Challenge

A major oil and gas company’s core operation revolved around natural gas and natural gas liquids production from shale formations in the Appalachian Basin. Many of their production sites operated with a skeletal crew or were unmanned, and located far away from where the control center was situated. This particular well site already deployed open path gas detectors but not fixed point monitors that could perform the essential job of monitoring leak prone assets. However, since fixed point gas detectors are typically wired due to its power hungry operation, it would be very costly and time consuming to run additional conduit for power and signal at this remote well site. Design, trenching, testing and documenting of new conduit runs could also negatively affect other project schedules. Therefore, a cost effective way to quickly implement a solution to remotely monitor and communicate fugitive methane emissions – specifically at gas separation units within the site – was needed.

Solution

Since the end-user had an established WirelessHart® network onsite through the ROC800 Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), UE Vanguard wireless, fixed point gas monitors would easily integrate into the mesh network and allow for deployment as close as possible to valves on the gas separation units, as well as four feet above ground to provide methane monitoring. Since Vanguard was battery operated (5-year life), device mounting constraints were drastically reduced, as was cost, labor and time. Installation and commissioning of Vanguard was completed in a day, connecting to the ROC800 within minutes and providing an instant monitoring point. A controlled release of natural gas from a valve was detected accurately by Vanguard within 30 seconds. The end-user can now economically track for fugitive emissions down to the component level from the control center located a distance away.

Read about Vanguard WirelessHART Toxic and Combustible Gas Detector.