Gas-Lift Automation Document Outline

API RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 19G12 (RP 19G12) DRAFT #6, July 3, 2010

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Copyright @ l993 American Petroleum Institute API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 1

Foreword

This Recommended Practice (RP) is under the jurisdiction of the API Committee on Standardization of Production Equipment (Committee 19).

This document presents Recommended Practices for Gas-Lift Automation. Other API Specifications, API Recommended Practices, and Gas Processors Suppliers Association (GPSA) documents may be referenced and should be used for assistance in design and operation.

API Recommended Practices may be used by anyone desiring to do so, and diligent effort has been made by the Institute to assure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained therein. However, the Institute makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee in connection with the publication of any API Recommended Practice and hereby expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility for loss or damage resulting from their use, for any violation of any federal, state, or municipal regulation with which an API Standard may conflict, or for the infringement of any patent resulting from the use of an API Recommended Practice or Specification.

Note:

This is the first edition of this recommended practice.

Requests for permission to reproduce or translate all or any part of the material published herein should be addressed to the Director, American Petroleum Institute, 1220 L Street NW, Washington DC 20005-4070

This Recommended Practice shall become effective on the date printed on the cover but may be used voluntarily from the date of distribution. API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 2

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Recommended Practices for Gas-Lift Automation

API RP 19G12

Generic Document Outline as Provided by API

Note: The next three pages contain a generic outline provided by API that all API Recommended Practices are to use. The “n” pages following the generic outline contain the table of contents (TOC) for Section VII (Requirements or Recommended Practices) contained in this document. The pages following the TOC contain the draft of the actual document. The TOC is for use during preparation of the document only. It will be removed when the document is finished and ready for submission to the API for publication.

I. Forward The foreword consists of a specific part and a general part.

The specific part (supplied by the committee) should contain any specific information a committee wants to convey to the public such as a statement of significant technical changes from any previous edition of the document or the relationship of the document to other documents.

The general part (supplied by API staff) gives information relating to the document such as the committee responsible for preparing the document, the effective date, terms of use, and contact information to submit suggested revisions.

II. Introduction The introduction is an optional preliminary element used, if required, to give specific information or commentary about the technical content of the document, and about the reasons prompting its preparation. It shall not contain requirements.

The introduction shall not be numbered unless there is a need to create numbered subdivisions. In this case, it shall be numbered 0, with subsections being numbered 0.1, 0.2, etc. Any numbered figure, table, displayed equation or footnote shall be numbered normally beginning with 1.

III. Scope This element shall appear at the beginning of each document and define without ambiguity the subject of the document and the aspects covered, thereby indicating the limits of applicability of the document or particular parts of it. It shall not contain requirements.

In documents that are subdivided into parts, the scope of each part shall define the subject of that part only. API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 4

The scope shall be succinct so that it can be used as a summary for bibliographic purposes and the API Publications Catalog (www.api.org/publications).

IV. Normative References This optional element shall give a list of the referenced documents cited in the document in such a way as to make them indispensable for the application of the document. References may be general or specific. It is recommended that general references be used unless there are technical reasons why a specific edition must be referenced. When a general reference is to all parts of a document, the publication number shall be followed by the indication “(all parts)” and the general title of the series of parts. For specific references, each shall be given with its edition number (or year of publication). The year of publication or dash shall not be given for undated references.

The list shall be introduced by the following wording:

“The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document applies (including any addenda/errata).”

V. Terms and Definitions This is an optional element giving definitions necessary for the understanding of certain terms used in the document. The following introductory wording shall be used where all terms and definitions are given in the document itself:

“For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.”

In the case where terms defined in one or more other documents also apply (e.g. in the case of a series of associated documents where Part 1 specifies the terms and definitions for several or all of the parts), the following introductory wording shall be used, altered as necessary:

“For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in...and the following apply.”

Rules for the presentation of terms and definitions are provided in Annex E.

