Recent advances in onsite data acquisition and automation of field equipment have led to the development of a new fracturing treatment control center. This mobile control center combines design, monitoring, and analysis capabilities with the ability to automatically and remotely control, from within the same unit, all of the fracturing equipment on location.

By using a computer system with increased processing power, and a sophisticated data communications network, many new capabilities are provided:

  1. All fracturing equipment on location can be monitored and/or controlled from inside the control center using a variety of operator interface screens. Set points are sent from the control center to each piece of equipment through a single communications line.

  2. More than 1200 measured and/or calculated job parameters, ranging from blender suction pressure to fracture geometry predictions, can be displayed on color monitors during the job. All data are stored internally and can be accessed at any time.

  3. Commonly used mainframe computer programs have been downloaded into the control center and can be executed in a background environment. This provides for analysis, design and, if necessary, redesign capabilities while the job is in progress.

This paper describes the system and presents field case histories to illustrate the practical use of the increased computing power and automatic and remote controls now available to help improve the efficiency of the fracturing treatment.

Keywords:
treatment design, flow rate, operation, calculation, fracturing materials, treater, upstream oil & gas, viscosity, surface pressure, hydraulic fracturing
Subjects:
Hydraulic Fracturing, Fracturing materials (fluids, proppant)
Copyright 1989, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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