BP Canada Energy Company, Canada

BP Canada Energy Company is Canada's leading natural gas value chain company. The company's Ricinus gas processing plant is located approximately 200 km northwest of Calgary, Alberta. Gas is supplied to the plant through several field lines and is processed with separators, dehydrators, de-ethanizers, and expanders. The gas is further compressed before it is output to the sales lines. The plant has a capacity of about 3,600 E3m3/d.

As the Ricinus plant had been built in the early 1980s, its original control system was outmoded and spare parts were becoming hard to find. With the goal of extending the operational life of this plant by at least 15 years, BP Canada launched a systems update project that, in its first phase, sought to replace the control system without having to shut the plant down. In the next phase of this project, the plant's safety and fire & gas systems will be updated with a Yokogawa ProSafe-RS Safety Instrumented System, and this will be fully integrated with the plant's DCS and SCADA systems.

Yokogawa's CENTUM CS 3000 was selected as the replacement for the plant's aging Toshiba TOSDIC system. Early on in this project phase, BP Canada assigned employees to work full time on its project team, and this team was able to establish a close working relationship with Yokogawa Canada's project team. The Yokogawa team conducted site surveys and updated system drawings. One particular challenge in this project was retrieving the Toshiba logic and interpreting it. With the help of the BP Canada team, Yokogawa carried this out successfully and was able to implement a new system based on the existing logic. Later, this logic was further modified to better match the current state of the plant, which had undergone many modifications over the years.

For this hot cutover, a detailed strategy and daily schedule were developed. The specific cutover requirements for individual tags and means for mitigating potential risks were considered and addressed. Personnel and plant safety was the top priority. Prior to beginning work each day, team members held a safety meeting to assess anticipated work hazards. For critical and complex loops, signal isolators were used so that processes could be monitored from both systems as the wires were cut over. The cutover was completed successfully, on time, and without major incidents. A few minor issues were encountered but addressed without affecting the overall schedule. After the cutover, all the loops were tuned and put into auto mode (Previously, only about 40% of the loops were in auto mode).

Herb Ziegler, Project Manager, BP Ricinus, says:
"Thanks to the dedication and great teamwork by Yokogawa and BP Canada, the project was completed flawlessly. Focus on health and safety throughout the project paid off - we cut over the system without any incident. I am very satisfied with the overall project. We are now planning to upgrade the safety system to Yokogawa's ProSafe-RS."

- 100% health, safety, security, and environment performance
- Project cutover on schedule
- Smooth and safe changeover to new system
- Improved plant performance and operator expertise
- High level of customer satisfaction

Viewing pdf files requires Adobe Reader