The Operational Excellence App
Improving Situational Awareness in Gas Network Monitoring
By Mr. Ian Walcott - Vice President - Operations | The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited
LINKAGE Q3 (2024) - OPPORTUNITY IN ADVERSITY
NGC’s natural gas network infrastructure consists of over 1,000 km of onshore and offshore pipelines with a current maximum installed capacity of 4.4Bcf/d. The network serves the LNG sector, large downstream petrochemical and non-petrochemical customers, and also supplies light commercial and industrial customers.
The measurement and distribution of natural gas on this network is managed via several manned and unmanned sites distributed across Trinidad and Tobago. With supply being highly responsive to small fluctuations in availability, the need to be “in the loop” regarding the status of the gas network is paramount, and expected to be so for some time.
This was the impetus behind NGC’s in-house Operational Excellence App (OE App), developed in 2023 to serve as a real-time gas network monitoring solution. The OE App originated out of a need to access, publish, and make available real-time and 24-hour gas network data via a user-friendly platform. This instrument is primarily used in support of decision making for gas network optimisation in a dynamic operational environment.
While traditional monitoring approaches were sufficient in years past, the delicate balance between gas supply availability and gas available for demand necessitates a real-time approach to gas monitoring to manage the supply-demand balance. In this regard, use of a real-time monitoring app in conjunction with the traditional network monitoring methods such as SCADA, can lead to improvements in overall pipeline safety, and network efficiency. As an adjunct benefit, the OE app is being used alongside satellite and optical gas imaging for monitoring/measuring methane emissions, thus contributing to NGC’s emissions reduction campaign.
The OE APP
The OE App comprises eight modules:
• Gas Value Chain
• Gas Supply Summary
• Supply
• Demand
• Curtailment
• Network Health
• Gas to Power Efficiency
• Downtime
Each module harvests field data from multiple sources and presents it as a dashboard so that real-time, 24-hour data is available. The user-friendly interface in the app visualises data and generates alerts on the relevant screens when required.
Figure 1 shows the OE app home screen, while Figure 2 shows a real-time network health visual, using one of the sub-screens from the app.
Figure 1: OE App Home Screen
Figure 2: Realtime Network Health Screen from OE App
The OE App allows NGC’s Operations team to track natural gas network activity in real time, leading to greater situational awareness around network status and speedier response to network disruptions, such as gas leaks. Figure 3 shows the main rationale for the app.
Figure 3: Rationale for the App
NGC’s internal stakeholders using the app are employees from the Technology and Innovation department, its Leadership Team, and its Operations and Commercial Groups. Externally, the main stakeholder involved is the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission, the largest gas stakeholder.
Benefits and challenges of real-time monitoring
• Employees report a much higher degree of situational awareness since the app has been implemented. This is reflected in greater responsiveness on the part of Operations and the Commercial Group, more rapid decision-making by executive leadership, and greater incorporation of real-time data into ongoing monitoring and analysis of the gas transmission network.
• Use of the app helps foster a culture of learning and innovation. By applying analytics to the harvested data, operational performance can be tracked, measured, reported upon and appropriate decisions made to maximise efficiency and minimise waste.
• Data analytics can help identify patterns that indicate potential equipment failures, allowing for proactive maintenance.
• By enabling early leak detection, the OE App can minimise potential environmental damage and preclude the need for costly repairs.
• The OE App supports molecular optimisation, safety, reliability, cost efficiency, environmental responsibility, customer satisfaction and risk management.
• The app can support future requirements for compliance with safety and environmental regulations – important in an environment of enhanced environmental sensitivity.
Realtime monitoring is not without its potential challenges. While the app has data safeguards and robust cybersecurity protocols, these need to be constantly monitored and updated to safeguard sensitive data and prevent unauthorised access to the system. This takes place in an environment of increased ransomware attacks in the Caribbean in 2023–2024, with threat actors “…interested only in profits and choosing their targets based on who is likely to suffer great losses (or fines where applicable), should they refuse to pay them". There are also cost considerations associated with ongoing software maintenance and development, though the real-time monitoring sensors and data transmission costs are incorporated as part of existing systems.
What’s next
The OE App will evolve over time in tandem with the requirements of users. The current focus of the OE App reflects the “tone from the top” of NGC’s leadership - currently, the focus is on the optimisation of molecular efficiency and maximisation of GHG emissions mitigation. The project is expected to undergo further iterations as NGC continues along its energy transition path.
The OE App is in its first year of implementation, and as such, comparative data is not yet available to assess its impact. The effectiveness of the app will ultimately be measured in the net change to the time to respond to network disruptions, including those that cause carbon emissions.
Based on user accounts, however, the app has been a useful introduction into NGC’s arsenal of network monitoring tools, and has a promising future.
Ransomware report reveals Caricom-wide attacks - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
https://newsday.co.tt/2024/03/04/ransomware-report-reveals-caricom-wide-attacks/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Walcott is the Vice President - Operations at The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited.