UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

A SEMINAR DONE IN FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT OF THE COURSE;

SEMINARS AND INDUCTRIAL VISITS (EEE494)

TOPIC: OVERVIEW OF INSTRUMENTATION IN THE

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY.

BY;
ONWUKWE AMARACHI
2014/193190

SUPERVISOR: ENGR. DR. C. J. NNONYELU

OCTOBER 2019
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preliminary Pages
Chapter One - Introduction
1.1 Background of study
1.2 Aim of study
1.3 Objectives of study
1.4 Scope of study
1.5 Definition of terms

Chapter Two

Literature review

Chapter Three
3.1 Control and instrumentation in the upstream oil and gas sector
3.1.1 Control and instrumentation procedures
3.1.2 Analysis of control and instrumentation devices
3.1.3 Safety requirements
3.2 Control and instrumentation in the downstream sector
3.2.1 Control and instrumentation Procedures
3.2.2 Analysis of Control and instrumentation devices
3.2.3 Safety requirements
Chapter Four
4.1 Recommendation
4.2 Conclusion
References
 CHAPTER ONE
Introduction

The Instrument and System Automation Society of America (ISA) defines

instrumentation as a collection of instruments and their application for the purpose
of observation, measurement and control [1]. An instrument is a device that
measures and/or operates process physical variables such as flowrate, temperature,
level and pressure. In addition to monitoring and measuring physical parameters,
instrumentation could also provide the possibility to control certain processes and
modify some field factors using tools such as sensors, indicators, alarms, valves,
regulators, logic circuits and operator interfaces. Instrumentation in engineering
specialization focuses on the principle and operation of measuring instruments
which are used in design and configuration of automated systems in fields such as
electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic with the goal of improving system productivity,
reliability, safety, optimization and stability. In the event of system failure, loss of
products, machinery and even lives could occur, leading to service disruption,
customer dissatisfaction, financial loss, environmental hazard and possible plant
shutdown. World energy needs including that of oil and gas are expected to rise
extensively in the coming years and as the demand and cost of energy rises, energy
companies are investing billions in exploration and production especially in remote
unexplored locations, thus there is no room for system failure and its consequences.
Automated instrumentation technologies play a key role in making oil and gas
extraction relatively easier, economical and possible in remote locations that were
previously too difficult to access. The need for accurate real-time values as well as
precise modification of systems and the improvement of global collaborations
between inter-relating units lays the foundation for modernized instrumentation in
the oil and gas industry. Historical occurrences such as the Piper Alpha disaster in
the North Sea, UK in 1988 and the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of
Mexico in 2010 show the importance of secure and reliable instrumentation
networks which must ensure a constant measurement of critical parameters and also
highlight profound impacts that could result when monitoring and measuring failures
happen. To satisfy the growing demand of real-time relevant data in complex
environment such as production platforms, rigs and facilities, oil and gas companies
have turned to sophisticated automation, remote monitoring and real-time asset
management in order to improve yield within widespread operations while ensuring
physical security of the work site and the well-being of their workers. Offshore
drilling rigs are moving into deeper and deeper waters, unconventional oil wells are
expanding access to previously untapped reserves and the number of active pipelines
is increasing at an unprecedented rate, all these developments portray the enabling
capabilities of innovative instrumentation infrastructures.

1.1 Background of study

The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the search for oil expand as its use for
illumination rose. The primary method of finding oil required locating surface
evidence, including oil seeps, paraffin dirt (soil with petroleum elements), and
sulfurous gases [2]. In 1859 Edwin Drake hired by Seneca to extract oil in
commercial quantity, borrowed the concept of drilling from salt drillers; to get
through the unconsolidated gravel in the flats around Oil Creek, he invented the drive
pipe, made of cast iron with ten-foot joints that protected the upper hole as it was
created [2]. His discovery of a way of extracting large quantities of oil sparked off
the first oil boom. With the invention of the automobile and gasoline fueled trains,
ships and airplanes in the early 1900s, the need for oil increased drastically, but by
then, many of the noticeable oil locations had been drilled and finding oil had
become more difficult. Higgins introduced the idea of prospecting oil reserves
beneath salt domes. To discover salt domes beneath the earth’s surface the torsion
balance was employed. The torsion balance, one of the earliest geophysical
instruments used in petroleum prospecting, measured the density of rock beneath the
earth's surface by measuring the gravitational field [2], thus salt domes could be
revealed as they are linked to light gravity. Various gravity meters were developed
as time progressed, each with a more advanced feature. The very current ones have
better sensitivity, wavelength resolution and signal-to-noise ratio processing.
Seismic surveys are also currently used to prospect oil and gas deposits. It involves
the use induced vibration to provide picture of subsurface rock formations and
characteristics at depths as low as 30,000 feet below ground level.

