Transforming Offshore Operations with...

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Optimising production without simulators

Gjøa Information Manager says “basically we’re happy”

Using the same data for different purposes

How plant information can help with safety

Big screens – a great tool for decision making

Event Report, Transforming Offshore Operations with Data, Dec 3, 2015, Stavanger

Special reportTransforming Offshore Operations with DataDecember 3, 2015, Stavanger

www.siemens.com/comos

COMOS Walkinside 3D visualization training software for offshore production installations

COMOS Walkinside helps create a realistic, engineer-ing-grade virtual environment for operators of off-shore oil and gas production facilities, from topside to subsea systems.

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This special edition of Finding Petroleum is an Event Report from our forum in Stavanger on Dec 3, 2015, "Transforming Offshore Operations with Data".

Transforming Offshore Operations with Data

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Event websitehttp://www.findingpetroleum.com/event/Transforming-Offshore-Operations-with-Data/6ca14.aspx

Report written by Karl Jeffery, editor of Digital Energy [email protected] Tel 44 208 150 5292

Sales manager Richard [email protected] Tel 44 208 150 5291

Conference produced by Karl Jeffery

Layout by Laura Jones, Very Vermilion Ltd

Cover art by Alexandra Mckenzie

Digital Energy Journalwww.d-e-j.com

Future Energy Publishing, 39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, UK www.fuenp.com

Topics we covered included how to optimise production without using complex production simulators, how to keep an off-shore information manager happy, how to get value from an integrated plant information system,

How better data can help you manage safety, the benefits of 4000 pixel screens, and how to encourage staff to engage their‘System 2’ minds when they see something going wrong.

The full conference agenda, and links to download presentations and videos from the conference, is online at www.findingpetroleum.com/event/6ca14.aspx

Transforming Offshore Operations with DataOur Finding Petroleum ‘Transforming offshore Operations with Data’ conference in Stavanger on December 3looked at better ways we can use data to improve safety and increase production rates for offshore operations.

Finding Petroleum - Transforming Offshore Operations with Data, Dec 3 2015

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4 Finding Petroleum - Transforming Offshore Operations with Data, Dec 3 2015

Optimising production without simulators Start-up company Solution Seeker has an aim to make it possible to optimise production without usingcomplex production simulators which, the company says, often get bought then left on the shelf

Oil and gas companies have been using com-plex production simulators for many years,which model all of the flows in the wells andtopside equipment, and can be used to calcu-late the optimum settings of the valves, andsupport ‘what-if’ studies, for example try towork out what the effect on the whole systemwill be if you open a choke valve slightly. The problem with production simulators isthat they are often too difficult to use, saidVidar Gunnerud, CEO of Solution Seeker

He was speaking at the Finding PetroleumStavanger forum on December 3, “Transform-ing Offshore Operations with Data”.

To use a production simulator, “you need ex-pertise about the field, expertise about thesimulator, which is a complex piece of soft-ware, and on top of that you have the optimi-sation algorithms,” he said.

It is powerful software, but the downside isthat “it is just really tricky. In many places itis used less and less and just put on the shelf,I think that's common,” he said.

Without a production simulator, all productionengineers have to work on is the productiondata itself – looking at the productionflowrates and temperatures, and fiddling withthe settings to try to get an improvement inflow.

This is not an ideal situation either. “Some-times it is trivial to work out the best settings,sometimes it is not,” Mr Gunnerud said.

The reservoir is continually changing, and thesurface equipment may be changing, for ex-ample if sections of plant are being main-tained.

“One way of operating the field may be opti-mal one week, the next a bit different. It

makes the sweet spot for operating the fieldmove around.”

Solution Seeker

Solution Seeker aims to take the latest aca-demic thinking in cybernetics (communica-tion and control theory) to work out ways thatthe data generated downhole can be directlyused to understand and improve flow.

As an example (explained in more detailbelow), its algorithms can get an understand-ing of the flow from an individual well, whereflow is commingled with others, and the onlyflowmeter is downstream of the co-mingling.

Solution Seeker commercialises technologydeveloped from academic research work atthe Integrated Operations Center in Trond-heim, an organisation sponsored by The Re-search Council of Norway, NorwegianUniversity of Science and Technology(NTNU), research organisation SINTEF andthe Institute for Energy Technology (IFE).

Before starting Solution Seeker, Mr Gunnerudwas working at NTNU as a PhD student andpost doctorate researcher.

Bjarne Foss, Professor of Cybernetics atNTNU, is a board member and co-founder ofSolution Seeker.

