Allnorth has expanded its ICE, commissioning & start up and other service offerings with the acquisition of Dynamysk Automation Ltd. in 2024. The following is a demonstration of the bench strength added to our team.
Overview
The client operated a SAGD facility with multiple wellpads producing ~20,000 bpd of crude oil. When the facility was originally built, the decision was made to go with PLCs as the control system, however over time the system became very overloaded, creating severe functional and operational issues.
“There were times when we lost all visuals of the plant because the screens would go dead.” Owen Dorfman, a PCS Lead with the client at the time, explained some of the challenges they were faced with.
“The plant would continue to run, but all the processing time was being diverted to programming rather than sending data to the operator screens.”
Project Challenges
A key mandate of the project was to bring the control system into greater compliance with corporate standards for control systems. This involved segregating all fire and gas signals into a separate system, which necessitated significant field wiring changes.
“The fire and gas systems were in with the rest of the PLC programming”, Dorfman stated. “Someone had to come in months in advance of the turnaround to go through and prep everything ahead of time, to make sure that all that had to be done at site was the final wiring.”
To make the already complex project even more challenging, the upgrade had to take place inside a tight 14 day turnaround window, which meant all the pre-turnaround work had to be carefully coordinated and managed, with no room for error, in order to ensure the cutover happened as seamlessly as possible.
Our Role
Following a competitive bid process, we were selected to manage and execute the project.
We initially performed a review of the existing PLC based control system, its known issues, and its conformance to existing client standards for control systems. After a review of the study findings, the client determined the best path forward for the facility was to replace the existing PLC based control system with a DCS, leaving the well pads controlled by the PLC system.
“A DCS was the better way to go for the plant environment,” said Dorfman. “We also needed better trending and data logging, which the DCS would give us.”
Management and Pre-Turnaround Work
Dynamysk’s management role on the project included:
- Scope Definition – developed specifications which defined the required DCS functionality and DCS vendor services
- Tendering & Bid Evaluation – assisted with developing the ITB package, provided support during clarifications, conducted bid evaluations and provided technical and commercial advice to the procurement department
- Vendor Management – oversaw, coordinated and reviewed vendor activities which included DCS graphics and logic configuration, architecture and network design, fibre optic network design modifications, electrical design for segregation of fire and gas signals, and construction work packages
- Corporate IT Liaison – facilitated the connection and integration of the new plant control system into existing network infrastructures, and consolidating historical data from the provided plant historian system into the corporate systems for corporate/production reporting and analysis
- On-site Project Management – held responsibility for project and cost reporting, vendor contract and purchase order management, document management and control, interdepartmental coordination, and post turnaround redline and CAD of approximately 2500 documents and drawings to reflect project impacts and changes
Construction, Commissioning & Start-up
As the project transitioned to site construction work, our team planned and coordinated the required construction and commissioning activities. This included executing a significant amount of pre-turnaround work in order to facilitate the tight timeline during the turnaround:
- Fabricated and installed 44 new junction boxes, and modified five existing junction boxes – 80% of the junction boxes were wired and swung over prior to the plant outage
- Installed new DC distribution panels for redundant power feeds to DCS cabinets
- Installed approximately 19,000 meters of new fibre optic network cable, including approximately 8,000 cable terminations
During a seven day window within the turnaround, our construction crews:
- Installed new cabinet internals, re-terminated field cables and powered up the cabinets
- Installed and powered up new DCS cabinets and new OTSG CCS cabinets
- Installed and energized redundant power feed cabling
- Completed modifications to control consoles
- Installed 13 DCS operator workstations and brought them online
- Completed approximately 14,000 cable terminations and installed 60 new cabinets
Project Statistics
Project Duration: 3 years
Total Manhours: ~65,000
Maximum Staffing Level: 110 team members
Vendors: Emerson
Control: PLC, DCS, Communications
Technology: Emerson DeltaV
Electrical: Fibre Optic, MCC, Communication, Single Line, Design, Drafting, Cabinet Design, Cable Schedules
“Everything went splendidly,” Dorfman concluded. “The plant was started up within a few days, and everyone was very pleased with how it went.” – Owen Dorfman, PCS Lead