Emerson’s Madhav Kasture shared a case study on how the project team managed and executed a fast track automation project. His abstract:
Fast track project schedule for BP Rumaila Iraq was PO to delivery in 16 weeks for 2 DCS systems and blast proof HVAC containers with UPS. Solution included modular design of pre-fabricated buildings for quick installation and commissioning. Cable scheduling was initially unavailable, so DeltaV CHARMs for all I/O to provided cable and design change flexibility. The project included a medium fidelity OTS for scenario testing and abnormal situation handling training. This project has laid the automation infrastructure foundation for future expansion at various Rumaila sites.
Madhav began his presentation by the background of the Rumaila oil field, which is one of the largest onshore oil fields in the world.
Prior to this project, there were no control systems in the entire oil field. The entire project from purchase order to delivery to site was 16 weeks. The scope included entire control room building, 2 automation systems almost 1000 I/O in size, field devices and FieldVue DCS digital valve controllers. The Emerson project team worked directly with the oil producer without an EPC involved in the project.
A key part of the project was a medium fidelity operator training system (OTS) to get the operators familiar with the DeltaV system and production process early in this 16 week schedule. CHARMS were also a key part to handle the project changes up to the last minute before delivery of the system.
The architectural approach was to freeze the architecture on the first day to use CHARMS and not have safety systems as part of the scope. Space was left to add the safety system over time. Embedded AMS Device Manager and PI Enterprise Data Historian to connect to the DeltaV Historian were part of the architecture.
For project management, proactive early engagement for the Rosemount flow, level, temperature, and pressure between the oil producer’s process engineers and Rosemount engineers. The project team was located in 4 areas–Iraq, Dubai, U.K., and India. Frequent team communications and interaction with the oil producer’s project team was critical. A Strategic Project Leadership (SPL) process was used where the team was trained up front to learn and follow the process.
Madhav summarized that the team delivered the containerized DCS in 16 weeks with seamless integration with the Rosemount devices, DVCs, control systems, and accessories. DCS powerup, loop check and function check took 3 weeks on site. Much of this was attributed to the early OTS development and training to identify issues early and make corrections. The teamwork to make this happen was amazing. Madhav mentioned a Youtube video about the project which I found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sBwmdKBkbo