As oil explorations became more popular the need grew for more reliable ways to
measure the pressure of the oil coming out of the wells. In response inventors began
to conceive new component designs to improve the safety of systems. This led to the
invention of pressure gauges actuated by a metallic curved tube designed to
consistently deflect under pressure such as the technologically superior pressure
indicator known as the Ashcroft Gauge, which was designed by Eugene Bourdon
and patented by Edward Ashcroft [3]. An advanced version of this basic design is
still produced by Ashcroft today, as well as by nearly every other pressure gauge
manufacturer [3]. The measurement of temperature levels have gone from platinum
resistance and gas thermometers of the 1900s to modern instruments such as digital
contact thermometers and non-contact thermal imagers.

The flow rates of the hydrocarbons were measured using mass or volumetric flow
meters. First volumetric flow meters were used then the mass flow was calculated
from the outputs of the volumetric flow meters and density meters. Mass flow meters
were later developed because a lot of calculation errors occurred from using the
volumetric and density meters, leading to insufficiency in detection of changes in
flow. The use of these flow meters in the petroleum industry dates back to as far as
the early 20th century. Over time, mass flow meters have been found to be the most
accurate of flow meters and are constantly being improved to provide better services.
Further research is being carried out on the possibility of placing wireless sensors in
oil wells for continuous measurements inside of the well to be able to tell when there
is need for well intervention or when the hydrocarbon resources are depleted beyond
exploration.

1.2 Aim of Study

The aim of this study is to review instrumentation in the oil and gas industry
comprising the upstream and downstream sectors.
1.3 Objective of Study
The objective of this research topic is to discuss extensively, the instruments and
processes employed in measuring temperature, pressure, flowrate, level, etc. in the
extraction and distribution sectors of the oil and gas industry.
1.4 Scope of Study
Instrumentation deals with a wide range of instruments and technological processes
used in an unprecedented number of applications, but this study focuses squarely on
instrumentation in oil and gas industry as concerns the safety of all elements of the
workforce, machinery and products in compliance with required standards. Each
chapter of this work treats a section of the study in a progressive order, so as to
provide ease of understanding. Below is an overview of what each chapter contains.
 Chapter one: here, the topic of study is introduced, a historical recap of
the subject, the aim, objective and the scope of the study are all provided
in this chapter.
  Chapter two: this chapter reviews similar works done by other researchers
on the subject matter.
 Chapter three: In this chapter, processes, instruments and safety measures
in upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry are
discussed.
 Chapter four: Conclusions and recommendations are made in this chapter.

1.5 Definition of terms

Upstream Production: Upstream oil and gas production and operations identify
deposits, drill wells, and recover raw materials from underground.
Downstream Production: This sector of the oil and gas industry is the final step in
the production process, represented by refiners of petroleum crude oil and natural
gas processors, who bring usable products to end users and consumers.
 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Control and Instrumentation in industries is a vital subject area and as such,
researches and studies have been carried out geared towards its evaluation and
improvement.

Patel et al [4] carried out a Review on Instrumentation & Safety System Technique
for Upstream Oil & Gas Sector. The paper focused on the improvement of available
oil well critical data, control network and safety in one of the biggest onshore fields
in India, Mangala field, at Cairn India ltd. The authors described an oil well as a
boring in the earth designed to bring hydrocarbons to the surface, they also discussed
various methods of enhancing oil flow from the reservoir to the surface using Jet
pumps, electric submersible pumps (ESP), Beam pumps, water injection and
Polymer injection method. They defined Safety Instrumented System (SIS) as a
system designed to respond to plant conditions which may be hazardous by
generating correct outputs to mitigate the hazardous consequences or to prevent the
hazard [4]. The authors described the operational processes of the system; beginning
with the input elements such as pressure and temperature sensors or gas, flame
detectors, next the logic solver reads process signals from the sensors and relays pre-
programmed commands to the final elements such as safety valves and deluge valves
to prevent or mitigate process hazards.

