Internet of Things Production Systems Engineer Miguel Lopez and Automation Engineer Mona El Hares inspect a scanner device used in an application at the Schlumberger Limited Industrial Internet Center in Sugar Land, Texas.
Located in Sugar Land, Texas, the Schlumberger Industrial Internet Center focuses on architecture and infrastructure development for the cloud, data, industrial Internet of things (IoT), automation, and cybersecurity across multiple platforms. Established in 2016, the center comprises experienced IoT professionals with knowledge of other industries, recent graduates, and personnel from other Schlumberger hardware and software technology centers.
Today, consumer technologies that tap into the IoT include products such as wearable health monitors and smart home appliances. This gives us the ability to connect different types of devices, gather relevant data, and apply analytical techniques to gain valuable insights.
Adopting the IoT in the E&P industry, however, presents several unique challenges. First, there is the nature of oil and gas equipment as well as the broad global footprint of where these operations occur. Then there is the need for data integrity and the highest level of cybersecurity.
Based on a thorough understanding of equipment design, performance factors, and domain use, the center’s team of experts collaborates with other Schlumberger software teams around the globe to establish the infrastructure for a scalable, accessible, and flexible data store—where all the data is shared in a common ecosystem—to enable improved business intelligence.
The three stations shown of the Manara production and reservoir management system control the production characteristics of an individual zone. Produced fluids, noted with green for oil and blue for water, flow through a screen to the station where pressure, temperature, flow rate, and water cut are measured.
Saudi Aramco had a vision and commitment to develop technology that would take hydrocarbon recovery to a new level. Named after the Arabic word for lighthouse, the Manara system is the result of an eight-year collaboration between Saudi Aramco and Schlumberger.
The Manara production and reservoir management system is an intelligent completion system for multizone, multilateral, extended-reach, and Extreme Reservoir Contact wells. Combining 30 patented technologies, the Manara system provides permanent downhole pressure, temperature, water cut, and flow rate monitoring as well as in-lateral flow control of zones in real time.
The information derived from a conventional completion system typically permits engineers to make production decisions in days or weeks. The Manara system’s real-time permanent monitoring reduces the decision-making time to hours. This means reservoir workflows that commonly required three to six months can now be performed in one day. Integrated workflows from multiple disciplines create a collaborative work environment, where the identification and correction of problems in individual zones are made in real time. Rig time is reduced by optimizing a zone-by-zone cleanup procedure that also minimizes health, safety, and environmental risks.
The Manara system uses fewer parts than a conventional completion system. Electric power and downhole data pass through an inductive coupler that can service any number of well junctions. One electric control line connects through the wellbore to the wellhead via a single penetration.
Saudi Aramco’s Dhahran Advanced Research Center coordinated user requirements and, in conjunction with Schlumberger Engineering, developed a qualification testing program to de-risk the enabling technologies in the Manara system. This included extensive field testing in multiple Saudi Aramco wells. The Schlumberger focus on the transformation themes of technology, reliability, efficiency, and integration was important for the successful collaboration with Saudi Aramco.
