Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf (of Mexico) Coast hard, followed by Hurricane Rita which knocks out

even
more rigs and refineries. Saudi Aramco has scheduled shipments of crude to those refineries. Soon, the
shipments are backing up. What to do? Cut production? Increase storage?
Build up inventory? Redirect tankers?

The hurricanes that hit the United States were severe and optimize hydrocarbon sys- Key OSPAS officials,
events that cost billions of dollars and hundreds of lives. tem capacities and inventories from right: Adel H.
Al-Dossary, OSPAS
They also caused gas prices to shoot up in the States. Like to deliver quality products to manager; Mitrik M. Al-
a pebble in a pond, the ripple effect was felt around the the customer at the right time Shaalan, shift planning
coordinator; Essam
world. However, thanks to a combination of extraordinary, and place with maximum net Al-Eissa, administrator,
highly experienced people and leading edge technology, revenue to Saudi Aramco.” Real-Time Systems
Saudi Aramco was able, literally, to weather the storms and For most people in the Division; and Maan
Shami, group leader,
continue to supply customers with the right mix of product world, the acronym OSPAS is Planning and Programs.
— and not cut back production. devoid of meaning; few people
This is what OSPAS (the Oil Supply Planning and even inside the company understand just how vital the
Scheduling Department) does every day. It is the operations organization is to the success of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
heart of Saudi Aramco. “OSPAS is the only organization and our many customers around the world.
in Saudi Aramco that has a global view,” said Adel H. “The key to understanding OSPAS, is that the organiza-
Al-Dossary, manager, OSPAS. “Our mission is to manage tion touches almost every aspect of Saudi Aramco’s opera-

14 Saudi Aramco Dimensions


tions,” said Al-Dossary. “Its participation in virtually every
project creates a solid foundation for the company’s contin-
ued success. This is a case where the right hand definitely
knows what the left hand is doing.”
OSPAS is composed of six divisions: Oil, Gas and
Natural Gas Liquids, Terminal, Refined Products, and
Supply Planning and Engineering.
The department plans, schedules, coordinates and
monitors movements (quantity and quality) of millions of
barrels of crude oil daily from all Saudi Aramco wellheads
to company terminals.
In addition, the organization also tracks refined-product
movements from five domestic and two joint venture refiner-
ies, 19 bulk plants, 18 air refueling sites, four Saudi Strategic
Storage Program complexes, and 1,600 kilometers of
refined-products pipeline. It also tracks gas and natural gas
liquids (NGL) from five gas plants, three fractionation cen-
ters and more than 5,000 km of pipeline.
Saudi Aramco also operates 44 export berths at five
marine ports, loading millions of barrels of oil, products
and natural gas each day onto enormous ocean-going
tankers that can exceed 500,000 deadweight tons.
OSPAS’s comprehensive system allows Saudi Aramco to
know exactly where, in effect, every drop of its hydrocarbons
is located at any instant in time.
Though not technically a part of OSPAS, electrical
power generation and distribution needs of Saudi
Aramco are also carefully managed on the Operations
OSPAS keeps Saudi Aramco
running smoothly, even in a crisis
Coordination Center (OCC) The biggest video wall
in the hydrocarbon
Big Board.
industry serves as a win-
But despite its multifaceted dow into Saudi Aramco
mandate, the one virtue operations in oil, gas,
refining, terminal opera-
OSPAS obsesses about is team- tions and electric power.
work. Communications is the
byword; no one is ever left in the dark about any issue.
“Open communications across all divisions is an absolute
requirement,” said Al-Dossary. “From our morning 7:05
meeting to the dozens of conference calls and quick meetings
throughout the day, we are in easy communications with all
Saudi Aramco operations people around the Kingdom and
around the world.”
In addition, OSPAS recruits its members from all over the
company — including Sales and Marketing, Engineering,
Exploration, Refining among many others — in order to
provide a complete view of Saudi Aramco’s operations. In
short, OSPAS’s people represent a cross-section of the com-
pany, and this bolsters the excellent coordination among
Saudi Aramco’s component parts.
That is important because OSPAS majors on two inter-
related jobs — long-term planning and contingency planning.
“We are constantly planning for the future,” said Ziyad
A. Azzouz, general supervisor of the Oil Division. “We try to
anticipate everything that may affect the entire span of Saudi
Aramco operations up to a decade and more in the future.”
Long-term planning puts concepts on paper. But the real
world has a way of producing surprises at regular events.
