Watch out LPG! We are coming full speed at you…

As one of the old timers here at Entessa, I can say that we have seen our share of challenges. When I say challenges, I mean having to learn a new line of business, understand how it operates from end to end, and be able to talk about it intelligently in a relatively short amount of time. Let it be batch or fungible refined products pipelines, independent terminals, common-stream crude systems, or marine terminals, we have tackled each one at different points in Synthesis’ life span and implemented Synthesis successfully to meet our clients’ needs.

Once again it is that time for Entessa, to learn a new line of business, enhance Synthesis’ capabilities accordingly, and deliver a successful implementation. This time it is LPG.

We were recently chosen by one of the major oil&gas companies to implement Synthesis for their assets comprised of refined and crude product systems as well as LPG. As I mentioned earlier, we have dealt with refined and crude before; however, very little on LPG. In order to build the required functionality for LPG business, we first have to make sure we understand in detail how most companies operate their LPG system. This is why LPG has been under our microscope for a while now.

So far, it has been exciting for me to see how LPG differs from any other commodity we have previously worked on. As an example, LPG is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases (also known as components: propane, ethane, methane, butane, etc.). The way the operation run requires handling the inventory and billing activities at the component level. In order to break LPG down to the component level, Synthesis will need to integrate with 3^rd party component lab analysis file providers. Another example, due to the properties of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, it is hard to deliver the same component volumes that were received. This introduces the component imbalance concept, where the component level discrepancies need to be tracked and settled. Even the physical infrastructures were new to us such as the fractionators, wells, caverns, etc. I remember a time, when a colleague and I were discussing how we would handle the wells as we were very familiar with the tanks, meters, lines, and so forth but not the wells. We agreed that it would be similar to a tank except for you cannot strap and gauge a well so it is more natural; therefore, we decided to call the well an “organic” tank (maybe we should add a new device type called organic tank in Synthesis. Hmm, on second thought, maybe not…).

We still have a lot of work to do around the LPG business, but I am sure we will be able to tackle it as well and put it in our experience bag. Then, who knows what the next challenge will be? But again, as I said we still have a lot to do with LPG, so stay tuned…