VI. Symbols and Abbreviations This is an optional element giving a list of the symbols and abbreviations necessary for the understanding of the document. Unless there is a need to list symbols in a specific order to reflect technical criteria, all symbols should be listed in alphabetical order in the following sequence:

— Upper case Latin letter followed by lowercase Latin letter (A, a, B, b, etc.);

— Letters without indices preceding letters with indices, and with letter indices preceding numerical ones (B, b, C, Cm , C2 , c, d, dext , dint , d1, etc.);

— Greek letters following Latin letters (A, B,...Z, α, β,...z, etc.);

— Any other special symbols. API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 5

Per API style guidelines, variables are set in Times New Roman/Italic in the equations and when referenced in the text; however, symbols, numbers, abbreviations and acronyms are not italicized.

For convenience, this element may be combined with the Terms and Definitions element in order to bring together terms and their definitions, abbreviated terms, symbols, and perhaps units under an appropriate composite title, e.g. “Terms, Definitions, Abbreviations, Symbols, and Units.”

See E.5 for additional information on symbols and abbreviated terms.

VII. Requirements Here is the meat of the document

VIII. Annexes Annexes should appear in the order in which they are referenced in the body of the standard (e.g. the first annex mentioned should be Annex A, the second Annex B, and so on). Note that this rule means that normative and informative annexes will be intermixed. An exception to this rule is the bibliography (see 6.6.9). The bibliography shall be the last annex of the standard (in instances where an index exists, all annexes would precede the index). See 5.3.6 for more information on annexes.

IX. Bibliography A bibliography, if present, shall appear after the last annex. The bibliography should include the following:

a) Referenced documents that are cited in an informative manner,

b) Referenced documents that are bibliographic or background material in the preparation and application of the document.

If bibliographic items are cited in text, figures, or notes, the citation shall be placed in brackets at the point where reference is made and shall be numbered consecutively e.g. [1]. Lists of bibliographic references are normally arranged either alphabetically by the first element or in numeric sequence corresponding to the order of citation in the text.

Documents already listed in the normative references section shall not be included in the bibliography. API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 6

Recommended Practices for Gas-Lift Automation

API RP 19G12

Table of Contents

Forward

Introduction

1. Scope

2. Normative References

3. Terms and Definitions

4. Symbols and Abbreviations

5. Requirements

Note: This is the outline for API RP 19G12. When the outline for a section is complete, it is placed in the draft of the Master document itself. Outlines which have been installed in the draft of the Master document are highlighted in light blue in this document. These sections are then ready to be drafted by those responsible for the section.

Note: When a section has been drafted in the Master document, the outline is highlighted in yellow.

The following topics are to be addressed in the document. The outline or list of items to be addressed in each section is given below. The original components of the outline for each section were developed at the first Work Group meeting. The outlines and lists are being enhanced by the authors assigned to lead the development of each section. Each Section Leader is to develop an actual outline for his/her section and can then begin writing the section.

5.1 Introduction to Gas-Lift Automation

Author(s) Target Date Status 5.1.1 Rick Peters Oct. 1, 10 Outline drafted and approved. 5.1.2 Rick Peters, Jim Oct. 1, 10 Outline drafted and approved. Hall 5.1.3 Cleon Dunham Drafted Section drafted. 5.1.4 Rick Peters, Oct. 1, 10 Outline to be completed. John Green 5.1.5 Rajan Chokshi, Drafted Section drafted. Cleon Dunham API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 7

5.1.1 Production Automation Defined (Rick Peters) o Level 0 – Manual operations, pre-automation o Level I - Automating data acquisition o Level II - Automating injection control (well centric) o Level III - Optimizing injection control (system centric) o Level IV – Dealing with constraints such as sand production, scale, water production, water flooding, EOR projects with high pressure gas injection blended with solvents and intermixing with water injection, etc. o Recognizing problems - Level I alarms – comparison of measured parameters with alarm limits - Level II alarms – combinations of parameters, e.g. pressure and flow rate combined - Level III alarms – comparison of actual performance with models, e.g. pressure traverse models, nodal models - Level IV – prediction of potential occurrence of events so pre- corrective actions can be taken  Developing strategies to address problems - Level V - responding to problems – have a range of responses from manual to partially automated to closed loop control - Level VI – relate information here to other models o Providing transparency to users

