SPECIAL REPORT: RFID applications spread in upstream operations

July 21, 2008
Many different industries use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, but it is a late arrival in the oil field.

Many different industries use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, but it is a late arrival in the oil field. RFID systems have been incorporated into seismic acquisition systems since the 1990s, but there has been surprisingly little use of this rapidly evolving technology in drilling and production.

RFID systems are wireless and include tags, readers, antennas, and an associated computer network. RFID tags are either passive (no battery) or active (battery-powered). RFID readers must interface with the tags and with the business network.

RFID tags are made of many different materials, are embedded within or attached to components, and can be used for identification, tracking, quality control, or monitoring ambient conditions, alone or in combination with other sensors.

RFID technology allows remote retrieval of information from sensors. It does not require a line-of-sight view and the process can be automated. Tag reading is quick and tags can be rewritten and reused.1 Tags can store a variety of information, differentiating them from simple barcode systems.

There are applications in manufacturing, supply chain, and field operations:1

  • Casing and drill pipe quality control and traceability.
  • Zonal isolation valve actuation.
  • Perforating gun actuation.
  • Geospatial fencing (derrick floor, manufacturing yard, refinery).
  • Sensor networks (derrick floor, manufacturing, refining, transportation).
  • Supply chain visibility (procurement, across-production, transportation).

In the last several years, operators have tested land and offshore RFID applications, and recently, RFID material tolerance to 12,000-ft subsea.2

Slow implementation?

Many innovative oil field technologies are first implemented offshore, where incremental improvements in safety and efficiency often have immediate economic payouts, or meet a pressing regulatory need or company mandate. As components become more commonplace, economies of scale in their manufacture often make the components more affordable for land operations.

New technologies need to be easy to use, capable of surviving extreme working conditions (downhole, subsea), cannot interfere with operations, and ultimately, prove cost-effective.

Possible reasons for slow implementation of RFIDs in the oil and gas industry are:

  • Inconsistent readability. An RFID tag’s placement and ambient environment affects its readability. Metal surfaces interfere with radio signals (detuning); early systems did not always account for this. Newer, successful systems are limited to certain frequencies (e.g. UHF metal-tuned tags).1 Using tags under water can be problematic because liquids absorb radio-wave energy and decrease read range.
  • The return on investment that is not immediately quantifiable.

The cost of RFID tags is based on the read range and storage capacity. Passive tags have a read range up to 40 ft, typically contain 128 bit, and up to 1,024 bit data, and cost $0.05-$5.00, making them both cheap and disposable. Active tags contain batteries and can store megabytes of information.

The battery boosts transmission power and allows active tags to be read from greater distances, hundreds to thousands of feet away. Active RFID tags cost $20-100.1

Deep sea test

Houston-based Wescorp Energy Inc. recently announced the results of the first test deployment of RFID tags to 12,000 ft in the Gulf of Mexico.2

Working with two US-based engineering companies, Wescorp specially designed, passive, UHF, EPC Gen 2 RFID tags sealed in medical-grade plastic casings, pretested them to 8,000 psi, and attached them to precision sonobuoys. The sonobuoys were sent to the bottom of the gulf, 12,000 ft subsea, and stayed submerged for 4 months while linked to floating radio transmitters.

Wescorp read the tags with a handheld Motorola RFID interrogator before and after the deployment. Scott Shemwell, Wescorp’s chief operating officer, said the tags were readable and remained in excellent condition after exposure to salt water, low temperature, and high pressure.2

Shemwell told OGJ the RFID tags were circular, about 1.75-in. diameter, and designed to be mounted with a bolt on a hoisting swivel. The RFID components—transducer and antenna—met ISO/IEC 18000-6 industry standards.

The RFID test was part of Wescorp’s ongoing development of its intelligent field resource management solution, designed to help companies track industrial and oil field equipment.

Offshore applications

RFID tags have been used for at least a decade in seismic streamers. New tags are about to go to work at depths up to 500 m.

Houston-based Global Geophysical Services Inc. recently purchased an ocean bottom hydrophone cable (OBC) acoustic positioning system from Sonardyne International Ltd.3 The system includes 1,500 cables, each 75 m long, and 1,650 acoustic transponders, each of which will carry an RFID tag. The RFID system will be used to log the transponders as the cables are deployed from the survey ship.

Global Geophysical is using the new OBC in a 1,000 sq km, shallow-water seismic survey off India for ONGC.4 Global began the survey in January 2008 after mobilizing two of its transition zone ships from the US—the Vision and the Quest—and six other vessels. The survey is primarily across the Gulf of Khambhat on the western coast of India, southeast of the Kathiawar Peninsula, according to Richard Degner, president of Global. The equipment was designed to withstand 6-m tidal changes and associated 3-4-knot currents.4

RFID technology is at the heart of rapid mustering systems used during safety drills or incidents, as shown here on a Statoil platform in the North Sea (photo from Salem Automation Ltd., Fig. 1).
Click here to enlarge image

Sonardyne’s streamer asset tracking system uses RFID tags to automatically record the serial number of each section of cable as it passes onto and off a vessel. Passive RFID tags are fitted into the two end terminations of each separate streamer section. RFID readers are installed on fairleads that handle streamers as they are deployed over the stern. The RFID antennas were designed to be small and non-intrusive and are built directly into the fairlead. As each tag passes through the fairlead, the antenna energizes the tag and it responds with the unique serial number of the section.

