Disaster recovery planning & methodology for Process Automation Systems

Process Automation Systems (PAS) performs a critical role in running today's Oil & Gas business sectors. Systems such as Distributed Control Systems (DCS), Supervisory Control & Acquisition Systems (SCADA) and Emergency Shutdown Systems (ESD) are all susceptible to unexpected down time and loss of service, endangering plant operations and production output. Thus, the continuity parameters of those systems are of a paramount importance to minimize downtime and maximize efficiency. Disaster & Recovery procedures (DRP) and planning tools are vital to ensure the timely recovery and restoration of company's critical information assets, thus enhancing overall corporate productivity and efficiency. Saudi Aramco owns and operates over 120 Process Automation plant facilities kingdom wide, all of which are mandated to follow a DRP methodology as part of their day-to-day operation. This paper will describe an industry “pre-defined” methodology adapted for Process Automation that we follow in Saudi Aramco. This DRP identifies the resources, actions, tasks, for the purpose of minimizing any potential economic loss and facilitating decision-making during a potential disastrous event. Due to the variance in size, configurations and setup in Information Systems installations, the scope of this methodology is broad enough to provide guidance for each operating organization to develop its own effective DRP.