5.1.2 Overview of Gas-Lift Automation (Rick Peters, Jim Hall)  Gather information from gas-lift wells o Start-up o Normal operation o Shut down  Gather information about gas-lift systems o System pressure o System rate available for gas-lift  Gather information about the compression process without becoming involved with “compressor engineering” o Power factor o Compressor on/off o Suction pressure o Discharge pressure o Discharge rate o Water content  Detect problems with gas-lift wells and systems o Visualization of information o Three classes of alarms  Diagnose the causes of these problems o Use models to help diagnose problems  Control the operation of gas-lift wells and systems o Normal control – may be automatic or manually initiated o Operational control API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 8

o Response to diagnosis of problems  Optimize the performance and profitability of gas-lift wells and systems o Optimize well performance o Focus on actual recommended practices; not unproven ideas o Evaluate results of changes; did we take the right action?

5.1.3 Objectives of Gas-Lift Automation (Cleon Dunham) This section will briefly discuss the objectives listed below and how they may be realized with a gas-lift automation system.  Minimize downtime of gas-lift wells  Optimize oil production from oil wells  Optimize gas production from gas wells  Enhance gas-lift problem detection and correction  Optimize distribution of gas-lift gas to gas-lift wells, e.g. with both open-loop and closed-loop control.  Make best use of a short supply of gas-lift gas  Make best use of an over supply of gas-lift gas  Optimally deal with cases where there are limits on the ability to handle water production.  Optimally deal with wells that need special care, such as wells that can’t be easily stopped and started.  Optimally deal with systems where continuous and intermittent gas-lift wells are mixed in the same system.  Optimally deal with dual gas-lift wells.  Use control of automated wells to deal with problems and/or safety issues in the production system, e.g. slugs of liquid, potential separator carry-over.  Analyze best use of control logic in the host automation system vs. logic distributed in the manifold or wellhead controllers.

5.1.4 Use of Data Collection and Processing Technology for Gas-Lift Automation (Rick Peters, John Green) o Manual collection of data o Telemetry of data and manual control o Telemetry of data and automated control o Telemetry of data and optimized control o Coordination and calibration of measured data with flow models

5.1.5 Types of Fields that need to be served by Gas-Lift Automation (Rajan Chokshi, Cleon Dunham) . Introduction . Categories of Fields o Brown Fields o Green (new development) Fields o Beige Fields (older than Brown Fields) . Types of Fields o Oil Fields o Gas Fields o Water Floods API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 9

o EOR/IOR Operations

o CO2 Recovery Fields o Onshore Fields o Offshore Fields o Sub-sea . Types of Gas-Lift o Continuous gas-lift o Intermittent gas-lift o Dual gas-lift . Sizes of Operations o National Oil Companies o Large Operators o Medium Operators o Small Operators  Types of Operations o “Traditional” Fields o “Smart” Fields

5.2 The Business Side of Gas-Lift Automation

Author(s) Target Date Status 5.2.1 Keith Fangmeier, Drafted Section drafted. Cleon Dunham, Neil de Guzman 5.2.2 Cleon Dunham Drafted Section drafted. 5.2.3 Cleon Dunham Drafted Section drafted. 5.2.4 Cleon Dunham Drafted Section drafted.

