When you think about it, it’s amazing that all companies have not implemented full-time production monitoring and surveillance. Permanent downhole gauges were introduced decades ago. Only a few years ago, SCADA was the hot new topic, and many wellheads were equipped. Later, intelligent well systems were developed, and many were installed, allowing companies to control flow of individual zones downhole without staging an intervention. The introduction of nodal analysis was hailed as a major enabling technique for attaining production optimization because each node of the production system could be evaluated and tuned for optimal system management.

One international petroleum engineering consulting firm discovered that the operator they were working for had installed a SCADA system, but the data it was collecting was simply accumulating in a file room in the form of thousands of reports. No one was looking at them, analyzing them, or using them for production improvement.

All the tools exist for production optimization, but the number of companies that have actually implemented full-time production monitoring and surveillance systems remains small. The economic advantages of such systems are undeniable. Let us take a look at the benefits one can enjoy by doing a better job of “watching the store:”

Early warning of problems – Using trend analysis, that today can be performed automatically by computers, operators can detect potential problems before they cause production downtime.

Elimination of collateral damage – Often when a piece of equipment fails, it causes consequential failures of associated equipment. Early detection of incipient failures can eliminate costly repairs and associated downtime. This can have huge benefits. A few years ago in Siberia, operators were running their electrical submersible pumps until they failed. When the bad pump was pulled, it was found to be completely destroyed and was tossed on the junk pile. Since installing downhole monitoring sensors, the company has been able to predict when the pumps were in pre-failure mode, schedule a replacement, and pull the pump before it destroyed itself. They found that most of the pulled pumps could be refurbished at a fraction of the cost of a new pump and put back on the ready-rack. Because they were able to schedule the replacement, production downtime was limited to the length of time if took to pull and replace the pump.

Full-field optimization – Some operators in North America are using third-party services to monitor well and field performance. This allows the operator to be relieved of the time-consuming task of looking at hundreds of well reports every day; they only have to look at those reports that indicate a potential problem. The service company engineers add value because they can perform surveillance of wells that are trending out of normal, and in many cases, they can correct the problem by tweaking the pumps’ variable speed drives remotely to bring well performance back on track. In severe cases, the pumps can be shut down altogether to prevent collateral damage using a remote command transmitted over the control network. As for the field, by monitoring all producers and injectors, the effect of each well’s performance can be measured against that of the other wells and the entire field so overall field performance can be optimized. Some operators who tried the service have taken it in-house.

The technology exists. Software that can instantly turn raw data into actionable information is available. Communications connectivity exists in many forms from secure Internet-based systems to company intranet ones. Even ultra-remote solar-powered wellsite systems linked to communication satellites are available. A wide variety of sensors can be retrofitted to legacy systems to monitor a host of parameters. A company can design and implement its own network or use the ones offered by several service providers. And the availability of technology is not limited to wellhead or downhole equipment. Compressors, booster pumps, heater-treaters, and virtually all production facilities can be equipped.

With today’s technology, everyone can keep an eye their assets and stop the incremental downtime and maintenance costs that creep in when no one is watching the store.