Ask the Expert: Charlotte Skourup

Industrial robots have been an important technology enabler in achieving increased productivity and efficiency in many industries,

Within the oil and gas industry, robots have been used in very specific niche applications where the main driver has been safety, but this trend is now changing. Oil and gas companies have started to explore broader applications where robots may also have a positive impact on productivity and efficiency. One such application is the remote operation of oil and gas fields, particularly those in hazardous environments.

Picture this

An orange robot moves around the process site and performs a combination of routine inspections and replaces a safety valve. This robot works alongside two others. All three are supervised by a human operator located hundreds of miles away in the control centre. The human supervisor has defined the maintenance tasks in response to a condition-based monitoring report generated by the automation system.

With overall responsibility for safety, the operator instructs the automation system to reschedule the subtasks. Using the 3-D camera mounted on one of the robots, the operator inspects the machinery and identifies further components that require removal and replacement. Although this scene is set some time in the future, it is not far from reality. Some aspects of it are already happening in space and deep beneath the oceans. The scenario shows how robotics technology could be taken a step further and moved into oil and gas facilities to improve HSE and increase productivity.

Robotics in oil and gas

The use of robots in the oil and gas industry has been limited. The industry has generally only automated processes that are either difficult or impossible for people to perform, or that would dramatically improve HSE issues.

Examples of such applications are found in subsea facilities and pipeline inspections, in the automation of drilling operations, well tractors and in special inspection applications. Very often, the industry has experienced a negative impact on productivity with automation, running counter to the general goal of automation. This trend, however, is now changing.

The oil and gas extraction processes are generally dangerous and risky. Off- shore facilities operate in rough seas and all kinds of weather conditions. In addition, hazardous environments are encountered, for example, those with high concentrations of dangerous gases, such as H2S. Robot use in such environments has the potential to reduce human exposure to hazards.

With greater demands for energy and the increasing difficulty experienced by the industry to extract oil and gas economically, it is clear that the oil and gas industry will have to change its strategy, especially if it is to successfully extract tail-end production from existing sites and exploit the smaller more marginal oil and gas fields of the future.

Challenges

Although robotics technology has already been proven in other industries, it must be applied and adapted to the specific applications of the oil and gas industry. These applications are typically carried out in extreme environments and are often located far away, requiring remote operation. There are also system integration issues with a prerequisite for full data access and availability. The roles of the robot will, therefore, change from the more conventional single repetitive, yet continuous task, often encountered on a production line, to the execution of a number of different tasks, each requiring flawless performance.

Oil and gas installations impose different demands on the design and requirements of the robot. The robot will have to be explosion-proof approved, in addition to being resistant to harsh weather conditions.

Offshore robots will have to tolerate extreme temperatures, extreme winds, exposure to salt water and even exposure to snow and ice. Onshore robots will have to tolerate sandstorms, direct sunlight, rain and humidity, extreme temperatures and exposure to different poisonous gases.

Robot testing

Currently, three ABB robots communicate daily to perform inspection tasks on a “working” process module in an ABB facility in Oslo. Either the control system or the operator initiates tasks for the robots. The (remotely located) expert uses a 3-D process model to interface with the robots, defining and initiating tasks, and receiving feedback.

The robots act as the operator’s extended “eyes, ears and hands” in the process to maintain presence and awareness of the status of the process infrastructure. The focus has been to build and configure a highly advanced working facility for remote inspection. The system is further configured to handle maintenance tasks, such as to open and close a valve or replace wireless sensors.

The lab is a part of a larger research project conducted in collaboration with StatoilHydro to integrate remote automated operations. The main lab comprises three robots and a “working” process module.

The future

Oil and gas facilities have huge potential to increase productivity, a significant part of which will result from the use of robotics-based automation. In addition to productivity and efficiency gains, robots used for high-risk tasks will also lead to improvements in HSE. The robot will therefore require features that extend the “eyes, ears and hands” of the human decision-makers as they carry out inspections and maintenance operations on the process infrastructure.

The new role of the oil and gas facility operator will be to supervise and instruct the robots and to make operational decisions. The robotised facilities will allow marginal, remotely located fields to be cost effective for oil and gas production. The greatest gains will come when the robotics systems are fully integrated with the automation system, providing a tool for decision-makers that is aligned with the IO concept.