Geir et al in [5] wrote about three-phase flow measurement in the petroleum

industry. The paper focused specifically on oil–gas–water flowmeters. The writers
discussed how large production separators and conventional single-phase
flowmeters are used to separate off the multiphase oil and gas into single-phase
components so that high accuracy measurements can be made for transfer purposes
and the advantages of modern commercial three-phase flowmeters over test
separators which include having a minimum physical footprint (that is, they occupy
less space), negligible stabilization time, the ability to continuously monitor a well’s
output for all types of flow regime and cost effectiveness. They let us know that
techniques that can be used to determine the mass flowrate of the non-separated oil,
gas and water phases directly in an industrial environment have not yet been
commercially developed, thus an inferential measurement method is required. They
noted that the density of the oil, gas and water phases do not generally change rapidly
and are usually obtained from other parts of the production process, thereby reducing
the problem to one of measuring the individual phase velocities and two of the phase
fractions. Two basic strategies have been used to try and reduce the difficulty of
measuring the flowrate of an oil–water–gas mixture; simplification of the input flow;
where the flow is reduced from a three-phase flow to a combination of single and
two-phase flows before measurement, and simplification of the direct measurement
requirement which involves reducing the number of direct measurements needed [5].
Important flowmeter attributes stated in the work are; sufficient accuracy of the
flowmeter for the intended application over the full fraction range of each phase, and
flow regime independency (that is, ability to achieve the same measurement
accuracy no matter what the flow regime is). They described various methods of
measuring phase fraction and phase velocity such as; full two-phase separation,
partial two-phase separation, direct measurement of three-phase flow properties,
indirect measurement of three-phase flow properties, Gamma-ray attenuation
methods, Electrical impedance methods, infrared absorption and microwave
attenuation principles, Cross-correlation method, Differential pressure flowmeters,
Tomographic methods, Ultrasonic methods, High frequency magnetic field
methods, Nuclear magnetic resonance methods and On-line fluid sampling and
analysis [5]. The authors noted that the availability of flowmeters which can be used
to monitor flowrates in the reservoir itself is becoming an important requirement for
improved production management, and the challenge includes designing a
flowmeter capable of reliably working at high pressures and temperatures, and to
which there will be limited access or none at all during its lifetime. The need for
recalibration or regular maintenance once installed therefore becomes a serious
limiting factor. They concluded by saying that the task of accurately metering oil–
gas–water flows on-line has not got any easier, and oil and gas sectors need to
operate in increasingly difficult physical environments, thus, improvement in the
efficiency of the production process and reduction of costs will continue to challenge
researchers and manufacturers alike [5].

Subair et al designed and implemented an intelligent pressure measurement system

in [6]. They began by stating the importance of pressure and why it should be
measured. They also stated the shortcomings of measuring pressure as high cost and
complexities of signal transfer which their design aimed to tackle. A novel intelligent
pressure detecting system based on PIC16F877A and BMP180 was designed and
implemented using a MEMS pressure sensor integrated with electronic components
which digitizes the output and sends it to a PC through RS-232 serial interface and
displays it using the real time software LabVIEW. The BMP180 is the actual
pressure sensing component, it sends the collected data to master chip PIC16F877A
which processes the received data and converts it into a barometric pressure and
sends it to the host computer PC through its serial communication. The BMP180
was used due to its high precision, ultra-low voltage of 3.3V, robustness, high
accuracy and linearity as well as long term stability. A serial interface chip
MAX3232 was placed between the PIC and PC to match the two levels. The PIC
was programmed in C language using MPLAB Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) which is an integrated toolset for the development of embedded
applications of Microchip's PIC and PIC microcontrollers. The results obtained from
carrying out tests at various pressure levels; 1000 mbar to 300mbar and from 500
mbar to 1000 mbar and recording the data at every 100-mbar interval verified the
effectiveness of the pressure measurement system designed in the paper. When
compared, the error between the detected pressure and the set standard pressure at
each pressure point was no more than ±2.4mbar, indicating the accuracy and
effectiveness of the proposed system. In conclusion, the authors noted that the
BMP180 sensor is the core device of the detection system, whose performance
parameters directly affects the accuracy of the detected pressure and the results
showed that the accuracy is not very high.

Annuar et al designed and constructed a liquid level measurement system in [7]. The
system was designed to measure liquid levels and control the states of motor
pumping unit. It consists of an ATMEGA32 microcontroller starter kit board as main
controller, a continuous fluid level sensor (e-tape), a level display (7 segments) and
a motor pumping unit drive circuit. The ATMEGA32 microcontroller starter kit
board is the core of system is a low voltage and high performance microcontroller
and the main used to control the states of pumping unit according to the liquid level.
The e-tape sensor is a solid state, continuous (multi-level) fluid level sensor for
measuring levels in water, non-corrosive water based liquids and dry fluids
(powders). The e-tape sensor provides a resistive output that is inversely
proportional to the level of the liquid: the lower the liquid level, the higher the output
resistance; the higher the liquid level, the lower the output resistance. Control signal
from board will be sent to the motor pumping circuit when liquid level at certain
value or to stop the motor when under the value to prevent idling state. A seven
segment display is used to indicate level value [7]. Total system software was written
in C language. The results obtained showed that the system is capable of calculating
water level and controlling motor pumping unit with certain liquid level
measurement.

