60 Oil & Gas Technology | www.cavendishgroup.cn

Gas to liquids (GTL) technology enables Qatar – in partnership with Shell – to open up new opportunities in new markets, monetizing its enormous natural gas

resources through the creation of high-quality, easy-to-export liquid fuels.

The facility processes 1.6 billion cubic feet of wellhead gas per day to remove contaminants and refine natural gas liquids. Using the proprietary Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis process, Pearl GTL converts output from the world’s largest non-associated gas field into fuels, lubricants and other high-quality products that Shell ships to markets around the world.

The challengeThe scale and diversity of Pearl GTL makes it an incredibly

complex operation. The building phase alone required Shell to create a private offloading quay in Ras Laffan City so it could import two million freight tons of necessary materials and equipment.

It was clear from the beginning that Pearl GTL would need a highly sophisticated software solution to manage the data coming out of a quality control system that receives a constant stream of

GTL技术让卡塔尔得以与壳牌合作，这开创了新市场领域的新

机遇，通过创造优质且易于出口的液体燃料，将其巨大的天

然气资源转化为利润。

该设施每天处理16亿立方英尺的井口处的天然气，以清除污染

物并提炼天然气液。Pearl GTL采用专利的壳牌中间馏分合成工艺，

将来自全球最大非伴生气油气田的产量转化成燃料、润滑剂及其他

优质产品，由壳牌发往全球各个市场。

挑战Pearl GTL的规模和多样性使其成为无以伦比的综合经营商。仅

在组装阶段便让壳牌在拉斯拉凡市创建了一个私人卸油码头，这样

一来，它就可以进口多达两百万吨的必要材料和设备。

很明显，从一开始，Pearl GTL就需要一个极其成熟的软件解决

方案来管理来自质量控制系统的数据，这个系统可以收到34,000个

传输测量值的稳定数据流。这些试验对内容、体积、排放量、设备

情况以及数百个与这种运营有关的其他问题进行了细致的检验。除

了收集和存储之外，还需要对数据进行组织、综合及分析，以确保

产品质量、装置及顾客安全、环境保护和生产效率。

“这是一个Pearl GTL之前从未尝试过的项目规模，”卡塔尔壳

牌GTL的高级商业分析员Ajith Kumar说。“由于有着数十亿美元的

投资以及数以万计的庞杂工作，因此数据管理是重中之重。为了快

速做出决定，以便最大程度地提高产量，我们需要始终掌握简练而

精确的信息。”

Pearl GTL has no shortage of world records: established by Shell and Qatar Petroleum in 2006, the facility includes the largest GTL plant and one of the largest instrumentation and control systems anywhere on earth

The world’s largest GTL facility runs on LIMS

Pearl GTL从不缺少世界纪录：该设施于2006年由壳牌和卡塔尔石油公司建立，包括最大型的GTL装置以及一个全球最大型测量控制系统

实验室信息管理系统(LIMS)配备全球最大的气体转液体设施

该设施每天处理16亿立方英尺的井口天然气，以清除污染物并提炼天然气液The facility processes 1.6 billion cubic feet of wellhead gas per day to remove contaminants and refine natural gas liquids

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精炼与加工Refining & Processing

此外，壳牌和卡塔尔还需要一个能够确保Pearl GTL实验室始终

符合ISO 17025及其他标准的解决方案，并且能够进行数据检索，以

便在进行审核时展示其符合性。

LIMS雪中送炭有了这么多取得成功的先决条件，Pearl GTL还需要一个可靠的

解决方案。正确的LIMS系统能够让Pearl GTL的取样程序满足其设计

师的目标。它能够提供精确而公正的信息，让壳牌在获利的前提下

维持最高安全标准、符合法规和履行其环保承诺。事实上，LIMS通

过对试验数据进行检测来提高Pearl GTL的底线，这能够让管理者做

出有效的商业决策。

由于经营具有复杂性，因此并非任何LIMS解决方案都能行得

通。除了组织样品结果之外，还需要整合Pearl GTL的LIMS系统，

并且使其与其他多种系统进行沟通，包括经营管理、批次跟踪和ERP

系统。如果没有将LIMS与现有的企业系统进行整合，那么像Pearl

GTL公司这种规模的合资公司想要获得成功几乎是不可能的事。现

34,000 transmitted measurements. These tests gauge well content, volume, emissions, equipment condition and hundreds of other issues integral to the plant’s operation. In addition to collection and storage, the data also needed to be organized, integrated and analysed to ensure product quality, plant and customer safety, environmental protection and production efficiency.

