NOVENT® – Smart Thief Hatch Monitoring
NOVENT® is a plug-and-play solution made of tilt sensors that communicate each thief hatch status in real time to a central module connected to the cloud. That information is then made available to operators through a dashboard displaying alerts as well as cumulative thief hatch leaks duration.
Why NOVENT®?
Most oil and water Storage Tanks have to be equipped with pressure relief devices called thief hatches. These thief hatches are designed to ensure that tanks are not over pressured.
However thief hatches will occasionally pop open and release methane to atmosphere when there is an excess of pressure in the tanks. Thief hatches are also manually opened in order to measure the tank liquid levels several times a day during truck loading. Because they are usually left unmonitored, thief hatches have been shown to be one of the most common sources of methane leaks on a well site.
Thief hatches are one of the largest source of methane leaks on a well site
Recent surveys indicate that thief hatches are too often left accidentally open. For average tank batteries, a cumulative thief hatch leak duration of 100 hours or more will vent VOCs in excess of 6 tons per year, which is the limitation set by NSPS OOOO/OOOOa, leading to the shutdown of oil production for the remainder of the year, or the operators will have to pay hefty fines.
With NOVENT®, Cimarron has developed a plug-and-play solution made of individual inclinometers, completely wireless and battery operated, that communicate each thief hatch status in real time to a central module connected to the cloud. That information is then made available to operators through a dashboard displaying alerts as well as cumulative thief hatch leaks duration for a tank battery.
In addition, Cimarron can provide the full 360 PERFORMANCE MONITORING of the thief hatches and have fast response service crews address these alert and minimize the time thief hatches are left open. When on site, the service crews can troubleshoot the reasons why thief hatches will pop open randomly, identify plumping issues or liquid traps causing pressure drops, and remediate the problem.