Communications role in achieving demanding targets

Wireless communications utilising a Private Mobile Network can play a major role in realising new levels of business efficiency and productivity. Private Mobile Networks provide low powered GSM based solutions able to operate independently of any other systems and designed to survive difficult environments. This is particularly valuable for communication during an emergency evacuation, shut-down or man-down alarm and provides a clear example of where effective and reliable wireless communications technology can add value to the business processes.

Any oil and gas communication system needs to be able to cope with the challenges of highly demanding locations such as offshore facilities and remote pipeline infrastructure. Some users will need to cover just one location, such as a refinery, while others will benefit from a system that covers every area of the production life cycle. The flexibility and exceptionally high coverage provided by a Private Mobile Network is key in this type of situation.

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Mission Critical Communications in Challenging Environments

Users will have different needs, communicating on a one-to-one or one-to-many basis, working alone or as part of a team. Intelligent Communications are vital for oil and gas organisations from both a business and a safety perspective. A key objective is to reduce the possibility of an event that would require the facility - the well, pipeline or plant - to be shut down. Interruptions to drilling, pipelines or refinery operations due to inefficient communications can have major financial consequences and the scale is immense. A typical oil pipeline pumps around $3 million worth of oil per hour, while a typical refinery produces around $6 million worth of fuel per day. Refineries and plants all have safety targets too and, of course, 24-hour operation is the norm.

Communication in the oil and gas sector is defined as Mission Critical when lives/safety is at stake; at this point the efficiency of public safety operations is key. Communications are essential for ensuring the safety of both staff and the general public.

Communications systems need to be able to support alerts on ‘man-down’ scenarios, or to control emergency evacuations. Safety is also an issue that extends beyond the immediate bounds of a plant or oil field. Oil companies have a duty of care to the environment, as well as their neighbours.

A first step is to provide a communications system that will serve to minimise the risk of an environmental incident, and the second requirement is to ensure the tools are in place to manage any incident and accelerate response or clean-up.

A Private Mobile Network provides a low power GSM network dedicated to the site and enables integration with back-end alarm and notification systems.

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Site Emergencies

A Private Mobile Network is ideal in emergency situations as the bandwidth is dedicated to your business and is not affected by external factors. In situations where commercial GSM networks could become overloaded or, worse, fail entirely, the PMN will continue to operate independently. If external communications, for instance, to emergency services is required, this is connected through the fixed IP network or satellite links where the threat of overload from public mobile calls is removed. Emergency Service personnel can be allowed access to the Private Mobile Network while on site. If the geographical area covered by the incident increases, a pre-configured temporary vehicle or rapid deployment unit can be used to extend the Private Mobile Network coverage, as needed.

After the emergency has been resolved, there is usually a need to review the incident by evaluating performance and highlighting areas for improvement. A Private Mobile Network solution can provide reports on actions taken and call recording can be used to track and evaluate the handling of the incident. This protects the company from possible criticism by confirming that all duty-of-care requirements were met and then the data can be used to update or modify the business impact analysis and business continuity plans.

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