Use of Advanced Process Control for Automating Conventional Oilfield Operations

Summary With the growth of Internet of Things technology and the industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), digital information is becoming more integrated into our daily operations. Such a modality of operation allows all disciplines in an organization to collaboratively manage and operate their assets to achieve the maximum value of those assets. In this paper, we describe one of the initiatives under the company's digital transformation strategy. It is a simple yet innovative application of advanced process control (APC) that facilitates continuous optimization of the performance of electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), not only to comply with the assigned production targets but also to automatically meet the operational constraints. The successful implementation of this technology on multiple oil wells in an onshore oil field has demonstrated significant power savings of 10 to 20%, and is expected to minimize premature failures and extend pump life.