5.2.1 Gas-Lift Automation Business Drivers (Keith Fangmeier Cleon Dunham, Neil de Guzman)

. Health, Safety issues o Minimize exposure to adverse conditions o Monitor annular pressures o Monitor pipe in pipe pressures as well as caisson pressures for TLP’s. o Monitor well integrity o Shut in wells that pose a safety risk

. Environmental constraints o Address regulatory requirements o Minimize leaks o Close wells during adverse weather conditions

. Security issues o Physical property o Intellectual property API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 10

o Data

. Economic drivers o Provide efficiency through better, more consistent control - Notes: . Includes surface and downhole equipment impacting gas-lift operations which can be remotely operated, queried, and/or status verified through a production automation (SCADA) system. . Includes monitoring of key parameters (Data Acquisition) utilized in monitoring, optimizing, and calculating key performance indicators. . Automation at some level of sophistication is enhanced by remotely adjusting mechanical attributes (such as gas-lift gas injection rates, wellhead and/or flowline chokes effecting Flowing Tubing Pressures {FTPs}, and etc. through a well surveillance or Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. o Optimize gas injection and well production o Improve well tests through improved: - Accuracy, repeatability, frequency, etc. - Need good well tests or other production information for gas-lift optimization. o Reduce deferred production and/or improve operating up time o Support co-mingling when this is required for operational reasons o Obtain downhole pressure/temperature information for reservoir modelling, or integrated production modelling o Perform troubleshooting gas-lift equipment with high frequency data acquisition and high frequency analysis tools (such as spotfire, PI etc.)

. Operational drivers o Implement gas-lift gas allocation requirements o Support initially unloading wells - Subsequent start-up o Support shutting down fields or key wells o Help with start-up, e.g. transient flow conditions o Help with shut-down, re-start o Support more rapid start-up and/or response to system problems to minimize downtime, reduce deferred production, enhance safety, and reduce overall staff requirements. o Address multi-well system constraints o Understand the system and its constraints to best manage overall gas injection and pressure response. Note: A clarification is needed – it is usually unsuccessful to try to control pressure, per se. o The automation system is controlled by either - Human interaction via a SCADA system - Programmable logic controllers, RTU’s, or DCS’s programmed to follow a set of rules/routines - Intelligent systems. Note: this refers to “intelligent agents” API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 11

and systems where “rules” are used to automate control

. Maintenance drivers o SCADA and Communication availability/functionality o Detect gas-lift well and system problems o Determine causes of the problems o Recommend corrections o Evaluate corrections: did they help?

. Personnel drivers o Improve gas-lift staff performance o Company culture o Third party monitoring for optimization

5.2.2 Justification for Gas-Lift Automation (Cleon Dunham) This section will briefly discuss the components of gas-lift automation justification listed below and how they may be used to justify a gas-lift automation system.  Reduce gas-lift downtime, deferred production  Reduce gas-lift operating costs  Reduce or contain gas-lift capital costs  Optimize oil production in oil wells  Optimize gas production in gas wells  Optimize gas-lift gas utilization  Use to validate well tests and/or production rates  Deal with production constraints, such as excess water production  Enhance safety of gas-lift operations  Improve understanding and effectiveness of operating staff  Improve effectiveness of gas-lift system maintenance

5.2.3 Gas-Lift Automation Risks (Cleon Dunham) This section will briefly discuss the risks that may be associated with a gas-lift automation system, and how they may be alleviated to achieve a successful system.  The system may perform poorly or be under-utilized due to lack of trained staff  There may be problems caused by instrument failures  There may be problems caused by control system failures  The system may be under-deployed due to poor cost estimates.  The gas-lift automation system may be incompatible with other automation systems in the field  Look at the presentation on “why projects fail.”

5.2.4 Gas-Lift Optimization (Cleon Dunham) This section will briefly discuss methods used to optimize a gas-lift system when using gas-lift automation.  Determine the “optimum” technical and/or economic gas-lift injection rate for each well API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 12

 Control each well to operate at or near its optimum rate  Minimize losses if less than optimum gas is available  Minimize waste if more than optimum gas is available  Optimize the gas injection rate when gas-lifting gas wells  Optimize oil or gas production when there are other constraints

5.3 Gas-Lift Automation Hardware and Software

Author(s) Target Date Status 5.3.1 Keith Fangmeier Oct. 1, 10 Outline drafted and approved. 5.3.2 Neil de Guzman, Drafted Section drafted. Larry Lafferty, Larry Peacock 5.3.3 Cleon Dunham, Drafted Section drafted. Larry Peacock. John Green 5.3.4 Rick Peters Oct. 1, 10 Outline to be completed.

