Drilling Instrumentation System for Jack-up Rig

Monitor Systems Engineering were approached by a drilling company in Turkmenistan to upgrade the drilling instrumentation system on their Jack-up rig. With years of experience in drilling instrumentation design, hardware and software solutions for the oil and gas industry, Monitor systems were able to demonstrate their engineering expertise by designing a robust and compliant system for the rig operator.

Drilling screen enclosure

Survey

A site survey was conducted on the Jack-up rig, and where possible, the new drilling instrumentation system was designed to retain existing field instrumentation to minimise disruption during installation . The existing system was unfortunately running proprietary display software on obsolete hardware, compounded by the original manufacturer not supporting the legacy system. The client requested that the upgrade should feature SCADA display software, developed with custom layout pages to accommodate the needs of the drilling crew.

System Upgrade

Designing the new system meant replacing the obsolete and dated PLC, SCADA server and client stations with a new modern solution. Monitor Systems replaced the PLC with a powerful Siemens S7-1500 CPU. The high specification CPU and IO were used for processing the signals and its compact footprint allowed for easy integration into the existing processing cabinets. The solution included the bespoke development of new intuitive SCADA software by in-house engineers. Hosted by Powerful SIMATIC IPC’s, a Siemens WinCC V7 SCADA server and multiple clients were implemented as the visual interface with displays fitted within the existing drilling console arrangement, a new ATEX compliant TP HMI display was also provided for the pit room.

The SCADA solution allowed for the flexibility required in the graphics generation, along with the responsive refresh/update times required to ensure that the rig driller has live drilling parameter data. Multiple configurable pages were made accessible from each operator station to maximise operational efficiency. Pages available included Drilling/ Coring Screens, Tripping/ Casing Screens, Well Control/ Circulation Screens, Weight Indicator Screens, Pit Volume Screens, Configurable Strip Chart Screens, Drilling Maintenance Screens and System Maintenance Screens. All software was written and tested in-house by Monitor Systems engineers. Where possible existing instrumentation and barriers/signal conditioners were retained but where required industry proven instruments and barriers were provided ensuring reliable and accurate data.

System Components

• High performance Siemens PLC & remote IO racks

• Rack Mounted Server’s with redundant data storage

• Multiple client PCs to serve Driller, Toolpusher and other users as required

• Multiple access level secure against unauthorised system modification to drilling parameters

• Large format touch screens installed in a driller’s console

• Toolpushers IPC operator station with desktop monitor

• Hazardous Area Touchscreen HMI for use on the pit room to monitor mud pits and trip tanks

Installation and Commissioning

Monitor Systems undertook the installation and commissioning of the drilling instrumentation system, making sure that everything was operational. Additionally, Monitor Systems engineers re-attended the rig to assist the driller during initial operations.