At the Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Showcase, Southampton, November 2006, UK-based CDL Ltd. demonstrated an RFID-based system that could electronically identify valves and other objects on the seafloor (www.uuvs.net). The system included a subsea interrogation antenna moving on a track in seawater, reading passive RFID tags. The company noted that large seafloor installations can contain more than 1,000 individual valves, difficult to distinguish and manipulate remotely in low-visibility conditions.5

Rapid mustering

Operators have been using RFID systems for personnel tracking and mustering on offshore platforms in the North Sea, Irish Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico (Figs. 1-3).

RFIDs are used in wrist tags and neckband tags, as shown here for BP (photo from Salem Automation, Fig. 2).
Click here to enlarge image

Several operators have installed RFID-based personnel tracking and e-mustering systems from UK’s Salem Automation Ltd.:

  • Statoil ordered the Lifeboat e-muster system for its Statfjord A, B, and C platforms in the Norwegian North Sea.6
  • BHP Billiton has the RFID-based S3PT personnel tracking and S3MS rapid mustering systems on platforms in the Irish Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago.
  • BP Norge has the systems on its Valhal platform in the North Sea and Forus office, Stavanger, Norway.
  • Elf Norge uses the systems at its Frigg complex in the Norwegian North Sea.

Personnel tracking systems interface with shore-based heliports, platform travel management systems, and with the rapid mustering system, according to Salem Automation.

GoM supply chain

RFID tags are among the supply-chain innovations incorporated by the retail segment, while “the downstream industry’s supply-chain capabilities have languished under outdated processes and inadequate technology” (OGJ, June 5, 2006, p. 49).

ChevronTexaco Gulf of Mexico Exploration and Production Co. operates more than 100 drilling or production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, supplied by three onshore warehousing and shipping terminals. The company wanted to improve the efficiency and accountability of shipping and receiving supplies, and studied the feasibility of RFID technology in a pilot project based at its onshore terminal in Venice, Fla.7

Individual ID tags containing RFIDs are read at muster stations; example from Statoil (photo from Salem Automation, Fig. 3).
Click here to enlarge image

ChevronTexaco worked with the Fiatech consortium and Boulder, Colo.-based Phase IV Engineering on the pilot. In March-April 2004, the pilot tracked nine deliveries containing a total of 136 tagged items. The pilot used Phase IV Engineering’s CargoWatch battery-powered (active) RFID tags. These operate at 433.92 Mhz, have a read range of 60-150 ft, and 500 kb of memory.7

To read the tags, ChevronTexaco staff used Intermec’s 740A handheld computers, retrofitted with Phase IV’s own customized reader. Data from the tags was read three times: on the shipping dock, after loading on the vessel, and after unloading on the platform, and then incorporated into three corresponding manifests; a shorebase dock roll call, shipped boat roll call, and received platform roll call. All roll calls were compared automatically on the handheld computers and downloaded to PCs.

Fiatech summarized the results of the pilot in a 35-page report, “Materials and Asset Tracking Using RFID,” in which it stated that RFID technology was “relatively easy to implement and functioned well, even in harsh marine conditions.”

Drilling

Trailblazer Drilling Corp., a division of Savannah Energy Services, is using new RFID tags from Merrick Systems to track drill pipe and other surface and subsea equipment. Trailblazer can tell where and when each joint has been used. When this information is combined with operational data, the pressure, temperature, depth, mechanical stresses, and chemicals to which it has been it has been exposed.8

Trailblazer Drilling Corp. is using 25-mm diameter RFID tags from Merrick Systems that are embedded in circular pockets machined into drill pipe and tubing strings (photo from Merrick Systems, Fig. 4).
Click here to enlarge image

Houston-based Merrick embeds its RFID tags in circular pockets machined into drill pipe and tubing strings (Fig. 4). Each joint of pipe has three RFID tags embedded in the shoulders of the tool joints—two at the pin end and one at the box end (Fig. 5). Three tags allow for equipment reads in a variety of physical situations and each tag contains a unique ID number associated with a particular joint of pipe. Drillers capture the tag ID number with a handheld reader on the drill floor.

The Merrick tags are about 25 mm in diameter, encased in Victrex PLC’s PEEK (polyetheretherketone) polymer to provide a reliable installation form and to protect them from chemical exposure.8

Merrick entered the drilling market in 2005 and developed its own passive RFID tag with a 125 khz chip, compliant with ISO standard 18000-2. Merrick has tested the tags to 22,500 psi at Mohr Labs; they are continuously rated to 20,000 psi and 360º F. and are readable through a heavy coating of drilling mud, grease, cuttings, and other materials.

