LIMS Integration for Hydrocarbon Processing and LNG Plants
LIMS Integration for Hydrocarbon Processing and LNG Plants
By Kevin Smith, director of sales, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Colin Thurston, director of product strategy, process industries, informatics, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Introduction
The Natural Gas Market Review 2008 published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasted that global demand for natural gas will continue to grow at a fast pace, with liquefied natural gas (LNG) exhibiting a dramatic increase of output1. The latest Oil Market Report of IEA, published in August 2008, reveals that global oil product demand for 2008 was 86.9 mb/d (+0.9% versus 2007) and is expected to reach 87.8 mb/d in 2009 (+1.1% versus 2008)2. The upstream stages of exploration and characterization of oil and gas play a crucial role towards timely production, allowing for global petrochemical companies to address increasing demand.
This article discusses the challenges facing the oil and gas processing industry and stresses the necessity for LIMS deployment. It also details the main benefits resulting from LIMS integration in the oil and gas exploration and characterization stages and provides a real-life application example to further demonstrate the benefits.
Hydrocarbon Processing Challenges
The upstream stages of exploration and characterization of hydrocarbons, both for crude oil and natural gas, pose a number of important challenges. Being a complex and time-consuming procedure, exploration is closely associated with uncertainty and trial-and-error simply because it involves searching for something that is sourced from thousands of feet below ground3. Additionally, characterization of hydrocarbons is a critical process since it defines product quality and helps to specify the type and uses of the extracted oil or gas. Identifying the constituent components is a procedure that involves multiple measurements to ensure accuracy and precision of results.
It is common practice for petrochemical companies to send their extracted oil or gas for testing to small remote laboratories, often located hundreds of miles away from the exploration point due to harsh conditions. Once processed, analytical results then need to be sent back to a large central laboratory for further processing and storage. Speed of data transfer and communication is of utmost importance as it influences the business decision process and impacts production. For example, the analytical results can determine whether a facility should stop or modify the extraction and processing of sub-standard quality oil or gas and the quicker that instruction can be given, the less cost incurred.
Various techniques are used to conduct oil and gas analysis, with gas chromatography being the most prevalent. Given the many technological advancements, each laboratory operator is required to be updated on new analytical methods and companies must keep detailed records to prove the continuity of training.
Processing of LNG is associated with important challenges relating to the very nature of this product. LNG is produced when cooling natural gas to about -260°F at normal pressure. This is normally done to simplify transportation since LNG takes up about one six hundredth the volume of gaseous natural gas4. However, LNG shipments hold the inherent risk of explosion in cases of cooling systems failures. This necessitates detailed record keeping from the moment of storage to the point of arrival to be able to define any flaw in the process.
Many oill and gas exploration and production companies are required by their customers to comply with the strict ISO/IEC 17025:20055 general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. This standard specifies the general requirements related to testing and calibration performed using standard methods, non-standard methods and laboratory-developed methods. It is applicable to first-, second- and third-party laboratories as well as laboratories where testing and/or calibration forms part of inspection and product certification. ISO 17025 is used by laboratories in developing their management system for quality, administrative and technical operations and extends the requirements of ISO 9000 to the laboratory environment. Laboratory customers, regulatory authorities and accreditation bodies may also refer to ISO guidelines in confirming or recognizing the competence of laboratories.
The LIMS operates as a centralized system to access and extract information, allowing for more efficient management of laboratory operations while also providing evidence and documentation that organizations are in compliance with the ISO standards. Allowing ready access to all incidents, corrective actions, non-conforming results and other events, the LIMS enables easier and more efficient control of laboratory quality procedures. Through LIMS implementation, monitoring of key areas of the laboratory can be scheduled on a routine basis, a critical component of compliance with ISO. Batch management functionality provides analytical QA/QC support, including automatic and interactive sample assignment according to pre-defined templates. Instrument calibration scheduling functionality prevents the use of any instrument that is past its calibration due date. To comply with ISO 17025 reporting requirements, the fully featured LIMS include powerful and flexible report writing capability, making it possible to deliver any report format required by the laboratory.