Winter 2006 15
 “The long-term planning is constantly adapted,” said
Azzouz. “We are proud of the fact that OSPAS has been able
to rapidly and effectively make the critical decisions to blunt
any harmful impact of disasters like Hurricane Katrina.”
“It’s like taking pieces of a giant puzzle that’s constantly
changing and solving that puzzle over and over again,”
said Al-Dossary. “Our success is dependent upon OSPAS
people being able to put the pieces together time after time
after time.”
The new focus
Recently, the focus of OSPAS has been the new OCC video
wall, inaugurated Sept. 12, 2005. The first OCC was built
in 1978, and its computer systems were replaced and
upgraded twice since 1982 (a third upgrade is scheduled
for 2008). The center was completely renovated in 1995.
Loaded with new display technology, today’s massive
(biggest in the hydrocarbon industry) series of screens on the
OCC wall simply overwhelms visitors and provides a real-
time display of Saudi Aramco’s key operations — oil, gas
and natural gas liquids (NGL), terminal planning operations
and refined products for OSPAS, plus electric power distri-
bution. As magnificent as the video wall is, it is merely a
tool. The real story of OCC and OSPAS is how the massive
16 Saudi Aramco Dimensions
amount of information the The video wall, shown
screens display is gathered, above, can display
real-time images from
verified and used. cameras, satellites or
This is the story about the the Internet.
people who are responsible for
providing the OCC and OSPAS with information, and the
people who use that information to aggressively run, protect
and optimize Saudi Aramco’s critical operations.
IT – A critical component
“We can’t make mistakes,” said Esam M. Al-Eissa, adminis-
trator of the Real-Time Systems Division (RTSD) and the
leader of the group responsible for obtaining the data used
by the OCC. “You’ve heard of learning by your mistakes,
well that golden rule doesn’t apply here. We make a mistake,
and the company could lose millions of dollars and people
could be injured.”
The Information Technology (IT) component of OSPAS
is vital. Now a part of Saudi Aramco’s IT system and orga-
nizationally separate from OSPAS, the RTSD continues to
be in charge of OSPAS’s data.
According to Al-Eissa, “We believed that moving from
OSPAS to IT would provide us with a greater opportunity
to integrate OSPAS systems with other company systems.
 OSPAS relies on vast amounts of information and needs to shift coordinators, who watch President and CEO
be fed from as wide a range of sources as possible. Our over the entire OCC, can Abdallah S. Jum‘ah, clap-
ping second from left,
move to IT makes this easier.” instantly take action to and other executives
Information gathering is a vital part of OSPAS’s success. prevent major problems.” celebrates the inaugu-
ration of OCC’s new
“Data is gathered from all operation sites,” said Maan One of the hallmarks of video wall.
Al-Shami, Planning and Programming group leader — OSPAS is change. “Nothing
“plants, refineries, GOSPs, terminals, pipelines.” Much of stands still,” said Al-Shami.
the data is gathered by Remote Terminal Units, or RTUs. “We are continually upgrading and optimizing.”
These units monitor operations located far from plants One example is the use of the Plant Information Systems
or manned operation centers. The RTUs and Supervisory (PI) components. PIs gather all types of information from
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are highly within the plant environment.
sensitive, able to detect developing problems and alert “Right now, we get 35 percent of our data from PIs,” said
Al-Eissa. “That information
used to come from RTUs.”
“How impressive is the control center! The world economy may rely on the
The PIs’ advantage is
efficiency of Saudi Aramco.” — Oliver Appert, President & CEO, French Institute of Petroleum that they are in the plant
anyway and can gather the
data automatically. This
operators at the OCC with alarms. eliminates the need for RTUs and frees up the RTU-dedi-
“The ability to provide us with critical information cated circuit. However, the RTUs play an important role
rapidly helps us prevent stoppages or failures,” said out in the desert with the pipelines.
Al-Eissa. “In fact, we have a field electronics system that
not only gathers data but enables us to actually control The master SCADA systems
remote operations without anyone being present. The Two SCADA systems serve as the centerpieces for data

Winter 2006 17
Above: Critical meetings can be held in the room
that overlooks the OCC. Pictured from right are
General supervisor Khalid Al-Omair, engineer
Jaman Al-Zahrani, OSPAS manager Adel Al-Dossary,
group leader Maan Shami, general supervisor
Abdulrahman Ghabra, general supervisor Awad
Al-Qahtani and specialist Mutlaq Al-Da’ajani. All
coordinators can call up a vast number of images
on their computer systems, and the shift coordina-
tor can remotely operate critical functions.
gathering. One is the SCADA systems.
central dispatch sys- Also, they relentlessly
tem for all hydrocar- seek and implement
bon operations and the latest technolo-
the other is for gies that help OCC
power distribution planners perform
in the Kingdom. their job in a more
“The hydrocarbon efficient manner.
