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Oil and gas SCADA alarm texts for lease operators and field crews

A high tank on a pad or a compressor down at the station should reach the operator on call before oil hits the berm. Welco reads the alarm email your SCADA host already sends and texts the site, the equipment and the reading. You add one recipient on the host, and your radios and field network stay untouched.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

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  • Works from your SCADA host's email
  • Nothing on radios or field network
  • No per-operator fees

Works by email with

  • Ignition
  • Tank & well levels
  • WIN-911

Setup guide for

  • FactoryTalk

A pump station schematic: Tank 2 level rises above its 8 ft high alarm setpoint to 8.6 ft and the alarm turns on. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Pad 7 Tank Battery] Oil tank 2 level HIGH, 4.3 m at 11:06 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: alerts arrive through the night and each goes to the right person. 11:06 p.m., to Lease operator: "Welco: [Pad 7 Tank Battery] Oil tank 2 level HIGH, 4.3 m at 11:06 PM. Reply STOP to opt out." 2:22 a.m., to On-call compressor mechanic: "Welco: [CS-3] Compressor 2 SHUTDOWN, high discharge temp at 2:22 AM. Reply STOP to opt out." 4:37 a.m., to Field supervisor: "Welco: [Gathering Line 12] Pressure 6,010 kPa, above 5,860 limit at 4:37 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What a field office gets from Welco

The operator or mechanic on call gets tank, compressor and pressure alarms by text, with the site and the reading. They come from your SCADA host's alarm email.

  • The operator reads the level before driving

    Tank level alarm texts carry the fluid level, so a 40-minute drive down a lease road starts only when the number calls for it.

  • Compressors go to the mechanic

    A unit shutdown texts the mechanic on call, and a high-high tank can add the field supervisor through several phones per alert.

  • A power drop stays a few texts

    When a line goes down, power loss alarms fire from many pads together. Flood control caps the burst on each phone.

  • Only your host can text crews

    With approved senders, mail from anything except your SCADA host or a trusted contract operator is refused.

A water tank filling up on a Sunday night

The day operators have gone home, and one lease operator covers a whole field in west central Saskatchewan tonight. Here is one tank battery alarm, start to finish.

  1. Routes hand off to the night operator

    At 6 p.m., on-call routing stops texting each route's operator and sends tank and well alarms to the lease operator.

  2. The SCADA host emails a level alarm

    --- ALARM --- HIGH --- PAD12_TB.WTR_TK3.LVL Water tank 3 level 4.60 m Area: South Field

  3. The lease operator sees the tank and the level

    Welco: [Pad 12 Battery] Water tank 3 HIGH, 4.6 m of 4.9 m at 11:52 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The operator answers from the lease road

    Shutting in Pad 12 wells, need a water truck at 6

  5. The reply reaches the field office mailbox

    Welco sends text replies by email to the alarm's sender, so the foreman reads the plan before the first call.

    Reply from the lease operator's phone: Shutting in Pad 12 wells, need a water truck at 6

  6. The foreman books the water truck

    The haul gets scheduled from the reply, and the delivery report confirms the text reached the operator's phone.

Times are only an example. Mobile networks set how fast a text arrives. Replying leaves the HIGH alarm standing on the SCADA host.

How to set up field alarm texts from the office

Whoever looks after the SCADA host can do it in an afternoon. The host only needs one more email recipient on its alarm list.

  1. Sign up and verify the company

    Tell us about the operation and the alarms you'll send. Each business is checked first, so the alert number carries field alarms only.

  2. Invite operators and mechanics

    Each person types their own cellphone on the invite and confirms by text. Contract operators can join the same way.

  3. Point the host at Welco

    Add your Welco address to the alarm email and approve the host's sender. Run real alarms in test mode while the old notifier keeps working.

Text the next high tank alarm to the operator on call

Sign up, verify your company and point your SCADA's alarm email at Welco.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

Which field SCADA systems can send alarm texts?

Most field data reaches a SCADA host in the office over radio, cell or satellite, and that host sends the email. Guides cover WIN-911 alarm emails, Ignition SMS alarms, VTScada alarm notification and AVEVA InTouch at gas plants. Compressor stations can use FactoryTalk alarm text messages or PLC alarms by text.

Lease and station alarms field crews act on

These are masked examples. Manufacturing plants and electric utility substations watch many of the same pressures and power feeds, so compare alarm texts in other industries.

