Core has completed a 12-month project to improve the performance of the alarm system on a large North Sea production complex on behalf of a global energy company.
Core has recently completed an 18 month alarm rationalisation and prioritisation project covering 10 assets for a US based client.
All operators generally have maintenance/service contracts in place for the main automation system and larger rotating equipment. However, for the larger equipment packages, the focus is more on the mechanical equipment rather than the controls and the smaller packages generally have no maintenance contracts in place at all.
Our client provides and operates a fleet of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessels for numerous oil and gas production companies across the globe. The scope of the project was primarily to review all trip functions on the Water Injection system.
Core has been asked to provide the technical lead for the upgrade of an ABB ICSS system covering a main platform and 4 wellhead platforms.
A two-well subsea tieback to an existing Central North Sea Installation has recently been commissioned and started up in 4th Qtr 2020. The project had challenges due to the gas of the tieback being richer than the gas process on the host installation. This caused several control system challenges which had to be addressed. Core was involved in addressing some of the more complicated control challenges and was also involved in the start-up phase.
Core have been undertaking a review of the alarm management systems employed across ten Gulf of Mexico oil platforms with the intention of standardising the alarm systems, hierarchies and prioritisation rationales.
Core were asked to supply and install updated Honeywell CCC® Performance and Antisurge controllers to replace an existing system that was obsolete and in poor repair.
A key North Sea operator was looking to upgrade a problematic and obsolete control system on one of its platform generators. The generator was driven by a Rolls-Royce Avon 200 gas turbine and a EAS1-35 GEC power turbine. The Generator which has been in service since 1978 provides base load and supplies the power for the main gas lift and export compressor.
The original ESD system on the offshore installation was supplied by Wormald in 1993. An obsolescence status review had determined that spare parts for the system were no longer available and support of the system in its present form was no longer available from the OEM.
Core used its extensive global experience in brownfield and mature assets to enhance uptime, meet regulatory requirements and improve production rates by providing control system changes to mitigate against the effect of issues with slugging, compressor performance, gas lift, water injection and produced water quality.
Lynemouth Power Station (LPL) has generated electricity from coal since 1972 with a capacity of 420MW. The plant was originally built, owned and operated by Alcan with the purpose of providing safe and secure energy for the production of aluminium at the adjacent Lynemouth Smelter.
The primary function of an alarm is to alert an operator to an abnormal situation requiring a timely response to prevent further escalation of the condition.
The alarm system is a safety barrier, which not only provides a layer of protection for personnel and the environment but also helps improve production availability through the early identification of a potentially more significant equipment failure or process upset.