SCADA system is Another function
one of biggest in of this unit is to
the world,” said Al- develop new appli-
Eissa. “It provides cations that provide
25,000 points of Video Wall users with monitor-
data for the OCC.” Replaced the map-boards with video Central Dispatch Center has about 18,000 ing and control
The power distri- walls in 2005. data points updated every 15 seconds. capabilities of
bution SCADA sys- field devices.
tem interfaces with The video wall’s size is 67 meters SAP (operations-management software) “Our applica-
the Saudi Electricity long by 3 meters high. information is also updated every tions allow the shift
15 seconds, except for the Saudi
Co. and monitors the coordinator in the
Consists of 150 stitched, black Strategic Storage Program information,
power distribution OCC to control
masked 1.7-meter screens. which is updated every 20 minutes.
system within Saudi valves remotely
Aramco 24/7, watch- from his computer,”
Projection uses Digital Light PDS has about 12,000 points updated
ing the status of Processing (DLP) technology. every 2 seconds. Makhdoum said.
breakers, voltage The objective is
and transformers. to make the tech-
However, even the SCADA system is subject to change. nology work at the optimum rate. Developers have created
Menahi D. Al-Gahtani, applications and system specialist, a wide range of applications that provide critical informa-
Real-Time Systems Division, is the project coordinator for tion quickly and effortlessly. One example is the Tank
replacing the current hydrocarbon SCADA system. Monitoring Application.
“IT systems become obsolete quickly, so we are continu- “We’ve been able to provide a view of all of the compa-
ously upgrading and improving the system,” Al-Gahtani ny’s tanks,” said Makhdoum. “We can see which tanks are
said, “but there comes a point when it needs to be changed.” available, which are under repair. A planner can click on a
The new SCADA system will be able to handle more tank icon and see its activity, which product it is storing,
applications and interfaces, and handle all the additional proj- its level and the pumpable quantity on a real-time basis.”
ects the growing OSPAS organization will need to monitor. One strength of the application-development team that
“The new system should be up and running by middle translates across all of OSPAS is communication among all
of 2008,” said Al-Gahtani. members of the team.
“We live with the users, talk their language and value
Information at your fingertips their requirements so we can develop the applications they
Applications are a big part of IT support. According to need to do their job,” said Makhdoum. “In addition, if we
Mohammed A. Makhdoum, supervisor, Applications Sup- see an application or any enabling technology we believe
port Unit Real-Time Systems Division, his people provide will help operations, we obtain it and customize it for our
all-day everyday support for the hydrocarbon and power people’s specific use.”

Winter 2006 19
 Applications development also created the Marine They bring that quality to their work. What we do is find
Terminal Planning Board System. This provides a view of the best people and develop them to be integrated with
all tankers arriving at and departing from Saudi Aramco everyone in OSPAS. That gives them the grounding to be
marine terminals within a four-day time frame. proactive, come up with ideas, and turn those ideas into
“This application provides information about the value-added reality.”
cargo, load, destination, arrival date and all the ships’
data,” Makhdoum said. “Operations must be on top of Operations: Efficiency in action
all aspects of distribution all the time, and this application OSPAS is at the very heart of Saudi Aramco. This remark-
provides key information that allows them to make deci- able organization is dedicated not just to perfection but
sions accurately and quickly.” continual improvement. That’s because everything its peo-
ple do can be ultimately
measured in money —
“Congratulations for your safe and reliable operational control room.
a lot of money. Present
We, from Petrobras, appreciate very much your experience and efficiency.” and future are always
considered in great detail.
— José Sérgio Gabrielli de Azevedo, President and CEO, Petrobras
The time span covered
ranges from every two
The bottom line is that IT has positioned itself to see seconds that data is refreshed to an 11-year plan that fore-
exactly what Operations needs. According to Al-Eissa, casts demand and supply of hydrocarbons, as well as all
“We keep on top of technology advances around the world. the factors that may potentially affect Saudi Aramco’s
Anything that provides added value for Operations will be future business.
purchased and implemented. In fact, you could say our job is All aspects of operations are monitored, and any impact
to make Operations’ jobs easier by providing the technology on supply of products to cus-
that provides better information that can be easily accessed.” tomers is determined. For The video wall, below,
is able to display photo-
It isn’t just technology; it is also people. As Al-Eissa example, the entire Testing and graphic images and
underscored, “You can’t teach people to be proactive. Inspection (T&I) of plants, specially designed icons.
pipelines, etc., is carefully noted and arranged so that there is
little or no disruption when a facility is routinely shut down.
