OMV Exploration & Production GmbH

Philosophy
for
Wellhead Control Systems
Onshore

Document Number
TO-HQ-02-022-00

00 Final Issue PJ 27/5/05 JEA 31/5/05 PZ 31/5/05 MF 3/6/05

A2 Client Comments Incorporated PJ 4/4/05

A1 Issued for Comment / Approval SCK 17/12/04

Issue Issue or Revision Description Origin Date Chk Date Appd Date Appd Date
Rev By d By By By
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Revision Description of revision

A1 Issued for Comment / Approval
A2 Client Comments Incorporated
00 Final Issue

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Contents

1.0 PREFACE .......................................................................................................................4

2.0 DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................................4

3.0 ABBREVIATIONS...........................................................................................................4

4.0 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................5

5.0 APPLICABLE CODES, STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS........................................5

5.1 Codes and standards list .......................................................................................................... 5
5.2 References ................................................................................................................................. 6

6.0 SYSTEM GOAL ..............................................................................................................7

7.0 SYSTEM BOUNDARIES ................................................................................................7

8.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS .........................................................................................7

9.0 WELLHEAD CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN...................................................................8

9.1 Monitoring and Controls ........................................................................................................... 9
9.2 Shutdown Requirements ........................................................................................................ 10
9.3 Materials ................................................................................................................................... 11
9.4 Hydraulic Power Unit............................................................................................................... 11

10.0 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................13

10.1 General ..................................................................................................................................... 13

11.0 MAINTENANCE IN DESIGN ........................................................................................14

12.0 DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS.........................................................................14

13.0 CERTIFYING AUTHORITY REVIEW REQUIREMENTS..............................................15

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1.0 PREFACE

This Philosophy defines the OMV Exploration & Production GmbH corporate
policy on the design of remotely operated Wellhead Control Systems for
onshore hydrocarbon production and processing facilities. The document
specifies basic requirements and criteria, defines the appropriate codes and
standards, and assists in the standardisation of facilities design across all
onshore operations.

The design process needs to consider project specific factors such as the
location, production composition, production rates and pressures, the
process selected and the size of the plant. This philosophy aims to address
a wide range of the above variables, however it is recognised that not all
circumstances can be covered. In situations where project specific
considerations may justify deviation from this philosophy, a document
supporting the request for deviation shall be submitted to OMV E&P for
approval.

Reference should be made to the parent of this philosophy, document

number TO-HQ-02-001 for information on deviation procedures and
Technical Authorities, general requirements and definitions and
abbreviations not specific to this document.

2.0 DEFINITIONS

The following definition is relevant to this document.

Wellhead The overall equipment package used for the monitoring,

Control Systems control, shutdown of the wellhead and supply of motive
power to the wellhead safety valves

3.0 ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations are relevant to this document.

POS Process override switch
WHCP Wellhead Control Panel

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4.0 INTRODUCTION

Wellheads and their flow lines may be at risk from fires, earthquakes,
landsides, storms, sabotage and collision etc.

The purpose of the wellhead control system is to provide protection against

abnormal conditions by automatically closing the well or enabling the well to
be closed from a safe location.

The wellhead control panel also reduces the risk to operations personnel as it
provides the facility to monitor, operate and control the well from a safe
location. The wellhead control system can also provide well information such
as pressures, temperatures, position of valves and the status of equipment.

This document describes the philosophy for designing Wellhead Control Systems
for onshore plants to provide a means to protect and reduce the risk associated
with the hazards to ALARP.
Design will vary greatly from wells on rod pump, to ESPs to flowing high
pressure sour gas wells. This philosophy will be applied according to the
practical requirements of the specific case.

5.0 APPLICABLE CODES, STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Codes, standards and regulations referred to in this philosophy shall be of the

latest edition and shall be applied in the following order of precedence: -
Local Regulations,

The provision of this document,

International standards (e.g. ISO, IEC etc),

National standards.

Design of the wellhead control system shall comply with the standards listed
within this philosophy, however, for instances where local standards are more
onerous local standards shall apply.

5.1 Codes and standards list

API 14B Recommended practice for design installation and repair and
operation of subsurface safety valve systems.

