to implement a web-based information publishing function for data visualization analysis within a local area network using an Internet Explorer browser.
A real-time database system has been established, which can be extended to perform trend analysis and alarms for key parameters of critical equipment using real-time data. It can also be integrated with the Maximo system to perform PM optimization based on status detection points and runtime, helping operating companies enhance the return on investment of information technology construction and improve investment efficiency. The production management system operates on the basis of real-time production process data, laying the data foundation for building a complete, high-level, high-efficiency, and low-cost intelligent production management information system.
