StatoilHydro has signed a long-term agreement with IBM for the implementation of an ‘intelligent oilfield’ solution for the management of production turnaround projects. In 2006, turnarounds and unplanned shutdowns were the single most important cause for lost production in the Norway’s Tampen area. A typical turnaround for a large offshore producing field involves between 10,000 and 80,000 man-hours along with a significant amount of deferred production. Traditionally, repairs and shutdowns are based on a fixed maintenance schedule. But the new solution, jointly developed by IBM and StatoilHydro R&D, allows for more pro-active turnaround planning, reducing downtime and production losses.
StatoilHydro project manager Tom Anders Thorstensen said, ‘Much of the production losses on the Norwegian continental shelf come from shutdowns. We believe this solution developed in partnership with IBM is vital to implementing more effective work processes, will help save costs and substantially boost production.’
The pilot for IBM’s turnaround planning solution was developed as a component of StatoilHydro’s ‘TAIL’ Integrated Operations program. The solution leverages IBM WebSphere components including the Business Process Modeler and Process Server along with the IBM/Ascential DataStage/QualityStage analytical toolset. The solution comprises three building blocks, a turnaround knowledge analyzer, a risk analyzer and an optimizer. The latter contains tools for ‘on-the- fly’ development of multi-asset turnaround scenarios, identifying the one that minimizes production losses.
IBM project manager Kaare Finbak told Oil IT Journal, ‘The interesting part of this project was analysis of the large amount of historical data from previous shutdowns, and the development of a solution for continuous monitoring of the performance of ongoing turnaround projects from start-up to end. Here IBM’s WebSphere products were used to both identify the significant key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyze historical shutdown data.’
With IBM’s knowledge management tool, StatoilHydro will be able to manage planned shutdowns up to a year in advance, preventing additional losses and increased expenses. Planning and preparation for a shutdown begins 14 months ahead of scheduled maintenance. StatoilHydro can now evaluate potential areas for improvement well in advance against a standardised set of key performance indicators.
The solution, codenamed ‘F2’ is based on open standards and may be offered to other industries in the future – possibly as a component of IBM’s Maximo maintenance, repair and operations offering. Following several successful pilots, the solution is to be implemented at around 35 offshore sites.
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