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API 14C Recommended practice for analysis, design, installation and

testing of basic surface safety systems for offshore production
platforms.
(Note although this has been written for offshore operations it
shall also be used for the purpose of onshore operations with
exceptions noted within this document.)
ISO 4406 Hydraulic fluid power - Fluids - Method for coding the level of
contamination by solid particles
IEC 60331 Tests for electric cables under fire conditions

5.2 References
TO-HO-02-001 Develop Process Engineering Guidelines and Design
Philosophies Overview
TO-HO-02-011 Philosophy for Electrical Design Onshore
TO-HO-02-014 Philosophy for Electrical Cabling Design Onshore
TO-HO-02-017 Philosophy for Motors, Drives and Transformers
Onshore
TO-HO-02-016 Philosophy for Earthing, Bonding and Lightning
Protection Onshore
TO-HQ-02-021 Philosophy for Process Control Systems Onshore
TO-HQ-02-023 Philosophy for Safety Integrity Levels Onshore
TO-HQ-02-024 Philosophy for Emergency and Process Shutdown
Systems Onshore
TO-HQ-02-025 Philosophy for Fire and Gas Systems Onshore
TO-HQ-02-034 Philosophy for Isolation of Process Systems Onshore
TO-HQ-02-035 Philosophy for Overpressure Protection and
Safeguarding Onshore
TO-HQ-02-036 Philosophy for Flare, Relief and Blowdown Onshore
TO-HQ-02-037 Philosophy for Piping Design Onshore
TO-HQ-02-039 Philosophy for Rotating and Reciprocating Equipment
Onshore

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6.0 SYSTEM GOAL

The goal of the wellhead control system is firstly to protect personnel and
secondly to protect plant and equipment, to help prevent pollution of the
environment and to minimise process downtime.

The wellhead control system shall achieve its goal by:

Automatically sensing abnormal operation of equipment and process

running out with the normal operating envelope.

Automatically shutting wellheads to a safe state under a controlled

manner on detection of abnormal condition.

Providing local and remote manual facilities for the shutdown and
isolation of wellheads.

Providing audible and visual alarm information to alert the Operator

and to enable the Operator to assess the equipment status.

7.0 SYSTEM BOUNDARIES

The boundary of the wellhead control system is the:

Interface to the PCS,
Interface to the safety system,
Interface with the wellhead valve actuators.
Interface with electrical equipment
Interface with communication system

8.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The wellhead control panel (WHCP) shall be designed in accordance with API14B
and API 14C.
Where E/E/PES shutdown, control and monitoring systems are supplied as part
of the wellhead control panel these controls shall follow the requirements for
remote I/O as detailed in Document Nos TO-HQ-02-024 - Philosophy for
Emergency and Process Shutdown Systems Onshore and TO-HQ-02-021 -
Philosophy for Process Control Systems Onshore.

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Electrical components shall comply with Document Nos TO-HQ-02-011 -

Philosophy for Electrical Design Onshore and TO-HQ-02-016 - Philosophy for
Earthing, Bonding and Lightning Protection Onshore.
The selection of pumps, filters and mechanical equipment shall be in accordance
with Document No TO-HQ-02-039 - Philosophy for Rotating and Reciprocating
Equipment Onshore.
Piping and piping components shall comply with Document No TO-HQ-02-052 -
Philosophy for Pipeline Mechanical Design Onshore.

9.0 WELLHEAD CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN

Wellhead control system design is dependent on the type of well and the hazards
which are present. Typical well types are as follows:
Natural Flowing Wells,
Mechanical Lift Wells (Electric Submersible Pump or Beam Pump),
Gas Lift Wells,
Water Injection Wells.
Wellheads consist of some or all of the following common Well Components:
SSSV Hydraulically Subsurface Safety Valve
LMV Manual Lower Master Valve
UMV-SSV Hydraulically Actuated Upper Master Surface Safety
Valve
WV-SSV Hydraulically Actuated Wing Surface Safety Valve
KWV Manual Kill Wing valve
SV Manual Swab Valve
Pressure gauges (tubing, annulus and flow line pressure indication)
Pressure transmitters (tubing, annulus and flow line pressure indication
and high and low pressure alarms)
Pressure transmitters (low and high-level pressure trips)
Temperature transmitters,
Pneumatic fusible loop fire detection
Miscellaneous systems such as sand monitoring systems

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Flow control (Choke Valve, ESP motor speed)

Manual Push-Button Shutdown facilities
The requirement to include a subsurface safety valve (SSSV) is dependent on
several factors. These include the wells ability to sustain natural flow, local
regulations and risk analysis.
A common approach shall be applied to the design of the wellhead control panel.
The needs and requirements for a wellhead control panel are also determined by
a wells production rate, pressure, artificial lift method (if any) and any other risks
such as sour gas.
The wellhead control panel shall be designed to interface with the hydraulically
actuated subsurface safety valves and surface safety valves on each wellhead (if
installed).
The wellhead control panel shall be designed to monitor, control, and shutdown
each individual well from a safe location. The wellhead panel shall perform the
actions instructed by the safety system. The wellhead control panel may also
perform the logic function for wellhead trips due to high and low flow line pressure
and/or fire and gas systems.
The wellhead control panel design shall consider the geographical and physical
layout of the wellheads, for example remote individual wells may be provided with
dedicated individual hydraulic controls while concentrated wellhead clusters may
have a large common hydraulic control panel. Examples: for beam pumps, high
flowline pressure switches can be used to isolate power to the motor.
Alternatively, for high pressure sour gas wells, all controls mentioned could be
incorporated.