A small, circular pocket containing an RFID tag is visible on the left side of the tool joint shoulder, coated with drilling mud (photo from Merrick Systems, Fig. 5).
Click here to enlarge image

In 2007, Merrick began offering a full RFID system, which includes HP IPAQ-based handheld computers with RFID readers and operations software with WITSML integration, to third-party system integrators. By the end of this year, Merrick plans to install fixed readers below the drill floor that will automatically read RFID tags and eliminate or reduce the dependency on handheld readers.

Tubular manufacturing

In 2007, Houston-based Tejas Tubular Products Inc. implemented a closed-loop asset management system that allows it to manage the entire RFID process from start to finish, while keeping accurate records.9

In 2008, affiliate Tejas Casing set up an RFID tag system focused on production tracking after heat-treatment. This system was designed and installed by Merlin Concepts & Technology. It uses passive 915-Mhz (UHF Class1 Gen 2) tags embedded within rugged collars. These collars are attached to the product after heat-treatment and follow it through manufacturing. The RFID system uses strategically positioned Motorola XR440 readers and MC9090 handhelds that record data about each product as it passes. The scanners have the capacity to both read and write to the onboard tag memory and communicate to Merlin Concepts’ dynamic recording inspection platform. This platform provides a real-time dashboard showing analytics of operations and a variety of reports.

Konrad Konarski, vice-president of Merlin Concepts, said that although the system itself is closed-loop, the benefits extend to oil-field product consumers who are receiving manufactured goods with a superior level of quality control”.

Texas consortium

Testing new technologies is more cost effective when companies share costs and testing opportunities. Industry has joined with several Texas universities to study RFID applications, forming the RFID Oil & Gas Solution Group Consortium. Under the auspices of this group, several professors directing RFID and sensor laboratories contributed sidebars to this article:

  • Ben Zoghi, professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University.
  • Thomas Chen, research professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Houston.
  • Gary Gaukler, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Smart chips

Another consortium project is underway in the US. Operators, service and technology providers, and users across several industries and academia have been participating in the smart chips project since Fall 2003. The project is managed by Fiatech, a nonprofit consortium focused on deployment of new technologies in the construction industry.10

The smart chips project “investigates commercial-ready and near-ready” RFID technologies that can be “easily adapted for field construction, operations, and maintenance applications.”

Oil field sector participants in this project include: BP North America, Chevron, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., KBR Inc., Fluor Corp., and Zachry Construction Corp.

Looking ahead

Industry demand will drive design innovations in RFIDs to lower costs and provide increasingly efficient and reliable components:

  • Ultralow-power components and multi-sensing tags. Research continues on passive tag systems that incorporate physical sensors for light, temperature, humidity, and chemicals. Texas Instruments, for instance, has developed an ultralow-power microcontroller.11
  • RFID antennas. Tags and receivers both depend on antennas to send and receive data. Passive RFID tags are especially dependent on antenna design because they have to collect energy to power the tag and radiate signal back to the readers.12
  • Long-range active tags. 2.45 GHz active tags and readers are currently available, but development will continue to extend the readable range.

Establishing standards for RFID components and engaging in multiple proof-of-concept projects through cost-effective consortia will probably increase the pace of RFID technology adoption in the upstream oil and gas industry.

Sam Falsafi, senior director of business solutions at Houston-based Shipcom Wireless, told OGJ, “RFID is not only about trying to gain efficiencies and extract additional value from core assets, it’s about enabling process intelligence.”

References

  1. Konarski, Konrad, and Falsafi, Sam, “RFID Oil and Gas White Paper,” July 10, 2008.
  2. Bacheldor, Beth, “Rugged Tags Survive Deep-Sea Test,” RFID Journal, May 29, 2008, www.rfidjournal.com.
  3. “Update on Sonardyne Projects,” Oceanology International 2008 Show Daily, Mar. 13, 2008, p. 14.
  4. Durham, Louise S., “Global Business has Local Hurdles,” AAPG Explorer, March 2008.
  5. “Subsea RFID,” Hydro International Product News, Nov. 27, 2006, www.hydro-international.com/news.
  6. Johansen, Rune, “Elektronisk monstring pa Statfjord,” http://www.salemauto.adsl24.co.uk/pts/images/Aktuelt%209%2016-17a.pdf.
  7. O’Connor, Mary Catherine, “ChevronTexaco takes RFID offshore,” RFID Journal, Jan. 17, 2004, www.rfidjournal.com.
  8. Swedberg, Claire, “Tough RFID Tag Strikes Oil,” RFID Journal, May 23, 2008, www.rfidjournal.com.
  9. McCabe, Kelly, “‘Pioneering’ RFID Systems Take on the Oil Field,” Nov. 9, 2007, www.manufacturing.net/RFID-In-The-Oil-Field.aspx
  10. Fiatech’s “Smart Chips Project,” www.fiatech.org/projects/ijs/schips.htm.
  11. Zampolli, Stefano, Elmi, Ivan, et al., “Ultra-low-power components for an RFID Tag with physical and chemical sensors,” Berlin: Springer-Verlag, Microsystem Technologies, Vol. 14, Issue 4, March 2008, pp. 581-88.
  12. Banks, Jerry, and Thompson, Les G., “Understanding RFID part 4: The black art of RFID antennas,” RFID News, July 31, 2007, www.rfidnews.org/library.