U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

MMS Announces Procedures on the Use of Cost-Efficient SCADA Systems

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Regional Office announced today specific procedures for obtaining approval of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.  Issued as Notice to Lessees No. 2000-G06, the guidelines will provide clear and consistent policies for the offshore oil and gas industry and the five MMS District offices on the use of SCADA systems in the Gulf of Mexico.

SCADA systems are computer-based systems that allow the oil and gas companies to monitor and control many of various equipment and safety devices on their offshore production platforms and pipeline systems from remote locations.  SCADA systems have varied designs and applications.  In the past, these systems were used primarily to monitor facilities and remotely restart production components following a command shut-in or process upset within a production system.  The majority of these systems were installed on satellite facilities to perform remote well-opening operations.  Now, however, they are developed to execute many operations that previously required human intervention, for example, remote startup of compressors.

The use of SCADA systems is very cost efficient.  Despite the initial installation costs, oil and gas companies save money in reduced costs for personnel, boats, and helicopters when they use SCADA systems.  Other benefits include increased personnel safety, more rapid control of vital equipment, reduction of accidents caused by human error, and quicker evacuations if a hurricane is approaching.

The guidelines allow an MMS District Supervisor to authorize an oil and gas company to use a SCADA system to remotely monitor, control, open, close, and restart specific wells, pipelines, and process components, provided that:

• the SCADA system is capable of monitoring all essential operating conditions that affect the wells, pipelines, and process components;
• an on-site investigation is conducted if personnel cannot ascertain the primary cause of a shut-in by diagnosing the data available from the monitored operating conditions;
• all detected abnormal operating conditions that indicate a shut-in of a component or process return to a “normal” status before personnel remotely reactivate the process or return the source to an operations status; and
• safety sensors and their associated shut-in devices on process components may be temporarily bypassed during remote startup operations under certain conditions.

The MMS is the Federal agency that manages the Nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the OCS; and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion in yearly revenues from offshore Federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and American Indian lands.

-MMS-GOM-

MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov