Remote ops: a new way of delivering traditional field operations

Abstract

Santos GLNG is a joint venture that supplies clean energy to global markets. The business produces natural gas from Queensland’s coal seams in the Bowen and Surat basins and converts it to liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its new facility on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, prior to export.

From its inception, Santos GLNG has been committed to minimal impact and maximum efficiency, with safety before all else. Delivering on this commitment, in the context of a vast geographic footprint, required innovation—a new way of delivering traditional field operations. As a result, Santos GLNG successfully developed a high-tech $10 million operations centre that delivers the ability to centrally monitor the production and progress of its assets in the gas fields in real-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Located in Brisbane (more than 450 km away from the gas fields), the centre comprises 90 large screens, one of the world’s largest touch screens, six simultaneous video conferencing facilities, and 30 km of wiring. Key benefits include:

• Real-time monitoring of the performance and production of all assets in the field, including compressors, pumps, wells, flow lines, pressure vessels, and pipelines.

• Remote start-up or shut-down capacity, which ensures facilities operate to the highest standards of production.

• Virtual collaboration and knowledge sharing across multiple sites and assets through the latest teleconference and video conferencing technology.

In 2015, the operations centre successfully took control of a range of newly commissioned assets. Most notably, this included Santos GLNG’s three new major compression hubs, which together at nameplate capacity will be able to process 555 terajoules of gas per day.