FOUNDATION Fieldbus Advanced Diagnostics for PDO Oman Fahud Project
Pepperl+Fuchs supplies FOUNDATION fieldbus systems to Petroleum Development Oman (PDO)
Petroleum Development of Oman is the foremost exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for more than 90% of the country's crude oil production and nearly all of its natural gas supply. The Company is jointly owned by the Government of Oman, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Partex.
Petroleum Development Oman is one of the first companies in the Middle East to introduce FOUNDATION fieldbus systems. The first installation was in 1999/2000 with a small pilot project. After the successful testing of FOUNDATION fieldbus in the pilot plant, they went ahead with the Yibal project in 2000/2001 with 100 fieldbus segments.
Currently, PDO has more than 24 FOUNDATION fieldbus systems installed at various sites in Oman.
From the very beginning, PDO realized the advantages of FOUNDATION fieldbus technology, namely, reduced CAPEX and OPEX, as well as easy integration with business enterprise systems. In 2007, PDO decided to upgrade the Fahud control system to a FOUNDATION fieldbus system and also to include advanced diagnostics for the fieldbus physical layer.
The existing Fahud control system at MLPS and Fahud-B/C/D & F station is based on an older conventional system and safeguarding is provided with solid state logic system/ relay logic system. These control systems do not comply with latest PDO C&A control philosophy based on FOUNDATION fieldbus technology. The new design intent is to provide the operator and/or maintenance technician at a remote location maximum diagnostic data from field devices (transmitters, control valves, on/off valves), the physical layer, and the various control room mounted systems. This is one of the main reasons for implementing the fieldbus concept. All diagnostic data will be processed by an Asset Management System (AMS), which will enable the use of a predictive maintenance schedule.
The Fahud control system upgrade was awarded to a DCS Partner of Pepperl+Fuchs. This was the first project where the specification called for physical layer diagnostics for all the segments. In total there are 266 fieldbus segments.
The first order to Pepperl+Fuchs Middle East included 69 Power Hub systems with Advanced Diagnostics Modules and advanced diagnostic software for all the stations as well as 266 R-SP-E12 Segment Protectors in GRP polyester junction box housings.