Saudi Aramco President and CEO Abdallah S. Jum’ah has inaugurated the Saudi Aramco Operations Coordination Center’s state-of-the-art video wall. The curved row of massive video screens — totaling 67 meters in length and three meters in height — is divided into five sections, each representing a major area of company operations — Refined Product Network, Terminal Planning and Scheduling, Crude Network, Gas and NGL Network and Electric Power Distribution. The new video wall replaces the previous display system, which was composed of tiled mapboards with LED readouts.
The Operations Coordination Center (OCC) is part of Saudi Aramco’s Oil Supply Planning and Scheduling (OSPAS) Department. The new OCC video wall serves as a nerve center for all Saudi Aramco operations and displays all activities in real-time. In short, it integrates the critical operations in oil, gas, shipping, pipelines and refining that define Saudi Aramco.
Jum’ah said the OSPAS facility is a source of pride for Saudi Aramco. “It has been one of the best representations of our values of excellence and reliability,” he said. “When visitors from all over the world see the OSPAS OCC, they are impressed with both the technology, and the sense of pride and purpose they see in the people who control the flow of hydrocarbons along this giant system of pipelines and production and shipping facilities.”
The video wall is the largest used in the hydrocarbon and power industry. “The map-board information is displayed in a global format, which is easy to view at all times, and this allows us to quickly detect problems before they reach a critical condition,” said PMT Senior Project Engineer Saleh Al-Saikhan. “It also helps us effectively find vital information during field emergency situations.”
According to Abdul Majeed A. Al-Abdul Hadi, business systems analyst, the new video wall consists of 150 separate screens, constructed to form a matrix of 50 columns by three rows, which is divided into five separate sections. Each section is controlled individually. The video wall uses state-of-the-art Digital Light Processing technology (DLP). The image is formed by reflecting lights from Digital Micro-mirror Device chips, where every single pixel is represented by a micro mirror.
The displayed image on the video wall is the controlling computer screen display. Operators can switch between multiple displays, where each display provides additional useful information. The video wall also can display information from several systems, such as an e-map, drawing management systems, real-time control systems, and live video from sources such as plant surveillance cameras.
Easily understood symbols and colors show the interrelationship of refining, shipping, and oil and gas operations. For example, tankers scheduled for loading at the terminals have two colors of anchors to illustrate whether or not a pilot is on board, and an image of a rope shows that the ships are docked at the pier. The graphics can also drill down to increase the level of detail needed by the planners.
This flexibility allows the control center to closely monitor every activity along the control chain of Saudi Aramco’s hydrocarbons. There are thousands of remote terminals that monitor hydrocarbon activity and relay data to the OCC. In addition, OCC staff members are constantly in contact with employees at plants, refineries, GOSPs (gas-oil separation plants), terminals and elsewhere.