Highlights
- RipEX, 400 MHz
- Tanker loading
- Marine environment
- DNP3 protocol
- Point to multipoint
- Siemens RTU
- Maximum reliability
https//www.racom.eu/eng/references/oil-australia
Jadestone energy Australia PTE Ltd is an upstream oil and gas production company operating in the Asia Pacific Region. One of their assets is the oil producing Stag Field, offshore Western Australia.
Jadestone recently changed their operational procedures, employing a mobile tanker in the Stag Field. This saves considerably on operational costs and is environmentally safer than previous practice. However, in order to fully comply with Australian Government legislation and continue to operate, they are now required to simultaneously monitor three analogue signals; the anchor cable tension, pipe pressure and solar voltages. All three signals must be monitored on both the tanker and the platform.
APautomation from Perth, Australia were contracted to design, implement and commission the new network. Because of the extremely high costs of running a production platform, the network must have uninterrupted operation. It was quickly realized that robustness and reliability were key parameters making the RACOM RipEX radio modem an obvious choice. Not only does it offer the levels of reliability required with industrial hardened design and heavy-duty industrial components, it also has a range of other features highlighted for this solution: long range transmissions [50 Km], standard TCP/IP protocol, low power consumption and wide ranges of DC supply.
The new network uses 4 RipEX radios and Siemens RTU’s communicating using DNP3 protocol in a point to multipoint configuration between the FSO [floating, storage and offloading] and calm buoy.
When it came to implementation it was decided the easiest way of achieving this would be to simply remove the old network and install a new one. RipEX is extremely easy to configure allowing APautomation to complete the work without the need of any support from RACOM.
Due to the success of the new network, Jadestone energy are already in talks with APautomation to consider other oilfields they operate and where similar networks could help improve the operation and protect the environment.