Of course, not all shutdowns are routine. Emergency
closings of plants or specific operations must be quickly con-
tained and contingency plans put into play. Every person —
from planners and staff engineers in the OCC to all the divi-
sions — quickly determines how to mitigate any difficulty.
That is why they are well trained with a clear objective:
Always ensure supply gets to the customer in the safest
manner and that profits are maximized.
These goals explain the many-faceted nature of OSPAS.
On one hand its people are thoroughly engaged in ensuring
that Saudi Aramco operations are uninterrupted. The huge
video-wall projects an amazing amount of views and infor-
mation that help instantly spot potential problems. If a
problem occurs, contingency plans are immediately launched
so that any potential supply interruption is eliminated or,
at least, minimized. On the other hand, OSPAS also is
responsible for continuously optimizing operational
processes, ensuring that all decisions reflect the goal of
increasing the Kingdom’s profits.
The organization that focuses on long-term supply
and projects is Supply Planning and Engineering.
“Our vital objective is to provide long-term supply
planning to ensure continuous supply of hydrocarbon prod-
ucts to Saudi Aramco customers, and provide technical
support to OSPAS operations divisions and Executive
Management,” said Yousef A. Al-Ali, general supervisor of
the Supply Planning and Engineering Division. “We provide
optimization analysis, economic reviews and evaluations on
projects, operations and system operating strategies.”
“We also produce all types of optimization plans (from
monthly to annually to 10-year plans) for crude, gas, NGL,
gas condensate and refined products systems,” Al-Ali said.
“And since we see the entire picture of Saudi Aramco
operations — present and future — we sometimes have
to adjust a specific plant operation to keep in step with
our global optimization,” said Essam A. Ali, supervisor
of Refined Products Supply Planning.
“That sometimes means a plant locally loses money by
running against its own optimal operation, but globally
the Kingdom is realizing additional revenue,” he said.
“The OSPAS intricate global optimization model enables
us to see how losing a few million dollars within a plant
may help us earn hundreds of millions of dollars globally.
It’s a matter of perspective, and OSPAS operations are full
of such examples.”
Eisa S. Al-Madani,
The video wall is
Engineering and Technology designed to show the
Group Leader, said, “We also real-time interrelation-
ship of oil, gas, refining,
review capital projects and terminal and electric
incorporate major comments power operations.
Winter 2006 21
 that contain operational sense to achieve company objec-
tives. In addition, we are the only entity that looks after the
long-term testing and inspection plans for all Saudi Aramco
facilities. We always assure that shutdown activities are
planned in due time with no impact on meeting customers’
commitment.”
The Big Board
When you walk into the OCC, the enormous video wall
(67 meters wide and three meters high) grabs your atten-
tion. This is the nerve center of Saudi Aramco. All 18,000
real-time, hydrocarbon-movement operations, updated
every 15 seconds, and 12,000 electric-power generation
and distribution operations, updated every two seconds,
are reflected on its 150 1.7-meter screens.
In this room, planners, shift coordinators and engineers
monitor all data, looking for possible problems, checking
to see which product or tanker needs to be redirected, and
they are in contact by phone, radio and network to field
personnel. It is a free flow of information coordinated and
“Congratulations on this extraordinary room at OSPAS, which demonstrates
Aramco’s technological leadership and mastery, its unique place in world oil
and the outstanding capabilities and dedication of its people. This is a his-
toric occasion.” —Mr. Daniel Yergin, Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA)
managed by highly motivated people with a great deal of
experience. In fact, most OSPAS employees have 15 or
more years of field experience and know Saudi Aramco
operations from top to bottom.
The video wall also reflects the reality of OSPAS, and that
is that everything is interconnected. One operation smoothly
flows into another — on the wall and in real life. And if
something interferes with the smooth operation, all operat-
ing organizations are flexible enough to rapidly adapt.
“Tankers are responsible for moving crude oil and
products,” said Abdulrahman M. Ghabra, general supervi-
sor, Terminal Planning Division. “We have to interact with
oil and refined products because we are working in a fine
balance. Weather, breakdowns or various disruptions may
cause one or more tankers to be late in getting to one of
our terminals. This has ramifications for production, stor-
age and customers. If product can’t be transported, we
may have to cut production as the last resort after maxi-
mizing storage. Our decisions must be fast and accurate
or we will lose money.”
