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Process safety in upstream: Risk based operations in vaca muerta
Author(s) -
Cabanne Victor,
Chialva Fernando,
Kirs Luis,
Alvarez Claramunt Juan Ignacio,
Sernaglia Julio,
Sorroche Nicolas
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
process safety progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.378
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1547-5913
pISSN - 1066-8527
DOI - 10.1002/prs.12020
Subject(s) - process safety , upstream (networking) , engineering , process (computing) , alarm , risk management , process safety management , management system , risk analysis (engineering) , systems engineering , work in process , computer science , process management , operations management , hazardous waste , telecommunications , business , operating system , finance , waste management , aerospace engineering
This work has been developed by YPF Upstream Nonconventional Oil Business Unit (NOC), which was the first asset to develop the nonconventional Vaca Muerta formation in Argentina, in 2011. Currently, with more than 520 Shale Oil producing Wells and 15 onshore facilities, remote field operation challenges have created the need to study some key topics such as applying Operation Management by exception. From the beginning of the nonconventional assets development, instrumentation, and telemetry systems were designed under the concepts of “unmanned operation facility” and “real time decision making,” minimizing people risk exposure inside the facilities. Operation Management by exception through a unified alarm system including facilities and wells becomes essential due to the exponential growth of the variables to be monitored and controlled. The lack of a consolidated alarm management system results in an “overloaded” situation, which started in 2015 with more than 160 alarm activations in an average time of 10 min, and activation peaks of 1000 alarms every 10 min. Thus, the use of a regular alarm system was proven to be not viable or practical. With focus on reaching excellence in production management and safe operations in nonconventional fields, a decision support Center (called CIC), was implemented for the first time in YPF Upstream operations. Its function, among others, was to deploy risk‐based operations which are aligned with Process Safety international standards. Seeking for a “Predictive Alarm System,” a dedicated Process Engineer was incorporated to the CIC to work along with an existing multidisciplinary team in alarm management process. This team was integrated by maintenance engineers and control systems specialists. The alarm philosophy used was based on the recommended international practices, and thus, a hard rationalization work was developed resulting in “Robust” to “Stable” status of alarm system performance, reaching less than 10 activations per hour. In this article, the risk‐based alarm management methods are described and analyzed, together with the way in which this development was addressed with the operation, and the benefits obtained. Within these benefits, there is a field operation culture change in attending alarms with standardized actions which are formalized in alarm response manuals. © 2018 The Authors. Process Safety Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Process Saf Prog 38:e12020, 2019