Anonymous Latin American Petroleum Company

A leading Latin American petroleum company needed to improve water injection management to increase oil recovery. Instability in water transfer and injection processes caused injection or transfer pumps to shut off completely during operational disturbances, leading to significant oil production losses. No control loops were in place despite a high level of automation.

Rockwell Automation implemented a Model Predictive Control (MPC) solution to increase water injection, reduce variability of injected flow, reduce energy consumption, and create a stable system. The solution managed the complex relationship between water injection rates and oil production.

Energy consumption was reduced by 3% and the company now produces 548 more barrels of oil per day. The water transfer and injection process became stable, eliminating the costly shutdowns that previously occurred during operational disturbances.

• MPC technology can simultaneously optimize multiple process variables including water injection stability and energy usage
• Addressing process instability in water injection directly unlocks incremental oil production without new wells
• A 3% energy reduction at this scale translates to significant emissions and cost savings