Publications

Banyu Urip is a sour crude field in Indonesia producing over 220,000 barrels of oil per day, supplying approximately 25% of the national oil production. Since its start up in late 2015, process control improvements, performed on several parts of the plant has significantly optimized process stability and plant reliability. This paper will provide examples of the improvements performed for the crude, gas processing and utilities areas. In the crude train, gap controller logic was implemented for the High Pressure production separators to enhance the liquid handling capability and reduce fluctuations in the outlet crude flow rate. The stabilized flow rate resulted in lower piping vibration downstream of the separators, allowing the Banyu Urip crude trains to increase throughput. In the acid gas treatment area, improvement of Thermal Oxidizer burner firing logic allowed the unit to handle variations in the calorific value of waste gas with higher reliability. In the utilities area, double-constraint controller logic was implemented at the MP/LP steam letdown system to improve reliability in maintaining adequate steam supply to critical parts of the plant. Besides the technical aspects, this paper will also highlight the importance of having a strong cross-functional team. The collaboration of engineering, operations, maintenance, IT, vendors and experts contributed to successful plant reliability improvement. Training is often required as the process control skill-set is not commonly available in upstream oil & gas companies, unlike in the downstream sector of the business. Finally, the paper will conclude with the path forward which includes installation of dashboard software. The software will enable automated performance monitoring of Banyu Urip; 400+ control loops and detect non-optimized loops, hence providing the capability to tackle process control challenges in a proactive manner.