“A project of Pearl GTL’s magnitude hasn’t been attempted before,” Ajith Kumar, senior business analyst for Qatar Shell GTL, says. “With billions of investor dollars and tens of thousands of jobs at stake, data management was a major priority. To maximise production with quick decisions, we needed condensed, accurate information at our fingertips at all times.”

Additionally, Shell and Qatar needed a solution that would ensure that Pearl GTL’s labs remained in compliance with ISO 17025 and other standards at all times and could retrieve data that demonstrated compliance in the event of an audit.

LIMS to the rescueWith so many prerequisites for success, Pearl GTL needed a

proven solution. The right LIMS would allow Pearl GTL’s sampling program to meet its designers’ sophisticated ambitions. It would present accurate, unbiased information that enabled Shell to maintain the highest standards of safety, regulatory compliance and environmental commitment without sacrificing financial performance. In fact, a LIMS would enhance Pearl GTL’s bottom line by collating testing data, which allows managers to make impactful business decisions quickly.

Given the operation’s complexity, not just any LIMS solution would do. In addition to organizing sample results, Pearl GTL’s LIMS would be need to be fully integrated and communicate with a variety of other systems, including operations management, batch tracking and ERP systems. Without full integration of the LIMS to existing enterprise systems, making a venture the size and scale of Pearl GTL successful would be nearly impossible. Shell chose Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS for its state-of-the-art testing laboratories, because the solution offered unparalleled support for each of the Pearl GTL facility’s stringent requirements.

Better production through automation and integrationOne of Shell’s principal reasons for choosing the LIMS

was its ability to work with other systems. At Pearl GTL, the LIMS is integrated with an operations management system (known as OTTER), process historian (PI), the oil movement and batch tracking system, laboratory instruments and other production systems.

The way the LIMS integrates with PI is a particular source of efficiency for Shell and Qatar Petroleum at Pearl GTL. Where some labs manually send test results to operations, technologists and process engineers, among other users, at Pearl GTL results

Pearl GTL的巨大规模和多样性使其成为无以伦比的综合经营商The scale and diversity of Pearl GTL makes it an incredibly complex operation

62 Oil & Gas Technology | www.cavendishgroup.cn

代化测试实验室，壳牌选择了Thermo Scientific SampleManager

LIMS，这是由于该解决方案针对Pearl GTL设施的每项严格要求，均

提供了无以伦比的支持。

通过自动化和集成来提高产量壳牌选择LIMS的根本原因之一是其能够与其他系统兼容。在

Pearl GTL，LIMS能够与经营管理系统(即OTTER)、工艺历史(PI)

、油转运和批次跟踪系统、实验室用仪表及其他生产系统集成在

一起。

LIMS与PI相集成的方式是壳牌和卡塔尔石油公司在Pearl GTL

的一个特别效率源。由于某些实验室会人工将试验结果发送给操作

人员、工艺师、工艺工程师以及其他用户，因此在Pearl GTL，只

要经过SampleManager授权，PI系统内的所有相关各方就都可以获

得结果。这意味着许多从事品质采样的雇员都会实时接收到其所需

的信息。

实验室数据的另一个重要使用者便是Pearl GTL的油动及批次跟

踪系统。同样，LIMS可消除等待时间，从而提高了效能。例如，当

操纵台作业员需要将油运输到新油罐中准备装船时，他们不必等待

试验结果报告，这最大程度地降低了装载延迟所造成的滞期费，滞

become available to all relevant parties within the PI system as soon as they are authorised in SampleManager. This means that the many employees whose work hinges on quality sampling are receiving the information they need in real time.

Another critical consumer of lab data is Pearl GTL’s oil movement and batch tracking system. Again, the LIMS creates efficiencies by eliminating wait times. When panel operators need to move oil to new tanks in preparation for shipping, for example, they do not have to wait to be notified of test results, minimizing demurrage charges for loading delays that can cost as much as $35,000 per day. As soon as the results have been issued in the lab, LIMS notifies operators through the oil movement system, with which it is seamlessly integrated. Since Pearl GTL opened, the facility has incurred no demurrage charges, an incredible feat for an operation so large.

