Smart oilfield, lightning protection solution on oil and gas pipelines

The petroleum and petrochemical industry plays a crucial role in the development of the national economy. As one of the pillar industries in China, the production process involves a wide range, including oil extraction engineering, petroleum refining, oil and gas transportation, and so on. With the promotion of policy support and energy transformation needs, modern information technology and intelligent petroleum engineering technology are continuously combined to achieve the goal of green, safe, efficient operation, and sustainable development of oil fields.

As a major artery connecting oil and gas production and consumption, oil and gas long-distance pipelines have the advantage of achieving large-scale, long-distance, and low-cost transportation of oil and gas, and are important energy infrastructure. With the accelerated construction of “One Network in China” and “the Belt and Road”, the scale of long-distance pipelines is expanding.

To ensure the safe, accurate, and efficient transportation of oil and gas resources, signals such as flow rate, pressure, and temperature of oil and gas in pipelines are usually collected, and the collected data is uploaded to the control room. This facilitates technical personnel to monitor, adjust, and control the process parameters and equipment operation status of pipelines, in order to achieve safe transportation, reduce consumption, and improve economic benefits.

In the production and transmission of oil and natural gas, long-distance pipelines cross multiple regions and have complex terrain. Communication systems are prone to lightning strikes during thunderstorm seasons, which directly affects the safe operation of stations and may also block the transmission and control of SCADA system data between stations and control centers along the line. Therefore, surge protection should be installed at the interface of the computer system where overvoltage generated by possible lightning strikes (direct lightning, induced lightning, etc.) may be introduced, such as:

At the connection of the power supply system

Signal input/output interface

24V power supply provided by the station control PLC to the site

With the continuous improvement of safety requirements, in addition to basic lightning protection performance, in the face of the characteristics of smart oilfield long-distance pipelines, surge protectors also need to have “customized” services:

1. Equipped with failure self diagnosis function

As a protective instrument, surge protectors have a relatively low probability of failure. Once a malfunction occurs, the conventional inspection method is to use instruments for testing, and it requires troubleshooting one by one, greatly reducing maintenance efficiency. The surge protector with fault self diagnosis function can help operation and maintenance personnel locate the fault point in a timely and accurate manner, improving the efficiency of troubleshooting and maintenance.

2. Built in overcurrent protection

If the continuous current flowing through the surge protector exceeds its bearing capacity, it may cause the components to heat up and catch fire, posing a risk to circuit safety. The surge protector with built-in overcurrent protection can effectively avoid this risk and improve reliability.

3. Functional safety level

The GB/T 20438 and GB/T21109 of Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) serve as the basic standards for ensuring functional safety related to oil and gas pipeline production safety. It is particularly important to choose SIL level lightning surge protectors that comply with the safety instrument system.

4. Save cabinet space

Long oil and gas pipelines have numerous signal points, often requiring a large number of surge protectors to be installed. Compact and thinner product dimensions allow for dense installation, saving cabinet space.