PDO optimizing performance, less down time

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is deploying technology to modernize and standardize the control system architecture of its Government Gas Plant (GGP) in northern Oman. PDO is the leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman.

“It’s about meeting customers’ latest requirements,” said Pramesh Maheshwari, VP and general manager, Lifecycle Solutions and Services, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Increased connectivity addresses challenges associated with constant change. We can use artificial intelligence technology to anticipate problems. We can support being proactive rather than reactive.”

The plant modernization delivers sustainable and efficient gas processing operations that help PDO satisfy increasing demand for its gas.

Petroleum Development Oman is modernizing its Government Gas Plant in Northern Oman. Courtesy: Honeywell

The installed solutions upgrade the gas plant’s supervisory control center. The scope of the overall technology upgrade includes moving all High-Performance Process Manager (HPM) controllers to a more efficient and sophisticated controller, the C300 and replacing the Fail Safe Controller with Safety Manager.

“In the past, producers had multiple systems installed at multiple levels. The need today is to bring all that together and make not just the data, but also inferences from the data, generally accessible,” said Maheshwari. “The control system in the past was an operator’s console. Decisions on what to make, for example, were separate. Today we can bring more comprehensive data together to support decision making.”

The changeover was completed while keeping the same input and output modules. The project also transitioned the plant’s supervisory control level to the latest Experion PKS R511 software release, coupled with a refresh of workstation, server and network platforms. PDO is also implementing the Honeywell Trace solution for better monitoring of critical control assets.

The Experion PKS (Process Knowledge System) is a new generation distributed control system meant to unify people with process, business requirements and asset management, i.e., maintenance and other supporting applications.

Safety Manager is a modular, multi-fault tolerant safety system for emergency shutdowns and safety instrumented systems.

Honeywell Trace captures and records configuration data to enable users to track changes, identify engineering anomalies, eliminate errors and accelerate project planning. An intellectual property and patented data collection approach achieves data in hours versus days.

“The face of maintenance is changing with mobility consoles equipped augmented reality, allowing immediate response. With predictive technologies, we have a window into what could go wrong before it happens,” said Maheshwari.

Overall, PDO has seen a spectrum of benefits including consistent gas quality, reduced risk of unplanned downtime and enhanced lifecycle planning. The transformation was done while protecting PDO’s intellectual property.

“Our ability to meet gas demand across the Sultanate rests on our ability to process and produce it effectively and that requires modern control architecture,” said Ahmed Al Harrasi, senior control & automation leader for gas assets, PDO.

“Due to aging systems and support issues, our customers can face significant risk and unplanned downtime,” said Maheshwari. “Leveraging automation by upgrading to new technology while optimizing current investments is key. That’s the approach we’ve taken with PDO, and we’re excited to lead them through their digitalization journey.”

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