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Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Smart upstream to LNG

Russell Byfield
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Yokogawa Australia, 18A Metroplex Drive, Murarrie, Qld 4172, Australia. Email: russell.byfield@au.yokogawa.com

The APPEA Journal 58(2) 508-512 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ17175
Accepted: 15 March 2018   Published: 28 May 2018

Abstract

With today’s current technologies, it is possible to answer the question, ‘What is the most profitable mode of operation for the next few hours, for the rest of today, tomorrow and beyond?’ With ‘lower for longer’ oil prices, the need for enterprise wide optimisation in the upstream and midstream oil and gas industry is greater than ever. The terms ‘Digital Oil Field’, ‘Digital Gas Field’, ‘Digital Twin’ are being utilised to extol the virtue and value of big data analytics and model-based asset optimisation and supply chain optimisation by enabling this in efficient ways not previously possible with multiple unintegrated systems, processes and procedures. Multiple different point solutions rolled out across multiple sites become difficult to integrate horizontally for management of safe and optimised operations and vertically up to business enterprise resource planning level to give useful and timely business insights. With careful planning, coupled with deep operational technology and operations knowledge, an integrated enterprise wide supply chain and asset operations and management system can unlock significant hidden value. This is enabled by the correct and efficient integration of many systems and the efficient collection, management and use of huge amounts of data. As the industry needs to ‘do more with less’, getting this integration right is critical to enable desired outcomes and functionality. This paper summarises the current state-of-the-art solutions that enable optimised well to liquefied natural gas plant process, asset and business management to deliver desired functionality and outcomes.

Keywords: actions, analytics, backcasting, cloud, conventional, CSG, data flow, data science, decision support, Digital Twin, economics, forecasting, insights, IT-OT convergence, LNG, machine learning, modelling platform, one model many uses, one version of the truth, performance monitoring, process control systems, simulation, supply chain, unconventional, upstream.

Russell Byfield has a Chemical Engineering Degree with Honours from Adelaide University, is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Chartered Professional Engineer, a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland Petroleum and Process Engineer and is currently the Chairman of the Queensland Branch of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Russell is the Advanced Solutions Manager of Yokogawa Australia. Russell has over 25 years’ international experience in the Petroleum and Process Industries. He has been directly involved in field development, reservoir engineering, process facilities design, commissioning and operations, fabrication and construction and since 2000 has focussed on the modelling, analytics and optimisation of conventional and unconventional oil and gas development and operations. Russell has presented many papers over the years, the most recent being two co-authored SPE papers (176825 and 176850) about reservoir modelling presented as ePosters at the SPE URCE in Brisbane in November 2015 (www.spe.org/events/urce/2015) and an IIoT paper at the Inaugural PNG Oil and Gas Summit in February 2017 (www.pngsummit.com). Russell has held a variety of regional and international technical, managerial and directorial roles.