Remote Environmental Monitoring: Applied to Oil & Gas, Mining, and Other Sites

Remote Environmental Monitoring: Applied to Oil & Gas, Mining, and Other Sites

Remote environmental monitoring is technologically and economical feasible as a means to prevent and mitigate public health threats and environmental degradation. Remote environmental monitoring can include remote water quality monitoring, remote air quality monitoring, remote weather monitoring, and remote monitoring of methane emissions, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at oil & gas sites and facilities. So-called Remote Sensing has long been applied to environmental and energy applications. Typically remote sensing involves the collection of electronic data from places that are difficult to physically access or impractical to physically access continuously. An unmanned Mars missions could be seen as a form of remote sensing, for instance. Imaging subsurface environments is another form. Remote environmental monitoring is different in that there is generally a mixture of direct measurement and some remotely sensed parameters. Our extensive use of orbital satellites to send and receive data of many sorts is an indication of our ability to effectively utilize remote technology. Remote environmental monitoring requires sensors to record data and transmitters to send it.

Drilling site remote monitoring of well parameters during drilling is quite routine and gives interpreters and decision-makers direct and usually continuous access to real-time well data. Engineers, geologists, drillers, and geosteerers can tweak the well remotely. Typically many wellsite parameters are tied into a wellsite information system that records those parameters continuously through time. These WITSML systems can be very useful during and after drilling a well to directly compare parameters in graphic form. Sometimes hidden relationships can be found. These WITSML systems are vital to modern horizontal wells. Many variables are routinely monitored including WOB, ROP, lagged gas readings, hook loads, MWD gamma, RPM, pump rates and volumes, mud data, pressures, torque and drag, and several more. Pason has a live rig view phone app where all these parameters can be tracked. Incidentally, many of these functions of drilling and producing wells require downhole sensing and transmitting of pertinent data.
  

Another important application in the oil and gas industry is in the automation of production equipment. Worthington Industries calls this remote asset management. Gas Production Units (GPUs) and all their components can be outfitted with factory-installed settings for plug-n-play type capabilities, with automatic shutdown and continuous monitoring of parameters such as pressure, temperature, fluid levels, and liquid flow.

Artificial lift and pumping of well fluids can be managed, apparently quite well, with automated systems, with better reaction times to situations that can affect personnel safety and so that personnel can optimize their overall effectiveness. New automated smart production monitoring systems can result in more efficient operations, reduced downtime, and lower costs. Pumping time can be reduced overall and optimized. Such systems can also generate massive amounts of useful data that can be analyzed with both analysis software and experienced production engineers to make further improvements. Pumping rates can be adjusted to match fluid flow conditions to maximize well production of hydrocarbons. Damaging or potentially hazardous downhole conditions can be recognized and mitigated much faster via these automated systems. Various downhole sensors of well conditions can be utilized as well. Fiber optic conveyed sensors are a good option for long life.
  

Remote monitoring is common in many industries. Health, medicine and food industries utilize remote temperature monitoring. Seismic monitoring to detect earthquakes is often a form of remote monitoring. I even read recently that cell phone accelerometers can be used through an app to detect earthquakes and possibilities for tsunamis. Basically, as long as an instrument is properly calibrated and can read accurately and there is a power source (often solar panels) and an internet connection (often cellular or satellite) then remote monitoring can happen. Many of these installations could be seen as part of the Internet of Things (IOT). Alarms and notification protocols can inform those who monitor the remote monitors when necessary. Smart grid technology also utilizes remote monitoring, turning selected devices on or off and adjusting thermostats in response to energy prices in order to balance supply and demand and save money during peaks of high demand and corresponding high prices.  These home temperature monitoring systems that connect to the internet and allow people to remotely turn on and off furnaces and air conditioning are useful forms of remote monitoring. These smart technologies can increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, and save money for their customers. Automated control systems are utilized in many areas for better overall control. Such devices are slated to be a key feature of “demand response,” which will likely be a key feature of the upcoming “smart grid.” They can potentially save money for ratepayers, but also for utilities by dampening power spikes that would otherwise require extra energy sources to be built and used only for peak demand times. Many medical devices provide continuous remote monitoring of health parameters from heart rate patterns to sleep apnea to pedometers to pacemakers. Automation is drastically increasing energy efficiency in manufacturing as well. Applications of remote monitoring no doubt occur in many other situations and industries.

Continuous remote air emissions monitoring is now common in many areas so that baseline air emissions data over long time periods can be established over bigger geographical areas and new emissions of significance can be detected when they occur. This may become the norm as air emissions from oil & gas sites are scrutinized and regulated more closely. Remote air emissions monitoring is applicable to assessing and monitoring emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which contribute to ground level ozone and for assessing and monitoring methane emissions from oil and gas facilities which is currently getting much scrutiny.

