Control System World

Technip has been awarded by Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA a lump sum contract for the development of the Dalmatian field, located in the Gulf of Mexico, at a water depth ranging from 530 to 1,800 meters. This field, jointly owned by Murphy and Ecopetrol America Inc., is comprised of the De Soto Canyon Blocks 4, 47, 48 and 91.

The project consists of a subsea tie-back to an existing Gulf of Mexico platform.

The contract covers:

• project management, engineering, fabrication and installation of a gas riser(1), an oil riser, a 38-kilometer flowline(2) and a 34-kilometer pipe-in-pipe flowline with associated PLETs(3) and jumpers(4),
• installation of a main subsea control umbilical(5), infield umbilical, and associated foundation and flying leads,
• pre-commissioning.

Technip's operating center in Houston, Texas will perform the overall project management. The flowlines and risers will be welded at the Group’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama.

Exida is conducting a survey on the use of alarms as safeguards and layers of protection. The goal of this survey is to benchmark the current alarm management practices used in industry for these types of safety-critical alarms. Poor management of such alarms can result in near-misses or can contribute to industrial accidents such as Milford Haven, Texas City, Buncefield, Deepwater Horizon, etc. The completion of this survey will help industry learn what needs to be done to improve standard practices.

At the conclusion of this survey, a report will be created that will be shared with those of you that choose to participate. The goal of this report is to document the current practices in order to highlight gaps and areas for improvement.

Click 'Use of Alarms as Safeguards and Layers of Protection' to participate in the Survey

BP has announced a $10 million research collaboration project involving five Brazilian and three British universities.

The project, aimed at improving the understanding of the formation of the Parnaíba basin in Northeast Brazil, will combine deep crustal seismic reflection data, seismology and geological fieldwork.

Starting with seismic acquisition, it will involve students from the Universities of Brasilia, the Federal Universities of Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Bahia, and the Brazilian National Observatory in Brazil, and the Universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge and Oxford in the UK.

The project was launched during a visit to Brazil by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron and signed by Dr. Mike Daly, BP Executive Vice-President and José Geraldo de Sousa Junior, President of theUniversity of Brasilia.

“Brazil and the UK are committed to building on our already excellent relationship in science, research and higher education,” commented David Willetts, British Minister of State for Universities and Science. “This new agreement will further strengthen our ties — and bring more opportunities for our leading scientists, universities and businesses to collaborate and learn from one another, driving up knowledge and skills in both our countries.”

Rockwell Automation has expanded its toolbox for companies looking to easily migrate from legacy DCS systems to the PlantPAx process automation system. These new tools are part of a phased migration approach from Rockwell Automation that helps eliminate many of the costs, risks and complexities involved in moving to a modern, scalable, multidisciplined control platform.

“Implementing a single control platform across all plant-floor applications provides our customers with a number of advantages, including reduced spare-parts requirements, more synchronized processes, and lower maintenance and training costs,” said Mike Vernak, DCS Migrations program manager, Rockwell Automation. “It also improves plantwide integration by enabling the seamless transfer of real-time data from disparate control systems for improved decision making and increased manufacturing flexibility.”

• The new migration tools from Rockwell Automation include:
• Database conversion, cabling solution and I/O scanner for migrating a Siemens MOORE APACS system
• Cabling solution and improved database-conversion tool for migrating the Invensys Foxboro I/A system
• I/O scanner for Allen-Bradley SMART I/O for migrating an Emerson Fisher PROVOX system
• Universal Control Network interface for migrating the Honeywell TDC3000 system

The operators of the Savannah Nuclear Site in South Carolina recently turned to Moore Industries to help them comply with new Department of Energy requirements relating to critical safety communications. Installing a system with the WNM Wireless Network Module and the NCS NET Concentrator System^® allowed site engineers to use radio transmissions to send critical data across large distances without having to use costly wiring.

The site has a firewater tank that safety crews need to use for fire suppression in case there is an accident on the site. The DOE recently required the site to have the ability to instantly monitor the water level in the tanks from a main control room and back-up control room that are each one-half mile from the tank. Previously, engineers manually monitored the tank levels during on-site inspections and the system required hard wiring of around 100 yards.