9.1 Monitoring and Controls

Process Control Equipment and instrumentation shall be in accordance with
Document No TO-HQ-02-021 - Philosophy for Process Control Systems
Onshore.
Control and monitoring parameters shall be selected based on the design and
operational requirements. The wellhead control panel should monitor the
following parameters:
Wellhead Pressure and Temperature
Flow line Pressure and temperature
Position of each wellhead valve
Hydraulic pressure supplied to each wellhead valve actuator
Hydraulic pressure of each supply manifold
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Common / Equipment Alarms

Other signals may also be provided as required for example:
Tubing and casing Pressures
Down hole instrument signals.
Choke position and control.
Pressure gauges, control valve position indication and controls shall be provided
at the wellhead panel to monitor and control the hydraulic power unit, hydraulic
distribution and all well controls.
Additional monitoring requirements may be required depending on the level of
Operator intervention required. For example additional control and alarm facilities
would be needed where full remote control and monitoring of the well is required
from the plant control room.

9.2 Shutdown Requirements

The production wellheads shall be tripped by the following shutdown levels:
Level 2 shutdown shall cause all wing, surface and subsurface safety
valves to close.
Level 3 shutdown shall cause all wing and master surface safety valves
to close
Level 4 shutdown shall cause all wing and master surface safety valves
to close
Level 5 shutdown caused by individual well protection, shall cause the
associated wells wing and master valves to close
Tripped wellhead equipment shall be manually reset at the wellhead control panel
to enable equipment to return to the operating state. Where wellheads are
distributed over a large area remote reset of level 5 shutdowns may be permitted.
Instruments or equipment that is part of safety system or perform safety shutdown
functions shall conform to Document No TO-HQ-02-024 - Philosophy for
Emergency and Process Shutdown Systems Onshore.
The wellhead shutdown controls shall be designed to the fail-safe principle.
Wellhead valves shall be hydraulically actuated, fail-safe, spring to close.
Local shutdown facilities shall be provided at the panel to close individual wells
and overall well shutdowns.
The shut down controls and functions shall be designed to override any control
functions.
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Valve timing functions shall be provided by the safety system in conjunction with
the wellhead control system.
Wellhead valves shall be closed in the following sequence:
Wing Valve
Master Valve
Down hole Valve.
Failure of a timing device shall not inhibit the closure of subsequent valves.
An interlock circuit shall ensure that wellhead valves can only be opened in the
following sequence:
Down hole Valve
Master Valve
Wing Valve.
Start-up overrides and Maintenance overrides shall comply with the requirements
detailed in Document No TO-HQ-02-024 - Philosophy for Emergency and
Process Shutdown Systems Onshore.
Controls shall be designed to allow well work over / intervention activities.
Facilities shall be provided to replace and override the normal control and
shutdown functions under these circumstances.

9.3 Materials
The wellhead panel shall be constructed of materials suitable for the environment
and life of the plant.
Stainless steel is preferred for use with hydraulic pipe work, reservoirs and other
components. Materials for use with the hydraulic fluid should be chosen to ensure
system cleanness.
Selection of tube and fittings shall be in accordance with Document No TO-HQ-
02-021 - Philosophy for Process Control Systems Onshore.

9.4 Hydraulic Power Unit

The wellhead control panel shall be supplied with a hydraulic power unit (HPU).
The HPU shall comprise of the following components:
hydraulic reservoir,
hydraulic fluid filters,
accumulators,
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pressure supply pumps,

Additional equipment may be required for certain applications for example:
Hydraulic Return Tank, clean-up pump and filtration circuit. (Where the
hydraulic return fluid is expected to be contaminated)
Main system components, reservoirs, filters, accumulators, pumps etc shall have
sufficient access to allow removal, operation, and maintenance.
The hydraulic reservoir shall be sized so the normal fluid operating level is within
the maximum and minimum operating levels. The maximum and minimum
operating level of the reservoir shall be within the high and low alarm and trip
levels.
The reservoir shall be sized considering the worst case conditions presented by:
total system supply and return line volumes,
actuator and accumulator supply volumes,
return volume from actuators and accumulators,
accumulators shall be considered with the minimum precharge,
any site specific equipment shall also considered (i.e. Hydraulic Return
Tanks),
an allowance of 10% shall be provided for leakage under normal
operation,
plus and additional 10% spare capacity.
The reservoir shall be provided with a fill port fitted with strainer and a drain
located at the lowest base point.