Light Tower Rentals provides different sized natural gas generators to power oil and gas field activity which they monitor remotely through their LTR PowerTrack asset management tool, “an intuitive remote monitoring system which produces real time alerts and reports to mitigate downtime and assist with required regulatory reporting.”

Another important focus for remote monitoring is leak detection from tanks and pipes. This can be a vital part of leak detection and repair (LDAR) systems. Tank liquid levels are typically remotely monitored and equipped with automatic shutdown features, especially in well production where liquids are produced by the well. Such systems may be set up and monitored “in-house” or perhaps better, they may be handled by companies that specialize in leak detection monitoring. Refineries, midstream oil and gas companies, and proactive upstream oil and gas companies are using LDAR to quantify and minimize their leaks which also minimizes risks and improves their reputations as after leaks are detected and repaired they can report leakage rates below or well below compliance. Another remotely monitored LDAR application is the use of drones for leak detection in hard to reach areas. The drones may be outfitted with infrared cameras which can detect leaks although other methods than infrared are better at quantifying leaks. Drones are also being used successfully for mapping and surveying. Drones are also being used to safely map volumetrics of areas worked in quarries. No doubt there will be more useful applications of drones in remote monitoring.

Mining applications for remote monitoring include water quality changes for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) discharges and impoundments and coal ash slurry monitoring. Changes in the parameters of these types of waste facilities due to weather, biological, or chemical activity can lead to serious environmental issues and so should be continuously monitored if possible. Air quality issues in mines can also no doubt lead to better safety through effective remote monitoring.

In surface water hydrology applications, remote monitoring can detect events that change turbidity and events that change nutrient load, both of which can lead to detrimental effects on water quality.

Remote environmental monitoring is also used to predict and detect wildfires. Forest Technology Systems (FTS), Inc. provides Remote Automated Weather Stations for this purpose as well as for other meteorological data monitoring.

Continuous real-time monitoring of water and air quality offers many advantages over conventional sampling. Response-time to events can be increased drastically. Subtle quality changes can be detected and lead to better understanding of overall cause and effect relationships. Impact monitoring of specific contamination events can be more continuous.

Pipelines utilize “pigs” that are essentially remote-control devices that go into the pipelines to assess corrosion, metal integrity, and joint integrity issues. Energy distribution companies are now utilizing a type of small remote control device in the very old cast-iron pipe that is ubiquitous in many older Eastern and Midwestern cities such as Boston and Detroit in order to repair the potentially leaking joints which are explosion risks. The technique is most applicable to medium and large diameter cast-iron mains which are more durable except for the joints. The cast-iron pipe of these mains is typically in good shape but there are serious leaks at many of the joints. It is also very expensive and disruptive to dig up and replace the pipes and this offers a way to repair the leaks faster and to repair more overall leaks sooner. ULC Robotics utilizes a number of robotic pipe inspection crawlers to repair leaking joints. 

Remote environmental monitoring also comes in tandem with continuous data collection and when such data is analyzed it can lead to better and more timely prediction of problems, cost-savings, efficiency improvements, and better overall asset management. Thus remote environmental monitoring when combined with effective data analysis can lead to optimization of both resources and assets. 
  

References:

Remote Gas Well Monitoring Technology Applied to Marcellus Shale Site – U.S. Dept of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy, posted at energy.gov, Feb. 10, 2012

Environmental Monitoring – brochure – by Aridea Solutions (www.aridea.com)
  

Natural Gas Vital to the Future of Reliable, Independent Energy Mix – posted at Marcellus.com, Feb 4, 2016

Remote Control – by Jost Berg, SGB, GmbH, Germany, in Hydrocarbon Engineering, Vol. 21 No. 1, pgs. 33-36, January 2016

Gas Utility Technology Update: Northeast Gas Association, 2013 Fall Conference – by ULC Robotics

Forest Technology Systems (website) – ftsinc.com

Remote Environmental Monitoring – in Tyndall National Institute (tyndall.ie)

Remote Sensing and Environmental Monitoring – by P.M. Mather, School of Geography, The University of Nottingham, U.K., in Geoinformatics, Vol.1

Worthington Industries – brochure – Equipment Solutions for the Oil & Gas Industry – Automated Solutions for Optimal Production

Smart Power: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, & the Future of Electric Utilities – Anniversary Edition  - by Peter Fox-Penner (Island Press, 2010, 2014)

The Case for Intelligent Artificial Lift: Automation and Real-Time Analysis Can Improve Personnel Safety and Reduce Costs – by Bill Line, in Upstream Pumping (upstreampumping.com)