AUTOMATION OF CANADIAN GAS FIELD CUTS COSTS, INCREASES GAS PRODUCTION.

Two years' successful operation has been achieved by a computer-based supervisory system which monitors and controls the flow rates of 47 natural-gas wells in the Kaybob South gas field in Central Alberta. Economic justification for the project was based primarily on an expected improvement in production of 1 one-half %, which has been obtained. Continuous monitoring of the process has led to a number of other benefits, only some of which were foreseen when the project began. The system has been designed to measure and record data, to monitor well-status conditions, and to regulate individual wells so that total field production equals the inlet rate desired by the gas-plant operators. The system is structured around hierarchical computer network consisting of a minicomputer and 11 programmable remote terminal units.