22 Saudi Aramco Dimensions
Movement of oil, gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), termi-
nal (shipping) and refined products all have a place on the
video wall.
“For oil, monitoring the ever-changing demand for prod-
uct and creating the perfect mix of products for export and
in-Kingdom consumption is vital,” said Azzouz. “We plan
out everything, taking input from petroleum engineering to
understand oil availability.” Again, the objective is to ensure
the right mix of product for Saudi Aramco’s customers.
The Oil Division is responsible for monitoring the vast
complex of pipelines in the kingdom.
“We are the first line of defense,” said Azzouz. “We need
to see the overall picture of interconnecting the pipeline
among operations.”
The absolute scale of operations overseen by OSPAS is
gargantuan. In addition to being the major supplier of oil
to the world, Saudi Aramco owns the fourth largest gas
reserves, but that isn’t the whole story.
“Our Master Gas System is the largest integrated sys-
tem in the world,” said Emad A. Al-Reshoud, general
supervisor, Gas and
NGL Division. “We are
unique. There is nothing
like this anyplace. Our
system is huge, and we
are leveraging these
resources for the King-
dom’s benefit. Our gas
and NGL operations
are massive to an extent that our NGL production exceeds
the oil output of some OPEC countries.”
As vast as OSPAS operations are, everyone continues to
be focused on the bottom line. Nasser Al-Mahasher, general
supervisor, Refined Products Division, understands the
importance of his task: “My customers are those who drive
cars, run utility plants and provide power to their nations.”
The Refined Products Division, as is the case with all
OSPAS operations, is extremely flexible. “We need to meet
our customers demand, but we also must meet the King-
dom’s needs and maximize profitability,” Al-Mahasher said.
“Plus, when an unexpected event occurs, Refined Products
must be able to shift on the fly and create a new mix of
products that takes advantage of any situation.”
Not part of OSPAS, but critical to operations is the
Power Operation and Control Unit (PO&CU). It monitors
and controls the Saudi Aramco power network. “We are
stationed at the OCC to effectively coordinate with the
company’s oil and gas operations to ensure electrical
power is provided safely, reliably and in a cost-effective
manner, “ said Abdallah S. Guraishi, Supervisor, Power
Operation & Control Unit. “We also are the single point
of contact for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) in dealing
with interrelated power operations.”
A team approach
One aspect of operations that every single person emphasized
was teamwork. “All divisions and IT work together,” said
Al-Dossary. In fact, teamwork and communications is so
important that at 7:05 every morning there is a conference-
call meeting in which key personnel in OSPAS, operations
organizations and IT are represented. Just like the old
American police dramas, everyone gathers together to discuss
potential difficulties that may be encountered during the day.
“This meeting brings everyone together,” said Al-Shami.
“All divisions are represented, and anything that may impact
operations is brought to light. We all have our objectives,
and we act accordingly.”
Of course, during any major crisis, OSPAS goes on an
even more impressive footing. Select additional personnel (in
addition to those who would be there anyway, since OSPAS
is a 24/7 operation) stay all night, and senior managers may
view operations from a specially designed conference room
with a window that overlooks the OCC and the video wall.
The Future Screens from individual
systems can be displayed
OSPAS will continue to search
on the video wall to get
for improvements and optimize a larger perspective.
performance. “We are the
Think Tank of Saudi Aramco daily hydrocarbon manage-
ment,” said Al-Dossary. As operations grow ever more com-
plex with additional huge projects, joint ventures and third
party operations, OSPAS will continue seeking new tech-
nologies to overcome future operational challenges.
Al-Dossary said that Sales and Marketing departments
may place representatives in the OCC to capture market
opportunities on the minute.
Also, in the optimization arena, Hamdan Al-Ghamdi
of Supply Planning and Engineering is leading an effort to
develop a simulation-based optimization model that will
integrate upstream operation activities. “This will provide
us with a continuous reach from well-head to gas and NGL
operation, and with the existing refining optimization sys-
tem, we will be able to optimize both upstream and down-
stream operations,” said Al-Ghamdi.
“One thing is certain,” Al-Dossary concluded, “OSPAS
will continue to lead the way to bring the latest technology
and highest level of expertise to ensure Saudi Aramco contin-
ues to be the reliable supplier of energy to the world.” ■
Winter 2006 23