Canadian Midstream Operator Logistics Project

One of the largest midstream oil and gas operators in Canada, gathered, processed, transported, and stored and marketed energy. The company serviced oil and gas producers in Western Canada and transported natural gas liquids such as propane, ethane, butane, condensate, and iso-octane to markets throughout North America. 

One of the most significant infrastructure projects under development in Alberta, the KAPS pipeline project, was approved for development in May of 2019. The pipeline system, also the longest the client would be operating at start-up, was expected to be in-service in the first half of 2023 and would transport NGL and condensate from the liquids-rich Montney and Duvernay in northwestern Alberta with initial connections into fractionation assets (KFS) and condensate systems (FSCS) at Fort Saskatchewan.  

The Canadian midstream operator and Energy Transfer Midstream ULC ("Energy Transfer") developed this world-class pipeline under a 50/50 joint venture agreement. They had nine gas plants operating in northwestern Alberta by 2022 with access to approximately 2.25 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas processing capacity and 130,000 barrels per day of condensate handling facilities.   

The project was anchored by multiple long-term agreements, averaging 14 years in length with 75% take-or-pay commitments, as well as specific facility and area dedications. The customer base for KAPS was broad and included meaningful commitments from investment-grade counterparties. The firm volume commitments over the length of the agreements made up over 60% of the initial aggregate capacity of the pipeline system, leading to the requirement for a robust logistics management solution that was efficient, effective, and scalable.  

To support the KAPS capital project, our partners at Elite Energy Consultants used their clients' Supply & Operations team identified a requirement for a solution (People, Process, Technology). This then allowed them to support the management of logistics processes for the KAPS pipeline system, scheduled for wet commissioning in January of 2023. 

The project scope was to implement a solution that would manage the following key logistic processes and would include the potential to expand/extend the system or transfer the solution to other end-user pipelines:  

• Nominations 
• Scheduling
• Component Balancing
• Line Fill
• Inventory Allocation
• Losses
• EQ (Equalisation)

The current logistics processes for the Canadian midstream operator are mostly manual consisting of Excel spreadsheets and manual manipulation of data to support the entire pipeline logistics lifecycle. The project will systemise those manual processes and integrate with their commercial system to provide an efficient, standardised, automated and scalable solution pipeline logistics solution. 

Challenges

The client approached EnergySys as part of a preliminary evaluation for a solution (People, Process and Technology (EnergySys)) to conduct nominations/scheduling, component balancing, equalisation, inventory allocation, losses and Line-fill activities to support the logistics operations of the new capital pipeline project (KAPS).  

Following a successful demo, we were invited to participate in a tender process, led by our Platinum Reseller Partner, Elite Energy Consultants. 

Methodology

The client led a rigorous RFP process with multiple demonstrations, stages gates and client engagement meetings, ultimately culminating in Elite being selected as the preferred vendor.   

Their previous experience with implementing EnergySys for pipeline management meant they were able to support the client with expert industry and EnergySys knowledge.   

Elite were able to demonstrate the true value of their skills combined with EnergySys’ low-code software to meet the end users' challenges, employing Elite’s proven “factory model” methodology to the discovery, design and implementation phases 

A key feature of the solution was to capture, validate, store, report on and disseminate data in the platform. Integrating with key commercial systems has been key to the success of the project.   

While the project scope will include additional asset implementations, the system has been designed to scale EnergySys to support "in-house” additional asset onboarding with ease, thus, reducing costs of technology implementations, solution upgrades and capital project implementation costs.   

Outcomes

EnergySys offered the client a highly flexible, secure, and resilient solution that met their needs while delivering exceptional value. In addition to the initial solution, several super users have attended the EnergySys Application Builder Training to support them in managing, sustaining and improving the EnergySys solution post project completion.   

A key contributing factor for the Canadian midstream operator choosing Elite and the EnergySys platform to systemise the client’s manual logistics processes was the ability for the team to be self-sufficient post project in the management, sustainment and future enhancement of their EnergySys instance. 

Contact information:

Kumar Gaurav, Global Product Owner, Elite Energy Consultants

Email: kumar.gaurav@ei-cs.com