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.

	Savings of $1-5 Million per Refinery per Year BP Internal Newsletter, Technology in Action Savings achieved at 7 BP refineries April 2009 by Terry Knott, Editor at BP Read it on BP's Web Site
	Ras Gas Plant Saves $1 Million / Year Interaction Detection Using Oscillation Analysis Inventory and Quality Control Improvements Achieved Presentation at ISA Expo Oct 2005 Tom Kinney pdf, 6 pages Read the paper now. Case Study Presented at ExperTune User Conference Mayan Shah, Ras Gas April 2007 View the Powerpoint Slides
	"Fastest Start-Up in Company History" Plant Manager, Borealis Control Performance Supervision Enhances Revamp Upgraded ethylene cracker achieves targeted production rates in record time Article in Chemical Processing Apr 2008 Mikko Ronka, Borealis PDF Read the Article
	Petro-Canada Saves $330K/year,Spending <$100K Problem: Crude Unit Cycling A small refinery was suffering from stability problems in the crude unit. Persistent cycling upsets were constraining production capacity. A Model Predictive Control (MPC) System was unable to solve the problem. Solution Using ExperTune's software, the source of the cycling was quickly traced to a single sticky control valve. Repairing the valve completely eliminated cycling on the unit. The total cost of the solution was less than $100,000. Results Elimination of the cycling stabilized the unit, reduced energy demand, and allowed for an incremental production increase. The total effect was more than $330,000 per year in increased profit.

Even More Case Studies

 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.

 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 difficult 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:

 Refinery Saves $300,000 in Valve Maintenance Costs

The Challenge:

In preparation for a turnaround, a refinery in Canada used ExperTune's PID Loop Optimizer to evaluate 50 valves. All 50 valves were originally scheduled for replacement.

The Solution:

The study showed that 37 of the 50 valves were functioning properly. Of the 13 remaining, 3 needed to be replaced with valves of a different size. Also, the specific mechanical issues of each of the 13 valves were identified in advance.

The Result:

The refinery adjusted the turnaround plan. 37 valves were removed from the repair list, with a direct material and labor savings of over $300,000. In addition, the re-sizing of 3 valves improved process capability on start-up.

Profit and loss matrix: