How Ancala Midstream turned an inherited EnergySys deployment into the backbone of their North Sea operations.
When Ancala Midstream acquired Apache’s interest in the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation system in 2017, it took on more than 323 kilometres of pipeline and a gas processing terminal at St Fergus. They also inherited a data management operation that had been running on EnergySys components for years.
They could have replaced it. They didn’t. Instead, they went further.
Challenge: a major acquisition, ageing back-office systems, and a 24/7 pipeline that couldn’t stop
The SAGE system is critical infrastructure. The pipeline runs 323 kilometres across the North Sea. The terminal at St Fergus is a major supplier to the UK gas transmission network, transporting gas from nine fields, including the Beryl field and its satellites. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
When Ancala Midstream took over as operator, the pipeline’s allocation and data management were handled by SMART, a custom-built system originally developed for Mobil North Sea Limited. SMART had been running for nearly 20 years and had accumulated EnergySys components over time, but the underlying architecture was ageing. Making changes was slow and expensive.
Away from the pipeline, Ancala Midstream’s wider operations had a separate problem. Their back-office data management relied on an ageing system surrounded by a patchwork of spreadsheets and custom databases built to paper over its gaps.
”We built a whole infrastructure around that system to support it, including spreadsheets and custom databases. We engaged EnergySys to replace these obsolete systems and have one central environment that could handle all of our requirements.
Ross Matthews, Hydrocarbon Accounting Lead, Ancala Midstream
Two distinct challenges. One platform that could solve both.
Solution: replacing the old, building the new, all on EnergySys
Replacing the back office
In 2020, Ancala Midstream replaced its ageing back-office systems with EnergySys. The team built business intelligence dashboards that display data automatically to stakeholders, shippers, and suppliers. Over 1,000 reports that previously required manual generation are now produced automatically. Shippers and suppliers access data themselves through a self-service environment, without needing to request extracts from the Ancala Midstream team.
Replacing SMART with STAR
With EnergySys already running their back-office operations, the case for replacing SMART was straightforward. In 2021, reseller partner Accord Energy Solutions delivered STAR, a full replacement for SMART built on the standard EnergySys platform.
STAR integrates directly with Accord’s CHARM online process model at the heart of the allocation. Accord extended the scope well beyond what SMART had provided: emissions reporting, full shipper access to data through the ODATA interface, automated annual contract administration, mismeasurement business process handling, and calculation of all tariff quantities.
A near-20-year-old legacy system was replaced with a modern, extensible platform, without disrupting the 24/7 operation that shippers and partners depended on.
Building for what came next
With both systems replaced and running on EnergySys, Ancala Midstream kept building. The team developed an application to track the carbon emissions of their SAGE assets, giving Ancala Midstream and its partners direct visibility of their emissions footprint.
”For our companies to get to net zero, we have to understand what our emissions are. EnergySys is the starting point for achieving this goal.
Ross Matthews, Hydrocarbon Accounting Lead, Ancala Midstream
Future plans include developing more advanced applications to handle bespoke customer agreements.
Outcomes: one platform across the whole operation
- A near-20-year-old legacy pipeline allocation system replaced by STAR, built on EnergySys, without disrupting a 24/7 operation.
- STAR covers hydrocarbon nominations, allocations, attribution logic, field production allocation, emissions reporting, shipper access via ODATA, automated contract administration, mismeasurement handling, and tariff calculations.
- Ageing back-office systems were replaced with EnergySys, eliminating over 1,000 manual reports through automated, self-service dashboards.
- A carbon emissions tracking application built and deployed for SAGE assets, giving Ancala Midstream and its shippers visibility of their carbon footprint.
- All of it configured by the Ancala Midstream team, with no vendor dependency for day-to-day changes.
The bottom line.
Ancala Midstream didn’t start with a blank sheet. They acquired a pipeline, found EnergySys components already at work in the data management layer, and decided they were onto something.
Three years on, both the pipeline allocation system and the wider back-office operation run on EnergySys. The legacy is gone. The emissions tracking is live. And the team is still finding new things to build.