5.3.1 Gas-Lift Automation Hardware Issues (Keith Fangmeier) Scope or Level of Automation will define hardware requirements as Automation sophistication will most likely vary from onshore location to deepwater/platform location.

. Instrumentation - Surface (or wellhead if sub-sea)  Injection pressure  Production pressure  Injection rate  Injection temperature  Production temperature o Very important in sub-sea operations  Production rate o Determined with a test separator o Measured or estimated with instruments o Model to infer production o Water cut measurement  More on Instrumentation o What instrumentation is needed for each level of automation o “Punch list” of instrumentation issues to be considered o Quality – Accuracy o Data collection frequency – once per day, once per minute,1 Hz? o Data synchronization (time/date stamps) o PLC’s and/or RTU o Pressure & temperature ratings o Metallurgy o Availability and serviceability API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 13

o Location . Casing annulus—pressure/temperature . Both A and B annulus . Tubing-- pressure/temperature . Surface gas lift injection measurements per well, per subsea manifold . Subsea Manifolds/Wellhead/mud line . Caissons, pipe-in-pipe for TLP’s . Flowlines . Injection manifolds . Compressor outlets . Gas-lift distribution system branches o Method(s) to measure or estimate production on a continuous basis:  List different technologies that can be considered

- Downhole  DTS (temperature)  Fiber-optic DTS systems for temperature, pressure, stress, etc.  Electrical connection to pressure, injection rate, temperature  Surface controlled downhole gas-lift valve control (electric, hydraulic)  Surface controlled formation control (or isolation) valves  More on Downhole Instrumentation o Smart Wells  Does this include “closed loop” control of downhole valves?  Does this include control of sleeves, etc.? o DTS (distributed temperature system) o Downhole gauges –pressure/temperature/flow meter . Downhole gauge @ point of gas lift injection o Downhole chokes-flow control valves o Surface controlled gas lift valves—electric or hydraulic o Metallurgy

 Injection Control  Fixed chokes  Variable chokes  Automated control valves

 Production Control  Fixed chokes  Variable chokes  Automated control valves

 More on Injection and Production Control o Chokes—wellhead, flowline, manifolds, subsea distribution, mud line, risers API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 14

. Position or flow area indications . Chokes in unloading gas-lift valves (move to the section on gas-lift valves) o Valves—wellhead, flowline, mud line, injection manifolds (surface and/or subsea) . Functional time to operate . Status . Reliability . Automated or manually operated . Gas-lift valves (move to the section on gas-lift valves) o Safety valves  What is intended here? Sub-surface, surface on the trees, etc.  Should this be in a separate section?

 SCADA o DCS o Wellhead RTU’s

 Communication equipment and systems

5.3.2 Gas-Lift Automation Software Issues (Neil de Guzman, Larry Lafferty, Larry Peacock) The broad objective for gas lift automation software is to enable better management of gas lifted wells and fields, even by less skilled staff.

. Data storage and retention This section will describe acceptable practices for data storage and retention. - What data should be stored? o Well test data o Analog data (Casing pressure, tubing pressure, gas injection rate, tubing temperature, others) - How long should this data be stored? o Given the relatively low cost of disk space, I’d recommend indefinite storage. o High frequency data on the SDCADA system. o Lower frequency data in the data historian, stored forever. o Need to consider regulatory requirements, and/or company requirements. - What frequency of data is needed? - Need to store Operator comments. . Data access This section will describe practices for data access, focusing on industry standard approaches that ensure data integrity. - Direct database access using SQL or analogous protocols - Web service based access - Others TBD . Data transformation (quality, validation, smoothing, cleansing) Recognizing that oil field data may be “dirty”, this section describes API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 15