LIMS in hydrocarbon processing and LNG plants
The methodologies used in the management of laboratory data at modern oil and gas companies includes a wide spectrum of efficient and inefficient possibilities. Some laboratories still execute manual data management and record keeping in order to address the challenges described above. In this example, the majority of calculations are performed manually and subsequent analytical results are manually transcribed into laboratory notebooks and/or pre-printed worksheet templates. Laboratory staff then transcribe and manually type the final reports. However, as companies expand their production capabilities and thus their amount of analytical testing and record keeping, this entire manual procedure is time-consuming as data still has to be checked and authorised, prone to transcription errors and not least generates piles of paper on a daily basis.
In these circumstances, a laboratory information management system (LIMS) will optimize efficiency, facilitate improved and effective communication across the organization and with other information systems in place and avoid duplication of efforts. A LIMS will remove all or at least the majority of notebooks and associated paper trail, increase integrity of data by reducing the incidence of human error, improve access to information generated by laboratory instruments as well as providing the ability to access data trends.
Oil and gas companies utilize mission-critical systems to monitor and control production processes on a 24/7 basis, including Process Information Management Systems (PIMS), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. As a consequence, companies end up with many separate islands of information, resulting in inefficient data management and decision-making. A LIMS deployment delivers greater flexibility and the ability to serve as an integration platform capable of supporting data exchange between key enterprise processes and systems.
LIMS Integration
In a fully integrated application, an oil and gas company will use LIMS to integrate with PIMS, MES and ERP systems as well as various types of analytical instrumentation, enabling true data consolidation in a central repository and immediate feedback on sample deviations for faster, real-time and data-driven decision-making. In this type of operation, processes are standardized and immediate data flow is facilitated across multiple laboratories, process plants and management centres throughout the entire organization. As a result, it is possible to identify trends and monitor product quality more quickly and effortlessly, dramatically advancing the quality control process. Problems are spotted and solved faster and can be even anticipated before they occur.
A purpose-built and fully configurable LIMS solution provides enhanced functionality and unrivalled flexibility to be able to adapt and support multiple implementations within the petrochemical industry. In addition, integrated, enterprise-wide LIMS deployments minimize paper records and manual entry of testing parameters and sample requests, greatly reducing duplicate and redundant data and virtually eliminating transcription errors. Data quality and reporting is improved and can be delivered in a more timely manner. Overall production efficiency is considerably enhanced, all while maintaining the highest quality standards.
The full integration of LIMS with other enterprise systems also delivers the added benefit of helping to reduce total cost of ownership of the LIMS solution. By centralizing and consolidating information technology, technical support personnel need only be trained on a single, enterprise LIMS solution. An organization-wide deployment can also help reduce downtime at individual locations no longer reliant on stand-alone systems, and therefore can help increase productivity, thus contributing to lowering costs even further. In addition, standardization streamlines vendor relationships and improves purchasing power.
Application example –
Sakhalin Energy is bringing onstream one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world in Russia’s Far East. The Sakhalin II Project combines partnership incorporating the recovery, production and transportation of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Sakhalin Energy standardized on Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS™ (Laboratory Information Management System) for use in its main laboratory located at its LNG plant/oil export terminal (OET), as well as in upstream satellite laboratories across Sakhalin Energy.
In order to provide a real-time round the clock analytical regime, an ultra-modern laboratory was commissioned to be located at the LNG plant / OETl. This new central laboratory is also supported by upstream satellite laboratories. In 2007, the state-of-the-art LNG/OET laboratory successfully passed certification tests to the requirements of Gosstandart and the international ISO 17025 standard.
Laboratory specialists are now analyzing samples of oil, gas, chemicals and wastewater from the LNG/OET site. In addition, the laboratory will be used to analyze, as required, samples brought from the onshore processing facility (OPF) as well as managing non-routine samples.
The decision to invest in a new LIMS to manage the sampling process from upstream through to sample report was imperative for Sakhalin Energy’s new laboratory. Sunil Pandya, the Head of Laboratory for Sakhalin Energy, explains, “Our laboratory has well-defined procedures for essential quality control work, for scheduling samples, to manage resources and reporting on samples. To manage the workload and integrate with the instrumentation, we selected Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS for the laboratory. SampleManager is the most widely used LIMS for oil and gas industry and it is implemented in our main laboratory; in the upstream satellite laboratories as well as for data management of environmental monitoring throughout Sakhalin Energy operations.”
