Artificial lift monitoring

Enabling preventative maintenance of artificial lifts, minimizing costly downtime.

Viasat’s global, IP-based, real-time connectivity services IoT Nano and IoT Pro are built upon our L-band satellite network and offer up to 99.9% network availability. These services provide reliable connectivity for the remote command, control, and monitoring of high-value industrial assets, no matter where they are in the world.

Specifically designed applications and robust, lightweight hardware offer real-time access to remote monitoring and sensing devices ensuring safe and efficient transport of products.

The challenge

As time goes by, the natural flow of oil from a well tends to slow down because the pressure in the reservoir decreases. So, to increase levels of production, oil and gas companies implement artificial lift processes to apply extra pressure in the well's reservoir, pushing the oil up to the surface to help maintain or even increase the flow rate.

To ensure optimal production levels continue, oil and gas companies need to monitor artificial lift performance data, so they can make equipment adjustments and predict and carefully plan any required maintenance. This helps to avoid revenue loss and minimize safety risks relating to the integrity of the wellbore and surface facilities. If not properly managed, this can lead to accidents such as explosions and leaks, in turn causing significant financial loss and even damage to the environment.

Remote reservoirs pose challenges due to limited on-site access and poor cellular coverage. Oil and gas companies face a costly dilemma: invest in infrastructure for connectivity or send engineers for on-site assessments, the latter being both inefficient and risky.

Our solution

This solution is comprised of market-leading wireless artificial lift sensors from Viasat’s partners, backhauled by Viasat’s IoT connectivity services IoT Direct, IoT Nano or IoT Pro on our global L-band network. Our network provides military-grade safety and security, as well as top-notch reliability. Its robust capabilities operate even in adverse weather conditions, such as heavy rain.

Artificial lift solutions like this one are typically used by oilfield services companies operating over large land areas. They require secure data collection, transmission, evaluation, and interpretation to optimize the performance of artificial lift systems in real time to help prevent failures or shutdowns.

Benefits

Reducing unplanned downtime: Aging assets are more prone to expensive downtime due to wear and tear and environmental conditions. By proactively monitoring them, you can detect and rectify issues earlier, and minimize business disruption.
Reduced time and cost of monitoring artificial lifts: Remote artificial lift monitoring reduces the need for a lone worker (or team) to visit a field to monitor conditions. This can amount to huge savings, particularly over the long term.
Reducing environmental impact and the resulting fines: Fines for environmental offenses imposed by regulators cost the industry significant sums. Using satellite-enabled IoT to monitor and predictively maintain artificial lifts not only helps to protect the environment but also potentially delivers huge savings for each accident that’s averted.

Features

Real-time diagnostics: Provides the ability to remotely diagnose artificial lift data in real time.
Overcomes the connectivity divide: satellite-enabled sensors can be deployed to artificial lift sites with unreliable or non-existent terrestrial connectivity.
Fully optimized IoT gateway: Optimized for use with satellite connectivity and artificial lift monitoring sensors, keeping system costs low.
Easy set-up: Quick and easy to deploy, with compact form factor.
Self-powered: Solar panels ensure no dependency on mains power, providing complete freedom when selecting an installation site.
Rugged construction: Built to withstand the toughest natural environments, with a proven track record of deployment in extreme conditions.