The Transparent Production System and System Modes

The Transparent Production System

The Transparent Production System is an inherent part of edpm, providing data at any location throughout the system, e.g. profile data of pressure, temperature and liquid holdup – all pertinent information is included. edpm provides a window into the production system where there is limited or no instrumentation.

Further, as edpm is based on OLGA, the system handles all operating scenarios including both steady state and transient production such as shut-in and start-up, turndown and ramp-up, pigging, packing and unpacking.

With OLGA inside, edpm can be trusted in unexpected situations.

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Example from edpm: The Transparent Production System showing liquid contents in the gas-condensate pipelines during pigging operation.

System Modes

Real-time
The system runs in parallel with the field providing more information than is available from the control system. Examples are leak detection and hydrate risk calculation, as well as, pipeline slugging.

Look-ahead
Used to make forecasts of future production, starting from current operating conditions and running ahead typically 50-200 times faster than real-time. The look-ahead mode can be configured to run in cycles. For example: one can simulate 5 hours into the future at regular intervals, starting from the current time to provide early warnings of upcoming events, such as shutdown alarms or critical situations.

Example from edpm: The Look-Ahead Mode generates automatic forecasts of future operations, enabling advanced warnings on critical situations. Hence proper actions can be taken before upsets happens.

Planning (what-if)
Used for planning of new operating procedures where all parameters can be adjusted.

The planning mode is also used as a Pipeline Trainer with main focus on training the operators in pipeline behaviour and impact on processing facilities.