Cisco Helps Oil and Gas Industry Integrate Process Control and Enterprise Systems over IP

May 19, 2005

By Jason Deign, News@Cisco

Could IP fuel the next wave of technical developments in the oil and gas industries? This is the question being posed by Cisco Systems® and its energy sector customers following progress in the integration of IP-based management platforms and non-IP process control systems.

Like many traditional chemical and engineering procedures, oil and gas exploration, production and processing relies heavily on mechanical checks and controls that are a world away from the complex software systems used to run the business.

The reason for this is simple. While enterprise management systems can survive the odd software bug or virus attack, any failure in the process control network, from the overheating of a pump to the breaking of a valve, can have catastrophic effects and even claim lives.

In addition, the security features of enterprise management systems are often at odds with those of process control.

With the former, for example, it would make perfect sense to lock out a user that failed a password test. In the latter, locking out the potential for human override could be a safety threat.

As a result, engineers have traditionally resisted moves to introduce undue complexity into process control networks, sticking instead with simple, often hardware-based methods for monitoring the status of a given process.

While this has ensured that work environments can remain relatively safe, it has drawbacks from both a business and a process engineering perspective.

Specifically, compared to other types of organization, oil and gas companies (and other chemical and engineering firms) are less flexible and responsive, taking longer to adapt to changing circumstances because of the difficulty in integrating operational data into enterprise management systems.

This problem is acute in the oil and gas industries because the value of their products can fluctuate widely in the space of a few days or even hours. An inability to respond rapidly to changing market conditions means companies in the sector risk missing out on opportunities.

Thankfully, however, this could all be about to change. Cisco, working with industry specialists such as OSIsoft and WiredCity, has been looking at ways in which its Intelligent Information Network concept could be used to help the sector.

The result is a blueprint that not only allows IP systems to be integrated into the process control functions of the business without compromising safety and security, but which creates a host of benefits in addition to improving flexibility and responsiveness.

Together they have created an industrial data center solution that sits between the enterprise data network and the process control network (PCN).

This secures the PCN from rogue worms, viruses, applications and devices while simultaneously collecting data from the PCN and device network and passing this data up into enterprise systems applications, enabling better business decisions.

Features of the Cisco 'oil field of the future' concept include:

• Maximized effectiveness of seismic analysis, using optical networks on the sea bed to enhance companies' ability to manage data and make better exploration and prospecting decisions during production and extraction.
• Enhanced production capabilities, based on a real-time infrastructure for monitoring and managing manufacturing operations. The platform gathers, processes and delivers data from almost any source to almost any destination.
• Offshore data center applications, combining satellite communications with IP to carry voice, video and data on the same network, optimizing the available bandwidth to ensure business continuity and reliable availability of information and applications across an entire enterprise.
• Simplified application management, removing the need for a qualified engineer to visit the site in person and allowing the applications at the corporate centre to be made available at remote sites, with no diminution of the quality of service, reliability or, critically, security.
• One converged, secure network to handle all applications as well as voice, video and data. IP is open and standards-based meaning that new applications and devices can be introduced with relative ease. Monitoring and control are centralized, offering improved efficiency.
• Video on demand, allowing entertainment and training to be inexpensively and reliably offered to all installations and for platform workers to use to see and speak with their families over the Internet, at a tiny fraction of the cost of a satellite video link.
• Enhanced security, as information can be routed to where it is needed and accessed from a variety of devices. Equipment performance can be monitored from any point on the rig or onshore. Possible environmental breaches can also be monitored more effectively.
• Cheaper calls. A satellite phone from a rig in the North Sea can cost upwards of US$6,000 per month to operate. IP means that voice communications can be greatly improved and operated at a fraction of the cost that conventional satellite technology allows.

Elements of this vision have already been realized in companies such as Iberdrola, Spain's second-largest electric utility.

The company has cut its workload in half and increased system uptime to 99.5 percent by using an industrial data center from Cisco and OSIsoft to provide a link between its process control and IT systems.

Stuart Robinson, business development manager, Cisco Systems Europe, Middle East and Africa, says: "This is all about the application of tried and tested technologies to create real advantages for companies in the oil and gas sectors.

"There is nothing to stop the industry from benefiting from IP right now."

Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.