Singh et al in [8] carried out a review on Liquid-level Measurement and Level

Transmitter Using Conventional and Optical Techniques. An extensive review of
different techniques of the subject matter was done in this paper, including proposed
and simulated methods of resistive, inductive, capacitive and pressure-based
transducers. The authors stated that the most reliable level transmitting method is
transmission using optical means with advantages such as high accuracy, high
reliability, errorless transmission for long distance and zero electromagnetic
interference. The authors concluded noting that; inductive transducers are difficult
to develop, capacitor based level sensors are the most commonly used due to high
reliability, high sensitivity and ease of construct while pressure sensors are ceramic-
based sensors that are preferred under harsh conditions due to its high stability and
good performance in such conditions and resistive transducers are used where the
measurement precision is not a top priority. Other unconventional techniques that
are common among instrument designers are ultrasonic sensors and time domain
reflectometers [8].

Hansen et al in [9] reviewed Multi-Phase Flow Metering (MPFM) in Offshore Oil

and Gas Transportation Pipelines: Trends and Perspectives. Multi-phase flow
measurements of the wells are useful in updating the reservoir model in a process
known as history matching where the current reservoir model is fitted to reproduce
the past behavior, so that the oil recovery is at its maximum over the lifetime of the
field [9], they are also useful in determining the flow patterns during transportation,
separation and chemical injection of three-phase fluids. The authors let us know that
it is important for the MPFM to measure both density, velocity and phase fraction of
the flow because over a lifetime of the well each of the parameters vary. Different
types of Multi-Phase Flow Meters (MPFMs) and techniques were discussed
including: (1) Tomography; electrical resistance tomography (ERT),
electromagnetic tomography, microwave tomography, electrical impedance
tomography (EIT) and optical tomography, (2) Gamma densitometry (3) Differential
pressure meters: orifice plate, venturi flow meter (VFM), and (4) Wet Gas. They
stated that based on investigations and experimental results ERT, EIT and gamma
densitometry showed promising and reliable results, while the prototype with the
poorest accuracy was the VFM. The most accurate MPFM was said to be the gamma
densitometer, however, the radioactive source is often a considerable limitation.
Discussing the characteristics of MPFMs, the authors let us know that; the price for
a MPFM is relatively cost effective and VFMs are much cheaper than other MPFMs,
maintenance is always a challenging and expensive, radioactive materials if used
require expertise handling and disposal and lastly, MPFMs need calibration in the
form of input data from time to time especially when the accuracy of the data is
drifting over time, but the VFMs need much calibration before start-up to estimate
and produce the empirical equations for the software [9]. In conclusion, the review
article presented and discussed the newest trends in the offshore oil and gas industry
with respect to multi-phase flow measurements and some of the prototypes showed
measurement errors of less than 0.53% [9]. The overall issue is to design a
commercial solution, which can accurately measure the entire GVF and provide
accurate and real-time measurements, thus the authors recommended that a possible
solution could be; further investigation of VFMs, as this has the potential to fulfill
the qualities for accurate and reliable multi-phase flow measurements.

Santhosh et al designed an intelligent flow measuring technique using venturi in

[10]. The writers defined a venturi a device used for measuring the volumetric flow
rate using the Bernoulli's principle which gives a relationship between the pressure
and the velocity of the fluid; when the velocity increases, the pressure decreases and
vice versa. The characteristic of a venturi were simulated in MATLAB environment
to highlight the difficulties associated with the available measuring scheme and the
output pressure are used as inputs of data conversion circuit and output voltages are
generated. The output data showed non linearity with the input data, thus suggesting
a need for calibration. To overcome these drawbacks, the authors proposed a design
incorporating an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model in cascade with the data
converter unit to produce linear output and to make the system independent of
diameter ratio, liquid density and temperature using the concept of artificial neural
network [10]. This model was designed using the neural network toolbox of
MATLAB. The proposed ANN was trained, validated and tested with the simulated
data. The results showed that the proposed measuring system incorporated
intelligence to the venturi nozzle by increasing the linearity range of the venturi
nozzle and the output was made independent of diameter ratio, liquid density and
temperature, thus, eliminating the need for calibration.

Aneja et al published a review of temperature measurement and control [11]. The

scope of this review was to analyze various methods used in control and
measurement of temperature. Different setups consisting of temperature sensors
such LM 35, microcontrollers such as AT89S52 and control hardware were reviewed
in the work. In conclusion, the authors noted that a framework had been presented
incorporating the use of sensors in developing low cost and high accuracy
temperature control system using analog and digital components. Besides, a
comparison on the features of different types of monitoring system has been carried
out and it concludes that the use of microcontroller makes the system compact,
reliable and accurate to achieve precise output with real time signals [11].
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