PCC Revolutionizes Remote Site Monitoring Using WellAware’s On Demand Chemical on AWS

Family-run and small-town built, Performance Chemical Company (PCC) wanted a safer and more efficient way to deliver its chemical solutions to its oil and gas customers. Field teams had to work long days to manually fine-tune the chemical flows that keep expensive oil and gas equipment operational in a 600-square-mile territory. PCC set out to deliver near real-time insights to its customers and reduce the workload on its employees.

The search for a modern offering led PCC to WellAware, an AWS Energy Competency Partner. Using WellAware solutions—including On Demand Chemical, which automates oilfield chemical injection—PCC has unlocked remote operations and helps mitigate long shifts for its field teams. The company now remotely monitors its tanks and flow rates and verifies that its chemicals are injected into tanks with precision. Customers can receive reports to show exact usage, improving transparency in an otherwise nebulous industry. Meanwhile, PCC field personnel effectively manage their workloads, prioritizing trouble areas and verifying that tanks never run dry. Using WellAware, the company delivers customer-oriented service while facilitating work-life balance for its employees.

PCC was founded by two brothers with a background in farming and experience working with chemicals on oil and gas projects. The company has always mixed its own products to meet the unique needs of each of its customers. However, without access to real-time data, field technicians traveled to dozens of sites daily and estimated volumes. Piping corrodes if chemicals are over-injected, and expensive equipment could stop working if chemicals are under-injected. PCC wanted to reduce the time teams spent on the road and unlock precision with data. “We want oversight so that if a site has a defective pump, we can see it ahead of time instead of discovering the issue at 5:00 p.m. and staying until 2:00 a.m. to fix it,” says Michael Myers, director of operations for the Permian Basin at PCC.

PCC has a broad strategy of digitizing its operations to offer the best possible services to its customers. In its search for an innovative solution, PCC met WellAware, which offers an automation solution for industrial operations, at a trade show. WellAware sent its field operations manager to pilot its technology at the most remote field sites. When the tests indicated that using WellAware would enhance its operations, PCC deployed WellAware solutions at all of its sites. Now, instead of manually estimating chemical flows, PCC field professionals have data that reveals the actual quantity of chemicals pumped into tanks in near real time.

WellAware was founded over 10 years ago and migrated to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2018. “We chose AWS because of the strong tech stack, security features, and talented professionals working there,” says Katie Barbera, director of sales and marketing and account manager for PCC at WellAware. “I have yet to meet somebody who doesn’t have the technical expertise or great collaboration skills we need to effectively go to market together.”

As an AWS Energy Competency Partner, a designation for AWS Partners with verified and repeat customer success across the industry value chain, WellAware uses several AWS services so that its solutions are seamless for companies of any size. So that it can scale to meet demand, WellAware runs its microservices architecture on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), a managed Kubernetes service. “PCC is going up against giants in the industry, and they bring a lot of agility,” Barbera says. “It’s fun to support the company’s growth.” To securely store customer data, WellAware uses Amazon Aurora, which offers unparalleled high performance and availability at global scale. It connects and controls its edge devices using AWS IoT Core, a service to connect devices simply and securely to the cloud. “When we do installations, it only takes us 15–20 minutes to get our solutions up and running on each site,” says John Morgan, president and chief operating officer at WellAware. “But once sites are installed, WellAware doesn’t just set it and forget it. We provide training and ongoing client success support to provide the best possible results for our customers.”

Using a combination of WellAware’s solutions that provide near real-time insights into chemical usage, PCC greatly increased the precision of its operations. Its technicians use On Demand Chemical to remotely monitor and automate chemical flows. They also use WellAware’s Pump Monitoring and Control product to get near real-time visibility into pump performance and to fine-tune operations. PCC implemented both solutions quickly and shows customers exactly how much product it delivered, with GPS data and time stamps detailing each visit by a field technician. “Recently, I had a great meeting with a customer who had no idea that we have this level of insight,” says Myers. “They were so astonished by our systems that they immediately asked to deepen their engagement with us and WellAware.”

In the oil and gas business, companies generate revenue by selling high-quality oil. Having the right mix of chemicals at the right time is critical for delivering a quality product. It also helps minimize waste and reduce the environmental impact of petrochemical operations. By monitoring chemical flows and empowering technicians to make precise adjustments, PCC is helping businesses run leaner and make better use of natural resources. “When we deliver lower emissions and a lower carbon footprint, we deliver true savings to our customers,” says Myers.

On the employee side, technicians have greater control over chemical flows instead of measuring in 15-second intervals to estimate chemical levels. “With the oversight we get from WellAware, we don’t have to take our people out of the field, but we do give them a new set of eyes to identify issues and manage their time better,” says Myers. Plus, the use of WellAware helps PCC to get people home to their families earlier, a key benefit for a small-town company. And the introduction of remote operations has substantially reduced long workdays and potentially unsafe situations. “In this part of the country, we’re losing people every day because there is so much traffic and everyone’s in a rush,” says Myers. “With our solution from WellAware, we don’t have to rush anymore.”

WellAware and PCC plan to advance innovation together. “We’re always looking to better ourselves and make things better for our customers,” says Myers. “We don’t just want to be a chemical company because you can buy a chemical from anyone.” Looking back at a successful implementation, PCC emphasizes that the biggest benefit it has seen is measured in human lives. “It’s not safe or ethical for field professionals to work 12–16 hours a day,” says Myers. “Using WellAware has streamlined our processes so that we can keep our people safe.”