The laboratory provides analytical services to the LNG/OET facilities. It generates analytical reference data for products quality and custody transfer invoicing, calibration of on-line process analysers, plant performance, equipment condition and environmental monitoring. It also provides expert advice on LNG and crude oil Sales Purchase Agreements (SPA’s) and plant troubleshooting, as well as ad-hoc laboratory services to other Sakhalin Energy assets (OPF, pipelines, offshore platforms).The new LNG/OET laboratory handles the samples coming from upstream operations, through the LNG plant and the final products.
Any data required by the business is automatically available from the LIMS with sophisticated automatic data transfer. The LIMS is used to interface seamlessly with critical IT systems including Sakhalin Energy’s corporate Energy Components package and process information (PI) system for efficient reporting and documentation support.
Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS was selected by Sakhalin Energy because of its pedigree in this industry. A proven system that works in the rugged demanding environs of the oil and gas industries, SampleManager LIMS is used in many organizations needing to demonstrate regulatory compliance while ensuring optimum product quality.
The Sakhalin Energy facility handles the entire process from extraction through to issuing SOPs and Certificates of Quality with all samples tracking managed from within the SampleManager system. The laboratory has to operate according to GLP/OECD guidelines and uses SampleManager to demonstrate its procedural conformity. Sakhalin Energy staff use SampleManager LIMS 24/7 to help manage the data from the thousands of samples that are required throughout the sampling stages on Sakhalin Island. Some instruments are planned to be connected into the LIMS so that reports can be accessed centrally and instruments can be scheduled for calibration etc from within the LIMS The data from the facility’s state-of-the-art equipment, including all instrumentation, is all directly transferred into the LIMS . SampleManager is tasked with storing and tracking data processed in the laboratory. The LIMS is also used for data trending and analysis, to identify when product is moving out of specification.
Sunil Pandya explains “SampleManager was selected due to its proven performance within the Shell group of companies and in this industry. Our laboratories have been designed from the ground up to support this site – this project represents the new frontier in oil and gas development and our laboratory needed a LIMS that was proven to be reliable in this environment and dependable for the future of the project.”
Conclusion
Global petrochemical companies are required to maximize productivity, minimize costs, accelerate time-to-market and adhere to strict regulatory requirements, all while operating on a continuous 24/7 basis within an increasingly competitive market. Standardizing on a LIMS solution plays a key role in addressing these challenges. Achieving seamless integration with existing PIMS, MES and ERP systems as well as analytical instrumentation, LIMS serves as a central data repository, allowing for real-time data flow across the organization and facilitating faster, data-driven decision-making. Manual work is eliminated, improving data quality. LIMS also contributes towards a substantial reduction of total cost of ownership while enabling full compliance with the requirements of ISO 17025 The world’s leading provider of LIMS to the petrochemical industry, Thermo Fisher Scientific developed the proven enterprise-wide, multi-laboratory SampleManager LIMS to become the corporate standard at leading organizations. The system is scalable for a large user base and is available in multiple languages. It is flexible and configurable to accommodate various workflows, laboratory types and user communities across the enterprise. SampleManager LIMS integrates easily with other applications and instruments in and out of the laboratory, providing one standard user-interface and helping companies enforce process standardization across multiple laboratories.
References
1. International Energy Agency (IEA) website, News and Events, Press Releases, http://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=269
2. International Energy Agency (IEA) website, Oil Market Report, Free Public Access Site, http://omrpublic.iea.org/currentissues/full.pdf
3. Natural Gas Organization website, Natural Gas – From Wellhead to Burner Tip, Exploration, http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/exploration.asp
4. Natural Gas Organization website, Focus on LNG, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), http://www.naturalgas.org/lng/lng.asp
5. International Organization for Standardization website, Products, ISO Standards, By TC, CASCO Committee On Conformity Assessment, ISO/IEC 17025:2005, http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=39883
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