A LIMS also helps Pearl GTL operators more efficiently collect data from the field for analysis in the lab. Using the OTTER system, all sample points in the field are marked with radio frequency identification tags. When field operators perform sample rounds,

精炼与加工Refining & Processing

在Pearl GTL项目中，LIMS系统将与生产系统和实验室仪器整合在一起At Pearl GTL, the LIMS is integrated with several production systems and laboratory instruments

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64 Oil & Gas Technology | www.cavendishgroup.cn

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期费每天多达$35,000美元。实验室公布结果后，LIMS会立即经由油

转运系统通知给操作者，实现无缝集成。自Pearl GTL成立后，从

来没有出现过滞期费，对于如此大规模的经营来说，这是一个惊人

的壮举。

同时，LIMS也帮助Pearl GTL的经营者们更加有效地收集来自

油气田的数据，以便在实验室内进行分析。采用OTTER系统，所

有油气田中的样本点均可以用射频标识标签来标注。在油气田操

作人员需要采集样品时，便携式计算机可指导他们去往各个取样

点，然后自动记录所需的信息，无论此取样任务是定期进行还是

非定期进行。

“令人吃惊的是，采用OTTER系统，我们能够节省如此多的开

销，”卡塔尔壳牌GTL的实验室经理Mansoor Al-Shamri说。“

由于不再用手来记录读数，因此油气田经营者们可以更快更精确

地完成工作。最终，SampleManager实现了OTTER系统的实时性工

作。”

LIMS系统与OTTER系统充分集成，因此可以将该系统中收集到的

数据立即从油气田转发给SampleManager，由实验室后台的管理者

或技术人员进行分析，预计每年可以为Pearl GTL节约2,400个标准

工时。

a handheld computer guides them to each sample point and then automatically records the required information, whether the sampling task is routine or non-routine.

“It’s amazing how much overhead we were able to eliminate with the OTTER system,” Mansoor Al-Shamri, laboratory manager for Qatar Shell GTL, says. “Field operators can do their jobs faster and also more accurately, since they’re not recording readings by hand. And ultimately, it’s SampleManager that enables the real-time aspect of the OTTER system to be possible.”

The LIMS is fully integrated with OTTER, so the data collected in this system are instantly transferred to SampleManager from the field for analysis by managers or technicians back in the lab, saving Pearl GTL an estimated 2,400 hours worked per year.

Finally, the LIMS makes it possible for Pearl GTL to meet an increasingly crucial requirement of oil and gas laboratories: regulatory compliance. ISO 17025 established an international standard for how sampling labs manage data collection, security, instrumentation, traceability, personnel and more. By collecting

Pearl GTL将来自全球最大的非关联气田的天然气产量转化为燃料、润滑剂及其他优质产品Pearl GTL converts output from the world’s largest non-associated gas field into fuels, lubricants and other high-quality products

精炼与加工Refining & Processing

complete data records, the LIMS ensures that Pearl GTL is always in compliance with ISO 17025 and other standards. The solution also guarantees that compliance can be easily proven in the case of an audit.

ConclusionFrom the moment it broke ground in 2006, the ambitious

Pearl GTL project needed to be grounded in proven, dynamic technologies. Shell and Qatar Petroleum used a LIMS to help their ambitious vision excel by managing a highly sophisticated sample program. Pearl GTL’s testing program enables the world’s largest gas to liquids facility to operate efficiently and safely while adhering to regulations and maintaining profitability, and a LIMS is the lynchpin that makes it all possible. n

This article is written by Colin Thurston, director of product strategy, process industries, Thermo Fisher Scientific

最终，LIMS得以让Pearl GTL满足对于油气实验室来说日益重要

的要求：符合法规。ISO 17025为取样实验室如何管理数据收集、提

高安全性、管理仪表设备、提高追踪能力、管理人员及其他事项设

定了一个国际标准。通过收集完整的数据记录，LIMS可确保让Pearl

GTL始终符合ISO 17025及其他标准。该解决方案同时也确保了在审

核时能够轻松地证明其符合性。

结论从2006年创办之初，Pearl GTL项目，这一宏伟目标，便需要以

完善而强大的技术为基础。壳牌和卡塔尔石油公司采用LIMS来帮助

自己管理及其复杂的取样程序，从而超越其远大的愿景。Pearl GTL

的试验方案能够让该公司在符合法规和保证盈利的前提下，使全球

最大的气体转液体设施高效而安全地运转，而LIMS系统则是实现这

一切的关键。

本文由赛默飞世尔科技公司制造工业的产品战略总监Colin

Thurston撰写