Automation control specialist Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS), which serves industrial process manufacturers worldwide, announced in March that it had been selected by oil and gas explorer and producer Hoang Long Joint Operating Company (HLJOC) to handle critical project management and engineering for a third oil and natural gas platform that will tap energy reserves off the coast of Vietnam.

HPS will install an integrated Honeywell control and safety solution for the TGT-H5 wellhead platform, located in Te Giac Trang (TGT) field, off the southern coast of Vietnam. This safety solution will include a new fire and gas system, to improve automation, increase cyber and physical security and improve operator effectiveness at the platform. It will also provide turnkey project management and engineering services for the new platform’s topside structures.

HPS, which is currently using the C300 process controller in critical project management to tap the oil and gas platforms, served as the main contractor and provided control and safety solutions for HLJOC’s two other platforms, which are currently operating in the TGT field.

Production plans for the TGT-H5 platform are set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. Total production from the three platforms is expected to amount to about 50 000 bbl/d of crude oil.

Meanwhile, HPS’s new contract includes engineering management and integration with the other two existing TGT platforms and the floating production storage and offloading vessel that processes the hydrocarbons produced by the platforms. The contract also includes remote monitoring services from the HLJOC office in Ho Chi Minh City.

Specific technology to be used on the H5 platform includes Experion PKS, the C300 Controller and Safety Manager software.

The C300 controller supports a variety of process control situations, including continuous and batch processes and integration with smart field devices.

It also supports the ISA S88.01 batch control standard and combines sequences with field devices, including valves, pumps, sensors and analysers. These field devices track the state of the sequences to perform preconfigured actions. This tight integration leads to quicker conversions between sequences, increasing the through- put.

Honeywell’s C300 Controller provides powerful and forceful process control for the Experion platform. Further, the Control Execution Environment (CEE) software, which performs control strategies on a constant and predictable schedule, is loaded into the C300’s memory.

This provides the execution platform for the comprehensive set of automatic control, logic, data acquisition and calculation function blocks. Each function block contains a set of predefined features, such as alarm settings and maintenance statistics. This embedded functionality guarantees consistent process control strategy execution.

Meanwhile, Honeywell offers training courses to help users configure and operate the C300 controller. The training not only covers hardware and software aspects but also provides practical guidance for implementation such as for building a CEE applicable to the controller.

Honeywell has also established training programmes for Vietnam’s workforce, including an automation college in Hanoi and a career development programme with Vietnam oil and gas group PetroVietnam. These programmes help to build skills to support the projected growth in the industry.