  • Gathering line: Welco: [GL-4 Meter Run] Flow 0 e3m3/d, was 35.1 at 1:36 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Compressor station: Welco: [CS-5] Unit 1 SHUTDOWN on high vibration at 3:58 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Pad: Welco: [Pad 3] Pumpjack 3H STOPPED, motor fault at 5:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

A phone showing these alert texts: Gathering line, "Welco: [GL-4 Meter Run] Flow 0 e3m3/d, was 35.1 at 1:36 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Compressor station, "Welco: [CS-5] Unit 1 SHUTDOWN on high vibration at 3:58 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Pad, "Welco: [Pad 3] Pumpjack 3H STOPPED, motor fault at 5:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Which oil and gas alarms should text the operator on call?

Text the alarms that end in a spill, a shut-in or lost sales before the morning route. Small pressure swings and trend data can wait in email.

Worth a night text

  • An oil or water tank HIGH or HIGH-HIGH at a battery.
  • A disposal well injection pump failure, or injection pressure over its limit.
  • A compressor unit shutdown.
  • Gathering line pressure above its limit, or flow dropping to zero.
  • A pumpjack that stops.
  • Power lost at a pad or a station.
  • A line heater or heat trace failure in a cold snap, before lines freeze off.

Leave in email

Runtime reports, daily production totals, plunger cycle counts and alarms from wells already shut in. The foreman reviews those in daylight.

Cover the dead spots on the lease

Lease roads lose signal, and a text waits until the phone finds one. Send HIGH-HIGH tank alarms to two people who work opposite ends of the field. Use alarm wording an operator can read fast.

A disposal well alarm, from SCADA email to text

Field SCADA emails often wrap the alarm in dashes and long point names. Welco keeps the site, the equipment and the state.

Alert email from scada@field.example.com, subject “New Alarm from SWD-2”. Welco trims it to one text of 83 characters: “Welco: [SWD-2] Injection pump 1 FAIL, stopped at 12:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [SWD-2] Injection pump 1 FAIL, stopped at 12:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters173831 credit

Animation: the alert email "New Alarm from SWD-2" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [SWD-2] Injection pump 1 FAIL, stopped at 12:51 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

An alert rule can send HIGH-HIGH alarms to the phone and keep lower priorities in email.

Night alarms in the oil patch, then and now

The old way

  • Every operator's phone buzzes for every pad on the lease.
  • The notifier says ALARM, and the operator calls the office to learn the level.
  • A full tank turns up on the morning route.
  • Alarm texts still go to a Bell gateway address that stopped working on December 31, 2025.

With Welco

  • Each route to its own operator by day, the lease operator by night.
  • The tank, the level and the limit on the lock screen.
  • Compressor shutdowns text the mechanic, not the whole crew.
  • The night's replies wait in the field office mailbox.

Frequently asked questions

Our SCADA host is in the field office. Can it send the alarms?

Yes. The field sites report to the host over radio or cell, and the host sends the alarm email. Add your Welco address as a recipient on that email, approve the host's sender address, and the alarms become texts.

What does the operator see, and do they need an app?

A plain text with the pad, the equipment and the reading, on any cellphone. Nothing gets installed on the phone. Each person confirms their own number with YES, and texting STOP takes them off.

Do we still need WIN-911 if we use Welco?

It depends on what you use it for. WIN-911 offers voice calls and a mobile app (SmartSights, October 2026), while Welco only sends texts. If you mostly need texts, Welco may be enough. See the WIN-911 comparison.

What happens if the on-call operator is out of cell range?

The text arrives once the phone gets a signal again. The delivery report shows it as not yet delivered. For high-high alarms, add a second phone, like the field supervisor, so someone in range sees it.

Does Welco need access to our SCADA network or radios?

No. Welco never connects to your field network, radios or host. It only receives the alarm email your host sends out through your normal mail server. A contract operator's host can send too, once you approve its address.

What does it cost, and do the office alarm emails change?

Operators and contract crews add no per-user fees. Alarms use message credits from your plan, listed in US dollars on Welco pricing, and the SCADA alarm notification cost guide compares options. The emails your office gets today keep arriving unchanged. You get 7 days and 15 credits to try it, and nothing is charged to the verification card before you approve a plan.

Have the next high tank alarm reach the operator before it spills

Point your SCADA's alarm email at Welco and add your field phones.

Text me my SCADA alarmsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing