American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020 - 88

Production Technology
The Road To Autonomy
The ultimate destination for oil field
automation is fully optimized, autonomous
operations, says Phil Schwarz, vice president of marketing and technology for
Apergy's artificial lift technologies business
unit. Many operators are approaching that
destination, he says, comparing the progress
and promise to the automobile industry.
"Most new cars have driver-assist features such as cruise control, automatic
braking and lane keeping," notes Schwarz.
"These represent significant steps on the
way toward autonomous control, and the
same is true in oil field operations."
Automation's potential to help operators
extend decline curves and reduce lease
operating expenses has never been greater,
says Schwarz. Its availability also is on
the rise with new ways of sourcing power,
connectivity and skill sets.
"We see automation simplifying management of most wells, freeing time for
well site operators to focus on problematic
wells rather than routinely visiting wells
that have no issues," Schwarz outlines.
The technology behind modern automation systems has created opportunities
for operators to return to their core value
as producers, argues Doug Rauenzahn,
senior product line director for Apergy's
Theta Oil Services. For example, companies can source the needed computing
power and storage space in the cloud instead of investing in IT infrastructure
and administration.
New automation systems often can
leverage operators' previous investments
by incorporating legacy controllers along
with legacy SCADA communications,

Today's increasingly intelligent
production automation solutions can diagnose problems
and suggest solutions to routine issues quickly and reliably,
Apergy reports. This simplifies
well management, freeing workers to devote time to unusual
situations and big-picture improvements.

in sleep mode until operating conditions
change significantly. Operators set high
and low data points and the algorithm
collects data, learns the well and sends
alerts in the event of an outlier.
For connectivity, Young says operators
in many areas can rely on cellular networks, which have greater bandwidth
and flexible contracts. "The mobile phone
industry has improved the system to the
extent that it is easy to piggyback data
on it," he comments. "If signals are low,
operators add boosters. In the worst-case
scenario, they can use a satellite."

40
Cycles per Day

Cycles per Day

By allowing operators to concentrate
equipment in one place and eliminate redundancies, pad drilling is accelerating
the decline in automation costs, Young
points out. He says operators frequently
can use a single controller to communicate
with all the wells on a pad.
Frequently, well site systems are powered by a combined solar panel and
battery. Automation can require as little
as a single 12-volt power supply for an
entire pad, Young reports. He says the
systems benefit from algorithms that limit
power consumption by keeping the unit

30
20

20
10

0
0%

25%

50%
Avg. Fillage (%)

75%

100%

Implementing artificial intelligence at scale standardizes production optimization decisions across all wells and eliminates
process dispersion. The before (left) and after (right) graphs show

88 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

25%

50%
Avg. Fillage (%)

75%

100%

how much this increases consistency, Ambyint says, adding that
it also allows wells to run longer and produce more.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020

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