The Integrated Operations Center filed apatent in late 2012 for a technology for testingof wells without a long term shutdown(method described below), and SolutionSeeker was created partly to commercialisethe patent.

Solution Seeker was launched in early 2013.It has 7 staff, many with backgrounds in en-gineering cybernetics.

Optimising production

Production engineers do not have many op-tions to improve production – most commonlythey can adjust the ‘choke’ (a valve located atthe well head to adjust the flow of fluids froma well), or they can adjust gas lift parameters(the amount of gas being pumped into a wellto help bring up the fluids), or the power of adownhole electrical submersible pump (ESP).

They also have to work with constraints or‘bottlenecks’, such as the maximum flowthrough a certain part of the system, maxi-mum pump capacity, maximum amount of gasavailable for gas lift, and making sure the sys-tem doesn’t get blocked.

The input data is information about the wells(flow rates, temperatures and pressures, chokeposition, gas lift rate).

Sometimes you don’t have flow rates from in-dividual wells, because flow from a numberof wells is commingled, and the flowmeter isfurther downstream.

Production engineers study the data and see ifthey can spot any trends. Then they look forways to tweak valves and pumps to see if pro-duction can be improved by 1-2 per cent, toget a better balancing of production systemconstraints.

Simplifying optimisation

Solution Seeker’s approach is to find waysproduction engineers can work directly withwell data to do optimisations, without havingto use a complex production simulator.

This should make it easier for production en-gineers to improve the production parameters.

The computer software automatically gener-ates data driven models for different types offields, and these are improved continuously.

The data driven models are generated fromanalysis of historical production data, whichis usually stored in data ‘historians’ such asOSISoft’s “PI”.

It uses advanced data processing techniquesdeveloped by cybernetics to clean noise out ofthe data, and spot patterns in it.

The data processing techniques can also com-press the data to about 0.1 per cent of its orig-inal size, taking the most useful elements outof it, and this data file is then much easier towork with. It generates a special database using just com-pressed data, which the company calls “Pro-duction Compass”.

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Instead of calculating the optimised settings,it helps you understand the direction, which is“much simpler”, he said.

The software can propose production experi-ment which will generate useful data. It allhelps to improve the ‘information content’ inthe data, so it can help people make decisions.

The virtual well test

One particularly useful process, summarisedabove, is for an oil company which has a num-ber of wells with the flow commingled to-gether, and it is only able to directly measurethe flow downstream of the co-mingling, inother words it doesn’t know what the flowfrom the individual wells is.

This is a common situation in the oil and gasindustry, for example with subsea wells hav-ing a commingled flow coming together to aplatform, and only having a flowmeter at theplatform.

The common way to find the flow from an in-dividual wells is close the choke (ie switch offflow from the well) and see how the overallproduction changes. This leads to productionloss and disruption, both expensive.

Solution Seeker’s method is to close and openthe choke valve slightly (by 1-2 per cent), overa time cycle (open and close) of 6-8 hours,with the test carried out over 20-24 hours.This is basically putting a sine wave signalinto one of the production streams.

This will lead to a small change in commin-gled production flow.

Using mathematical techniques based aroundthe Fourier Transform (which can convertfixed parameters into wave data and viceversa), and analysing the commingled flowrate, the software can make a good estimateof the flow from the individual well.

The results are not as reliable as doing a welltest (closing one well completely for a fewhours to see the effect on overall flow), butmuch less expensive. Also the uncertainty inthe reading can be calculated, and reduced ifnecessary, by increasing the length of the testor the size of choke adjustment.

Since all wells already have remote control chokes, the process doesn’t require any investment apart from software.

Several wells can be tested simultaneously,with a different frequency choke signal (dif-ferent rate the valves are opened and closed).

The process has been tested on 3 fields, in-cluding a subsea production system with 10-11 wells.

You can also look at gas and oil flowrates to-gether and see how the ratio between them ischanging.

It is possible that choking one well will leadto increased pressure in another one, for reser-voir reasons.

This could be tested by looking at changes inwell head pressure (upstream of the choke)and seeing if this is changing.

“It is emerging as a viable alternative to welltesting,” he said.

Further information is on a YouTube video atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=TgwcH4d2cgo

Watch Vidar’s talk on video and downloadslides at http://www.findingpetroleum.com/video/1393.aspx

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Gjøa Information Manager says “basicallywe’re happy”Engie (formerly GDF Suez E&P Norge) has been using Siemens’ “COMOS” software on its Gjøa platform for thelast 5 years. The verdict from Information Manager Tor Ove Holsen is “basically we’re happy”



Engie Norway (previously GDF Suez E&PNorge) has been using Siemens’ “COMOS”plant engineering software on the Gjøa pro-duction platform, for all daily operations, forthe past 5 years.

