Offshore Oilrig Safety Using PLC
ABSTRACT

Oil production is a fiercely competitive business. Because oil deposits are finite resources, the leased area becomes quickly and densely populated with drilling platforms and production, including pumping and transporting operations. To maximize productivity of each oil platform, all aspects of production involving monitoring and control of repetitive function need to automate.

Operating an oil and gas extraction facility offshore presents a list of difficulties. The marine environment is highly corrosive, meaning any platform erected will require intensive maintenance and upkeep platform are typically located in 150 to 350 feet of water, up to 10 miles offshore. The platforms usually must drill several thousand feet below the ocean floor to reach oil and gas deposits. When high seas and heavy winds or hurricanes approach a platform, crew must evacuate to prevent injury or loss of life. To future this end, labor-intensive, repetitive tasks such as opening and closing valves, monitoring levels etc must be automated.

The obvious benefits are to reduce cost and ensure timely completion of tasks. The programmable logic controller (PLC) serves extensively to continuously monitor and handle routine operations. The PLC allows valve status; fluid levels, and also allows a platform to shutdown during emergency and thus avoids damage to the equipments. Thus PLC's are widely used in oilrigs.