The US-based FIATECH organization held its Annual Technology Conference in Washington last month, the highlight of which was the release of a ‘Building Information Model’ (BIM) for the process industry. The BIM was largely driven by increased activity levels in the offshore oil and gas industry and completes earlier work by FIATECH, the Norwegian POSCL/CAESAR organization, Det Norske Veritas and the USPI organization.
ISO 15926
This transatlantic collaboration has resulted in a functional ‘Work-in-Progress’ (WIP) database derived from the ISO 15926 plant data standard which is freely accessible on the fiatech.org website. The WIP is comprised of the Reference Data Library (RDL), which contains the ISO-approved core library set of class descriptions and Object Information Models (OIMs), as well as proposed classes and model extensions.
Petronas
Yusoff Hjsiraj announced Petronas’ backing for the new standard as a component of the Petronas Information Management (PCIM) Data Model which is now mandatory for all vendors and contractors. Contractors are free to choose the applications that work best for them—so long as they leverage the ISO 15926 RDL. A successful pilot on the Angsi field (a joint venture with ExxonMobil) led to the adoption of a single data model for design, construction and handover. ISO 15926, RDL, and the ISO Capital Facilities Information Handover Guidelines (CFIHG) are now core components of Petronas’ IM strategy.
Interoperability
Adrian Laud described Noumenon Consulting’s work with Bentley Systems and Aveva on ISO 15926-based interoperability on major capital projects. The current shortfall in engineers ‘can only be solved through interoperability.’ According to a NIST report, the lack of interoperability costs the US $15.8 billion per year (exactly!). Over 50 major commercial projects are currently addressing this through ISO 15926 deployment. ISO 15926 is the neutral delivery standard for all project data. A claimed 20-30% reduction in engineering man-hours has resulted as well as reduced cost of structural steelwork and in general, better, safer plants. Case studies of successful ISO 15926 use include BP’s Greater Plutonia development and the CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Project, a Sinopec/Shell joint venture. Woodside has also deployed the standard to access engineering design data in a Brownfield environment.
IDS Project & WIP
Magne Valen-Sendstad’s presentation focused on the well-endowed Norwegian Integrated Operations (IO) Project. This leverages ‘Intelligent Data Sets’ to support new collaborative work processes within and between organizations and to support data though a 25-75 year lifecycle. The three year project runs through 2008 with a budget of $2.7 million.
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