Plagued by rising incidence of rampant oil thefts from its pipelines, Oil India is seeking use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to stop the pilferage in Assam and beyond.
On May 27 Oil India invited Expression of Interest or EoIs from companies that can supply and install sensors on well-heads to transmit real-time data to oil and gas collecting stations for detailed analysis using AI.
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The last date for submission of bids is June 21.
A pilot project to test out the real-time monitoring or ‘digital oilfield technology’ will be done at the Hebeda oilfield as well as at the nearby Makum and Hapjan fields, not far from the Oil India headquarters at Duliajan.
“Monitoring from Hebeda is possible because it has a GCS (gas collecting station),” a top Oil India official told Northeast Now.
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“This would help the installation manager keep up real-time monitoring (with production).Once monitoring begins any disruption can be spotted immediately,” he said on condition of anonymity because he was not officially authorized to brief the media
Oil theft is a huge problem in Upper Assam, where gangs puncture pipelines in the middle of the night to siphon away oil.
“Manually monitoring each well is impossible so this solution could certainly help,” the official said.
“It will also enable us to make the best use of production data while making decisions for overall reservoir management and for exploration and production,” he said
“We just have to ensure that miscreants don’t cut wires or cables to disrupt the technology.”
In addition to Hebeda, Oil India’s Eastern Asset includes the Greater Hapjan, Greater Chandmari, Kumchai and eight satellite fields: Bogapani, Kusijan, Samdang, Borhapjan, Mechaki, Jengoni, Disaijan and Mahakali.
In the EoI document Oil India details how it wants any selected contractor to use ‘virtual flow metering’ to work out the oil/gas mix and flow rates based on variations in pressure and temperature that can be analysed using AI to boost production.
Oil India embraced digital oilfield technology in 2018 when it changed the designation of its IT head Ashish Bahukhandi from executive director (IT) to executive director (info com and digital oilfield) and moved him from the corporate office in Delhi to Duliajan.
Bahukhandi is extreme experienced and innovative with digital oilfield technology.
Assam’s gang of oil thieves are notorious for theft of crude oil from pipelines, though not a match for the gang that stole nearly five million litres from Cairn oilfields in Rajasthan.