Instrumentation and Controls Fundamentals for Facilities Engineers - IC-3

This course applies fundamental instrumentation and control engineering principles to oil and gas facilities design and operation, and is designed to accelerate the development of new Facilities Instrumentation and Control Engineers. Through the use of individual and group problem solving, attendees will learn about field measurement devices, valves and actuators, documentation, programmable logic controllers, power supplies, PLC, SCADA, DCS, SIS, hazardous areas, and installation methods.


"Thanks for the great instruction in the IC-3 course. I am currently completing the installation of some fancy instruments that required me to pull fiber optic cable for the first time. Thanks to your instruction, I was able to more actively plan and oversee the installation than I have in the past. I think I surprised myself with some of the information I retained, and our instrument techs were happy to have someone in our group (all process engineers) who could at least attempt to speak their language. If I'm not careful, I'm likely to get all the instrumentation projects that come to our little research plant. Thanks!" - Process Engineer


"The instructor was the best PetroSkills instructor I have had. He used real examples, deviated from PowerPoint to illustrate concepts, and provided follow-up." - Project Engineer

Facilities and Project Engineers as well as newly graduated Electrical, Controls and Instrument Engineers (0-5 years) with a need to improve basic understanding of instrumentation and control systems within oil and gas facilities.

• Operating principals and specification criteria for field measurement devices including level, pressure, temperature, and flow
• Final elements and actuators including control loops, control valves, shutdown valves, actuators, and transducers
• P&ID symbols and instrument tags, loop and logic diagrams, pitfalls and best practices, ISA symbology, and creation of instrument and I/O lists
• Signal types and wiring requirements for analog/discrete inputs and outputs as well as other signals such as thermocouple, RTD, pulse, and digital communications
• Typical control system functions, limitations, and architectures for PLC and DCS systems including programming methods such as ladder logic and function block
• Process control basics with an emphasis on control loops, types, and configurations for common oil and gas process equipment such as separators, pumps, distillation towers, filters, contactors, compressors, heat exchangers, and fired heaters
• Understanding of the PID algorithm, loop tuning, and advanced process control techniques such as feed forward, cascade, selective, and ratio control
• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems to include telemetry, RTUs, internet, and web based communications
• Common networking systems including Ethernet, Modbus, and Fieldbus
• Risk mitigation, technologies, and architecture of Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS)
• The concepts, terminology, and application of hazardous area classification standards, equipment protection methods, and installation requirements for NEC and IEC projects

• Fundamentals of control signals and wiring
• Control system basics
• Field measurement devices
• Control and shutdown valves
• Programmable electronic systems (PLC, DCS, SIS, SCADA)
• Control system networking
• Instrumentation and control strategies for common oil and gas equipment
• Installation and infrastructure requirements
• Drawings and documentation for IE&C projects
• Hazardous area installations