Installing a hard wired system to connect the control rooms to the firewater tank would have required an extensive amount of expensive cabling, adding costs while also making the system more difficult to manage and maintain. Instead, the Savannah Nuclear Site’s operators opted to use WNMs and NCS systems to share the real-time levels of the firewater tanks via radio communications.

The installed system features inputs mapped to multiple outputs over serial radios. Local watchdog alarms were mapped to relay outputs at the control rooms. The watchdog warns operators if communications have been lost or if there is an issue with the levels. The end result is a reliable system utilizing wireless technology with the WNM providing a highly economical solution for radio communications.

Learn more about the WNM by visiting the Distributed I/O and Data Communications Systems section of our website or downloading the “Wireless Possibilities” white paper.

Saipem has signed new E&C Offshore contracts in Angola, Kazakhstan and North Sea, worth approximately $950 million.

In Angola, Saipem has been awarded an EPCI contract by CABGOC for the Congo River Crossing Pipeline Project, to be developed off the coasts of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of 3 subsea pipelines, 20 and 22 inches in diameter, with a total length of 110 kilometres, in water depths of up to 117 metres, and of subsea spools, as well as the trenching and crossing works. The marine activities will be performed by the pipelayer Castoro 7 between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the fourth quarter of 2013.

In addition, Saipem has signed an EPCI contract in Angola for URF and gas export pipelines. The contract encompasses the engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and pre-commissioning of in-field and export pipelines of approximately 100 kilometres in length, and of other related subsea equipment, in water 70 metres deep. The offshore activities will be carried out between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the second quarter of 2015.

In Kazakhstan, Saipem, through its joint controlled company Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC in consortium with Keppel Kazakhstan LLP, has been awarded a contract by Teniz Burgylau LLP for the fabrication, outfitting and commissioning of a jack-up rig. The Keppel FELS B Class rig, designed for the Caspian Sea, will have the capability of drilling wells up to 20,000 feet and of operating in water depths of up to 260 feet. The final assembly and commissioning activities will take place at the Ersai Kuryk yard and the delivery is scheduled for the first quarter of 2015. This will be the first jack-up built in Kazakhstan.

Finally, Saipem has signed two contracts for T&I activities encompassing the deployment of the Saipem 7000 and of the Castoro Sei pipelayer in the UK sector of the North Sea, in different timeframes between the second quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015.

International oil service group Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract by Statoil to deliver three subsea trees, tubing hangers and a tool package to the Troll field on the Norwegian continental shelf. Estimated contract value is NOK 250 million.

The extension is a call-off from a contract signed with Statoil in February 2012. The spare tubing hangers will be utilized on several parts of the Troll field.

The Troll field is the world's biggest subsea development with regards to the number of subsea wells. Last year, Aker Solutions reached a major milestone in delivering the 100th subsea tree to the Troll field. The Troll contract awards and deliveries have helped shape and develop Aker Solutions' subsea business.

"Troll represents a cornerstone of Norway's offshore oil and gas production with Aker Solutions being involved since 1996. We look forward to executing this contract and assisting Statoil to realise all of the opportunities on the Troll field," says Alan Brunnen, executive vice president of Aker Solutions' subsea business area.

The Electrocorder from CAS DataLoggers range is designed to allow electrical distribution companies to cost effectively monitor single and three phase supplies. Our products allow voltage problems to be highlighted quickly for further investigation. The CT-2VA is designed to allow engineering staff to monitor single phase voltage and current.

Product features are:

• One voltage channel 300Vac
• One current channel 30Aac or 60Aac
• Enables voltage and load problems to be highlighted for further investigation.
• Allows users to monitor & resolve single-phase voltage and current issues.
• Voltage channels record VAvg, VMax & VMin.
• Recorded data is uploaded via RS-232 to a PC for analysis with Electrosoft
• Kit includes Logger, Voltage input lead, one clamp-on CT, RS232 serial lead, software CD and carry case.
• Memory capacity of 32,000 (true RMS) values per channel (10bit), up to 300 days continuous recording.
• Selectable averaging period to suit each situation, accurate to ±2% of reading.

CAS DataLoggers Single Phase Voltage & Current Logger