Accumulator precharge equipment (nitrogen bottles and regulators) shall be

provided as part of the wellhead control panel. Exceptions to this may be
considered where wellheads and control panels are spread out over a large area
and portable precharge equipment is provided.
The accumulator shall be sized to prevent frequent cycling of hydraulic pressure
supply pumps. As a minimum, the accumulators should be sized to allow opening
all the valves on a single wellhead and maintain the hydraulic supply pressure
above its minimum for a minimum period of 1 hour.
Accumulators on an HPU servicing multiple wellheads shall be sized to open a
minimum of 25% of the valves controlled by the panel.
The rate at which the pumps shall recharge the pressure in the accumulators from
the minimum operating pressure shall meet the operating requirement specified

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for the plant. A recharge rate of 5 minutes should be specified where no

operating requirement has been specified.
The hydraulic fluid and its associated equipment shall be designed to operate and
maintain a cleanness equal to or better than ISO 4406 17/15/12. Duplex filters
with high-pressure by-pass and clear/blocked indicators shall be provided at the
outlet of each pump to maintain cleanness.
Suction strainers shall be fitted to all pumps.
Where multiple hydraulic pressure applications are required these shall be
implemented by separate pump circuits. Regulators shall not be used for multiple
hydraulic pressure applications.
For multiwell panels redundant pumps shall be provided for each pressure supply
circuit.
The hydraulic system shall be sized considering the required opening and closing
times of the actuated valves, fluid velocities and system pressure drops. Return
line sizes shall consider multiple well trips, fluid velocities and common return
header restrictions.
Where wellheads are equipped with subsurface safety valves, individual well
controls may be supplied with a hydraulic pressure regulator. If a regulator is not
supplied in the well controls then space to retro fit a regulator in later life shall be
provided.

10.0 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

10.1 General
The design of the wellhead control panel should take account of the following:
Life cycle costs as well as the capital cost, for example testing costs,
false trip costs, commissioning and modification costs.
Human factors.
Selection and positioning of the field equipment shall be suitable for the
process and environmental conditions.
Speed controls shall be provided to allow the opening and closing of
individual valves to be adjusted.
Electrical and instrumentation cables shall be fire resistant, resistant to
the hydraulic fluid and provided in accordance with Document No
TO-HO-02-014 Philosophy for Electrical Cabling Design Onshore.

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The wellhead panel shall be fully assembled such that all electrical,
tube, umbilical and pipe interfaces can be accessed by external tie-in
points free from obstructions.
Cables shall be routed such that they are not exposed to hydraulic fluid
leakage.
The wellhead panel shall be provided with all the necessary drip trays,
bunds and drains.

11.0 MAINTENANCE IN DESIGN

The wellhead control panel shall be designed taking maintainability into

consideration by simplifying maintenance and reducing maintenance costs where
practicable.
The wellhead control panel shall be designed such that the layout of equipment,
personnel access requirements and equipment removal shall simplify
maintenance and repair.
It shall be possible to carryout on-line repairs and routine maintenance without a
complete system shutdown.
The wellhead control panel shall be constructed on a modular basis such that it is
possible to remove, maintain and service individual well controls and allow them
to be modified to suit a particular application. Each well control module shall be
removable and interchangeable.

12.0 DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS

The following project documents should be produced as a minimum to cover the

design of the wellhead control system:
Front-end engineering design (FEED)
Plant operational philosophy
Design specification for the wellhead control system (hardware and
software).
Safe charts according to API 14C
Cause and effect drawings of safety system
Detailed design
Documents listed under FEED above.

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Functional design specification

Hydraulic Calculations
General arrangement drawings
Panel Schematic Drawings

13.0 CERTIFYING AUTHORITY REVIEW REQUIREMENTS

Some plants may require the design to be certified or validated by an

independent certification authority due to local regulations or as instructed by
OMV. Under these circumstances the certifying authority will require as a
minimum the following documents for review:
Basis of design document
Functional design specification
Cause and effect drawings
Panel Schematic Drawings
P&IDs
These should be issued to the CA in a timely manner to obtain approval before
commencing construction.

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