Oil & Gas Industry Case Studies
ExperTune products have been effectively applied to solve Oil & Gas
problems for nearly 20 years. A few examples of these solutions are
listed below. Complete copies of the case studies are available for
free using the links below.
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Reduce start-up time, and be more effective. |
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Save money when you find and fix basic problems. |
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From ExperTune User's
Conference, 2007 (pdf) |
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Solve interactions and save money |
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Hydrocarbon Processing Magazine, June 2005 |
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Off-Shore Platform Commissioning
Overview
Offshore Oil Processing. An offshore oil field is being developed
using a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO).
This facility is a ship-shaped vessel with integrated oil storage.
The Challenge:
A new 900 foot long ship with oil separators on the ship. The ship
hooks up to the oil well, processes and offloads fuel to a tanker.
This is a 3 billion dollar project that produces 100,000 barrels per
day of oil. It is important to get the most out of this capital
investment by getting the ship up and running quickly and out to sea.
They did not want tuning to be a bottleneck in getting the ship started
up. There is $3 million dollars a day in revenue from this ship.
The Solution:
Petro Canada purchased ExperTune PID Loop
Optimizer software and trained 2
crews in its use.
The Result:
ExperTune software conservatively saved at least 1/2 day of start-up
time. It probably saved 3 days of start-up time. 4 hours of start-up time
on this vessel is worth at least $500,000.
Profit and loss matrix:
| Client |
Industry |
Problem |
Solution |
Cost Savings |
| Petro-Canada |
Off-shore oil processing |
System start up |
ExperTune software and training |
at least $500,000 |
Eliminate Cycling in a Refinery
Overview
Petro-Canada: Refiners of
petroleum products, including gasolines, diesel oils, heating oils,
aviation fuels, heavy fuel oils, asphalts and feedstocks for
lubricants and petrochemicals.
The Challenge:
A crude unit was experiencing a persistent cycling problem. Because
of the magnitude of the cost savings associated with stabilizing the
unit, the plant installed and implemented an advanced model
prediction control package. This model predictive control package
was unable to get rid of the cycling problem.
The Solution:
ExperTune software was installed. Analysis of the crude unit revealed the cycling was caused by a sticking control valve. Repair of the control valve eliminated the cycle.
The Result:
The persistent cycling problem has been cured on the crude unit,
saving $330,000 annually.
Profit and loss matrix:
| Customer |
Industry Type |
Problem |
Solution |
Cost Savings |
| Petro-Canada |
Oil refining |
Persistent cycling |
ExperTune software and TOP service |
$330,000 annually |
APC Project on a FCC
Overview
A large refining company installed PlantTriage as a pre-cursor to
an Advanced process Control project on a Fluidized-Bed Catalytic
Cracking Unit.
The Challenge:
Difficult interactions and oscillations around the FCC unit made it diffiult to develop
APC models. Without process stability, reactor setpoints must be
lowered to maintain stability.
The Solution:
PlantTriage was installed to monitor the system and determine the
sources of interaction. With the interactions identified and
source of variation eliminated, Reactor Setpoints were raised.
The Result:
With reactor setpoints raised, there was a direct savings of over
$300,000 annually. In addition, the resulting
process stability made it simpler to develop the APC project.
Profit and loss matrix:
| Customer |
Industry Type |
Problem |
Solution |
Cost Savings |
| Name Witheld |
Oil refining |
FCC Stability |
PlantTriage Software |
$300,000/year |
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