techniques for validating, smoothing, and cleansing data missing, out-of-limit, or conflicting data . Visualization What is the purpose for this section? In general, the visualization for an application should present data and results in a form which is consistent with an operator’s mental model of problem solving. In other words, the goal is to bring together in one application all the data a user requires for solving a problem rather than requiring the user to employ multiple applications. Show examples of types of plots, displays, etc. . Diagnostic software Diagnostic software is used for identifying problems in gas lifted wells and fields. For wells, the scope of diagnosis may include - Continuous gas lift - Intermittent gas lift - Dual gas-lift - Well unloading and shutdown - Data must be integrated into diagnostic and analysis software . Analysis software Analysis software is used for either (a) designing a gas lifted well or (b) performing detailed analysis of a gas lifted well’s performance at a level of detail deeper than that performed by a diagnostic application. . Allocation software Allocation software is used for allocating resources such as injection gas or water disposal capabilities at either an individual well or at a field level. . Optimization software What is the purpose for this section? Consider both functional and economic optimization. . Management software What is the purpose for this section? . Development of Key Performance Indicators

5.3.3 Gas-Lift Automation Applications (Cleon Dunham. Larry Peacock, John Green) This section will briefly discuss these special gas-lift applications and how gas-lift automation can be used to help implement them.  Continuous single string gas-lift  Continuous dual string gas-lift  Intermittent gas-lift  Plunger-assisted intermittent gas-lift  Auto gas-lift; use of gas from another zone in the same wellbore  Gas-lift of gas wells

5.3.4 Gas-Lift Database Applications (Rick Peters)  SCADA database applications API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 16

 Other database applications  Data storage – when, how much  Data retrieval – when, how, why

5.4 Gas-Lift Automation Issues

Author(s) Target Date Status 5.4.1 Cleon Dunham Drafted Section drafted. 5.4.2 Cleon Dunham, Drafted Section drafted. Larry Peacock 5.4.3 Cleon Dunham, Drafted Section drafted. Larry Peacock

5.4.1 Gas-Lift Automation People/Staffing Issues (Cleon Dunham) This section will briefly discuss these special gas-lift staff functions and how they need to be involved with gas-lift systems to make them effective.  Gas-lift work flow process  Gas-lift management  Gas-lift engineers  Gas-lift well analysts  Gas-lift operators  Gas-lift technicians  Gas-lift software staff  Gas-lift service company staff’  Gas-lift consultants  Others

5.4.2 Training Required for Gas-Lift Automaton (Cleon Dunham, Larry Peacock) This section will briefly discuss the levels of training that are required to make gas-lift automation systems become and remain effective.  Training levels - Aware level - Knowledgeable level - Skilled level

5.4.3 Training Methods for Gas-Lift Automaton (Cleon Dunham, Larry Peacock) This section will briefly discuss these gas-lift training methods that are available to make gas-lift automation systems become and remain effective.  Gas-lift automation courses  Gas-lift mentors  One-on-one training  On-line “help” systems API RP 19G12 Gas-Lift Automation Page 17

 On-line training  Computer-based training

5.5 Gas-Lift Automation Case Histories

Author(s) Target Date Status 5.5.1 Grant Dornan Oct. 1, 10 Outline to be completed. 5.5.2 Grant Dornan, Oct. 1, 10 Outline to be completed. Stan Groff

5.5.1 Case Histories – Successful Gas-Lift Automation Systems (Grant Dorman)  Examples of successful gas-lift automation systems  What worked well  Why it was successful  The advantages and benefit achieved

5.5.2 Case Histories – Unsuccessful Gas-Lift Automation Systems (Grant Dorman, Stan Groff)  Examples of unsuccessful gas-lift automation systems  What didn’t work well  Why it didn’t work well  The problems and losses that resulted  What was learned

6. Annexes

7. Bibliography