"In 1997 NAM-GLT changed to Yokogawa as transmitter supplier and found that the quality is top off the bill, super! On the systems we have not had a single failure since the start of the project. Since we continuously implement the latest DCS technology we often receive new versions as one of the first, but we never have to worry that the system stops because of bugs," said Mr. Ruurd Hoekstra.
The Groningen Long Term (GLT) project of NAM in the Netherlands concerns the renovation of the 29 clusters of the Groningen field -- one of the worlds largest gas fields in production since 1959. To continue its role of swing producer and to ensure access to the remaining reserves, depletion compression is necessary.
Suppliers were asked to form consortia to execute this ambitious project. The key selection criteria focused on Total Cost of Ownership, robustness of design, and the use of state-of-the-art technology. Stork GLT was the winning consortium, and Yokogawa is responsible for instrumentation and automation within Stork GLT. Yokogawa is Main Instruments Vendor (MIV). To meet the challenges of this ambitious project, Yokogawa increased the capacity of its CENTUM DCS to 1 million tags, 512 stations and 31 domains.
The NAM GLT operation concept is based on minimum operator intervention. Remote production operations must be fully automated including alarm-free cluster start up from cold within sixty minutes. NAM has local systems on the production clusters that are based on the CENTUM family of DCS, Prosafe safety system, and Yokogawa instrumentation. Each cluster is equipped with an Exaquantum Data Historian. There is a secure data communication structure to the central station that is manned 24 hours a day, allowing unmanned operation of the clusters.
The first cluster was renovated and equipped with a compressor in 1998 and ultimately, all 29 production clusters of the Groningen systems will be upgraded.
"Yokogawa is very reliable in the roadmap schedules. New technology arrives on time and it works. Software tests by the quality department proof to be very robust," said Mr. Ruurd Hoekstra. "I appreciate the long term support of Yokogawa very much. The backward compatibility, the long term software support and the on-line revision-up allow us to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership and decrease our operational expenses."
SYSTEM DETAILS
CENTUM CS, CS 3000, Prosafe Safety
System, Exaquantum PIMS, Plant Resource Manager, EJA digital transmitters, integration services and maintenance services
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