Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia, is the world's largest oil corporation in terms of proven crude oil reserves and production. At the end of 2006, its annual production of crude oil neared 3.4 billion barrels. In addition, Aramco managed over 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia alone, totaling at least 264 billion barrels of oil reserves and 253 quadrillion scf of gas reserves.

As their oil and gas fields are often spread across vast distances in a severe desert climate, Aramco needed a reliable monitoring system to address harsh environmental conditions. At the same time, a high bandwidth for transmitting data, voice, and video was also needed for better wellhead monitoring

System Tequirements

• Industrial-grade devices that are capable of operating under extreme temperatures
• An efficient network with high bandwidth for data, voice, and video transmission
• A reliable network for long-distance transmission between oil and gas fields
• Certified explosion-proof and dust-ignition-proof devices for hazardous locations
• Fast auto-recovery in case the network goes down

System Description
The operation includes 500 oil, gas, and water wells spread out over a large region in the KHURAIS area. Aramco developed a remote monitoring system, including wellhead SCADA and CCTV systems and wellhead control automation, which includes compressor control, pumping unit control, gas lift control, and injection control. RTUs (Remote Terminal Units) and PLCs are used to collect and forward the data. IP phone, CCTV, and Moxa's VPort 351-T are also implemented onsite for maintenance and security service. Each oilfield uses a VPort 351-T industrial video encoder that connects to the camera through a coaxial cable, and the other side connects to Moxa's EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T industrial managed Ethernet switches for encoding and transmitting video images.

Moxa's EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T industrial managed Ethernet switches were chosen to connect these devices and form a communication network with GOSP (Gas Oil Separation Process) substations. Each substation uses Ethernet switches to connect to the main ring topology, and the reliability of the network is enhanced by coupling sub-rings together. The ring topology and coupling are realized with the EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T switches, which support Turbo Ring redundancy with a recovery time of less than 20 ms.

With an open standard Ethernet and Gigabit port design, the EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T can fulfill the voice, video, and data transmission needs of oil well monitoring, and its extended operating temperature range (-40 to 75°C) is especially well suited for applications in harsh industrial environments. In addition, the EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T switches are DNV and Class 1, Div.2 certified to ensure reliable operation and communication between oil and gas fields and the central substation.

Products
EDS-510A-1GT2SFP-T: 7+3G-port Gigabit managed Ethernet switch (wide temperature model)
VPort 351-T: Full motion, 1-channel MJPEG/MPEG4 industrial video encoder (wide temperature model)

Benefits

• The EDS-510A-T model provides a -40 to 75°C wide operating temperature suitable for both hot and cold environments
• The EDS-510A's Gigabit port can transmit massive amounts of data, voice, and video
• The EDS-510A is Class 1, Div.2 certified for hazardous locations

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