NIS has made automatic the operation at almost all of its production wells with a view to efficiently manage the production, improve the accuracy of measurement of the extracted crude oil and gas and reduce the production costs. This was made possible by an ultimate production wells automation system, which monitors oil pipelines, with a high level of personnel safety and environment protection. The incorporation of this equipment for automation and remote data transfer brings down to a minimum the risk of eco accidents in the aftermath of the pipeline perforations. NIS commenced the project in 2010, with almost 90 per cent of production wells covered by this automatic monitoring system, which centralises all operational data, such as: electricity and gas consumption, dispatch of crude, fluids, tank area and pressure and temperature measurements. Crude oil and natural gas are extracted from 42 fields: 14 crude, 12 gas and 16 mixed. To mention the major ones: Velebit, Kikinda, Rusanda, Elemir, and gas bearing Mokrin, Međa, Martonoš. A total of a billion dinars is allocated to fund the production wells automation project. The outstanding ten per cent of the production well are to be inspected by the end of this year. In addition to this, in 2014, NIS undertakes to synchronise its automation and data processing system with its Gazprom Neft counterpart, to bring about two-way communication and consolidate production processes. Aleksandar Stašuk, head of industrial automation and metrology department assessed that “the automated monitoring of almost all production wells has streamlined the Exploration and Production business processes, bringing about better performance and efficiency. All data concerning the production process are always easily accessible at all management levels, process being more easily analysed and potential process problems swiftly detected. All this ensures quality decision-making.
