SCADA in the cloud for oil and gas companies

ABB has announced a partnership with GlobaLogix to provide a SCADA software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that is based on ABB’s SCADAvantage product. The partnership is aimed at providing a robust and open SCADA service to reduce operation risks and maintenance burden, while also lowering up-front costs.

As the industry demands more security and reliability from SCADA systems, the architecture and maintenance of a system has become increasingly important. Some of the largest and most robust SCADA installations have been compromised recently and continue to operate without adequate protection.

GlobaLogix has built a highly secure and redundant cloud-based infrastructure to host ABB’s SCADA platform. The infrastructure provides access to 53 data centres in North America with 2048-bit encryption that exceeds the current US Department of Defense standards. The infrastructure also complies with the most stringent Tier 4 data centre standards from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for mission-critical computer systems. The standard requires fully redundant subsystems and compartmentalised security zones.

Additional security is provided by Citrix authentication installed on each of the client’s laptops, desktops and tablets that provide access to the cloud-hosted SCADA system. Field operators can optionally be provided with password-protected web access to read-only data and key information to reduce exposure to malicious attacks and prevent operator errors.

“This cloud-based SCADA infrastructure can save companies money and time by eliminating the need to build and maintain their own dedicated server rooms, while reducing SCADA administration costs and overall risks,” said Sandy Taylor, Head of ABB’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical business unit. “The overall return on investment time can be reduced by 25-30% or more.”

The client is given full access to a completely customised set of their own SCADA screens. All data is housed in a database historian within the cloud. As needs evolve the system can be fully convertible at any point in the future to a traditionally hosted solution on a company’s dedicated servers.

“The openness of the SCADAvantage platform allows integration with third-party software in the cloud or remotely in a traditional, private server installation”, said Charles Nesser, Business Development Manager for SCADAvantage at ABB. “Various combinations of private and cloud-based systems can create a hybrid architecture that minimises IT overhead and provides rapid commissioning and deployment into operation”, he added.

The platform also supports the plug-in of optional applications that are purpose built for upstream and midstream operations. From artificial lift to pipeline contract management and leak detection, applications can be enabled easily and configured with alarms and call-out notifications within the cloud framework at any time.

“We selected ABB’s software based on its extensive library of field device drivers and its modular approach for ancillary service capability,” said Jim Fererro, Senior Vice President at GlobaLogix. “SCADAvantage is unique in having a Pump-Off Controller module as well as a Gas Management Module for API 21.1 requirements and is also backed by one of the best names in the business, ABB.”