A Common Approach to Accessing Real-Time Operations Data: Introducing Service-Oriented Architecture to E&P
Radmilo Gregovic, Rusty Foreman, Dean Forrester, Jeremiah Carroll · 2005
A Common Approach to Accessing Real-Time Operations Data-Introducing Service-Oriented Architecture to E&P Radmilo Gregovic; Radmilo Gregovic BP Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Rusty Foreman; Rusty Foreman BP Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Dean Forrester; Dean Forrester SAIC Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Jeremiah Carroll Jeremiah Carroll SAIC Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, October 2005. Paper Number: SPE-96441-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/96441-MS Published: October 09 2005 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Gregovic, Radmilo, Foreman, Rusty, Forrester, Dean, and Jeremiah Carroll. "A Common Approach to Accessing Real-Time Operations Data-Introducing Service-Oriented Architecture to E&P." Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, October 2005. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/96441-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition Search Advanced Search AbstractDue to the high degree of diversity in which real-time operations and production data is stored and distributed within BP—indeed, within almost any large oil company today—E&P professionals who carry out similar activities in different assets or business units must access data in distinctly different ways. Therefore, any attempt to implement a "standard" application requires IT personnel to have intimate knowledge of the underlying data sources within every asset. Scale up and rapid adoption across multiple assets of either new or proven digital technologies is extremely difficult as well, due to disparate IT architectures.The challenges and complexities caused by lack of standardization have fostered rampant development of local, costly, and time-consuming "point solutions"—typically "hard-wired" point-to-point connections between each data source and each application, whether proprietary or commercial. This familiar approach to integration seriously compromises the organization's technical flexibility in the face of ongoing business changes. As a result, business units within BP have increasingly requested standardized digital solutions that would enable seamless data flow among different classes of E&P applications and business processes.The Real-Time Architecture Project (RTAP), initiated in 2003, now provides a common approach for all assets to access real-time production operations data. It is built around a simple connection technology capable of integrating a wide range of tools such as production reporting, real-time visualization and active alerting with new or existing data sources of many kinds. RTAP utilizes "Web Service" technologies, which create highly flexible interfaces based on established and emerging Internet standards.BP's ultimate goal is to implement a common, standards-based architecture for data access and integration, replacing the large number of custom, proprietary interfaces currently in use. Since launching RTAP two years ago, significant progress has been made toward this goal, with the intent of expanding the current implementation to a next-generation "Service Oriented Architecture" (SOA) in the near future. This paper provides a review of the RTAP project's origins and development efforts, BP's rationale for this approach, a high-level, non-technical description of the solution, an overview of associated business benefits, and a case study validating the approach. The potential for Service Oriented Architectures in E&P—which represent a paradigm shift in how IT is developed and deployed—and the need for industry standards in this exciting new area, will also be discussed.Rationale for the RTAP InitiativeLike many global oil and gas companies, BP has been aggressively pursuing ways of accessing, analyzing and acting more rapidly on digital information in order to manage producing assets around the world more efficiently and cost-effectively. To capture "real-time" or "high frequency" data from the field, many assets have installed a variety of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and other automated production/operations monitoring systems over the years. Typically, these systems gather well or facilities data through electronic meters or gauges, transmit those data via satellite, microwave or fiber optics to remote servers and "data historians," which are subsequently linked via standard wide area networks to users with advanced analysis, visualization and process control tools (Figure 1). Real-time data volumes can be enormous. For example, a typical production platform with 25 to 30 wells could generate tens of thousands of real-time data points of interest—wellhead pressures, temperatures, well test information, choke valve settings, compressor readings, flare meters, tank depth levels, and so on. Some assets update real-time information every 15 seconds; others every 15 minutes, depending on the need. Those lacking real-time access have to rely on information that may be up to 24 hours old, which hinders efficient asset surveillance and timely intervention when problems arise. Keywords: service interface, architecture, real-time operation data, operation data, rtap initiative, information, integration, interface, business unit, flexibility Subjects: Information Management and Systems This content is only available via PDF. 2005. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.