“Basically, we're happy,” said Tor OveHolsen, Leader Document and InformationManagement with Engie, speaking at theFinding Petroleum Stavanger forum on De-cember 3, “Transforming Offshore Operationswith Data”.

Mr Holsen was asked if there have been anydifficulties with the software. “Yes therehave,” he replied, “but you kind of forgetwhen everybody turns out happy in the end.”

The heavier users are the ‘technical organisa-tion’, such as maintenance and engineeringstaff. The system is also used by operationsstaff – onshore and offshore.

The software is used for managing lifecycledata (the ‘Technical Data Library’), and plan-ning maintenance. The platform is only 5years old, so there isn’t much new engineeringand project development going on.

As Leader of Document and InformationManagement for Gjøa, Mr Holsen’s role is‘owner’ of the Technical Data Library part ofCOMOS.

The company is using software version 9.2and is testing version 10.0 at the moment.

COMOS is used both onshore and offshore,with a common database.

It helps that Gjøa is located close enough to shore to run a communications cable out to it,

as well as an electrical cable. “[Communica-tions] speed is OK, it is do-able,” he said.

Because the platform is very young, not manymodifications are required. But the companywould probably have implemented the soft-ware in a similar way if there was big modifi-cation work going on, he said.

Users work on it via normal desktop comput-ers in an office environment, not in a collabo-ration centre.

Background

Statoil managed the development of the plat-form and field, between 2006 and 2010, pro-viding Engie (then called GDF Suez) with allof the information provided as ‘non intelli-gent’ documents rather than data which can beeasily integrated and indexed, Mr Ove Holsensaid.

Engie loaded Statoil’s data into the SiemensCOMOS software. Work to implement thesoftware started in early 2009, going live in2010.

The initial work involved redrawing over 600piping and instrumentation diagrams, pro-vided by Statoil as flat pdf files, into data files,he said.

The same task had to be done for over 5,000instrumentation loop diagrams.

Once the diagrams have been described asdata, the system can generate a Piping and In-strumentation Diagram (P+ID) whenever it isrequired, similar to the way electronic mapsoftware can create a map from a live data-base.

The main benefit of COMOS is that it offers‘intelligence’, in that it can provide morevalue from the documents by being able toconnect them together and understand the re-lationships between them.

“To use COMOS you need to use the‘COMOS intelligence’. If you don't, I don'tsee any special reason for using COMOS,” hesaid.

It is possible to set up a system like COMOSfor a plant which is already in operation, butit is still a major task, which can be difficult,he said.

New functionality

Engie built some new software functionalityfor COMOS.

This included a ‘red line’ mark-up system toshow changes – for example, if a door ischanged so it opens outwards rather than in-wards.

Also a ‘safety critical document’ workflowensuring safety critical documents are handledquicker than others.

“We use workflow a lot, our experience is thatit’s very useful,” he said.

Engie also created systems for export-importof bulk data, to reduce the amount of manualupdating of data required.

Master Data Library

The core function is as a ‘master data library’storing the company’s master record about theplant, which everybody can access.

The system contains 130,000 tags (lists of in-formation about specific pieces of equip-ment).

The master database can be updated directlyby the company’s modification contractor andinstrumentation contractor. “For us, it’s a ne-cessity they work [on the software] directly,”he said.

There are many ways to work with the data.

It can be used to generate live 3D models ofthe platform, which users can ‘walk inside’.

This is useful for offshore workers, who wantto use the system for find out where a certainpump is located.

It also means users can jump from looking ata piping and instrumentation diagram (P+ID)to looking at an actual 3D model.

7Finding Petroleum - Transforming Offshore Operations with Data, Dec 3 2015


There is a function to search for data, if youcan’t find it through the indexes. “We don'tfind this search functionality to be any prob-lem,” he said. “It is easy, it works fine, noproblem. You need to know what to search for,that helps.”

Uploading new data to the library is a taskwhich needs to be handled very carefully.

“You have to know everything you need toknow before you start, and you never do.”

It is very important to track how informationis being uploaded and where it goes, he said.“If you fail, you have a huge clean-up prob-lem.”

Maintenance

COMOS is used to plan, organise and keeptrack of maintenance work on the platform.

All work orders are managed throughCOMOS, including inspections, modifica-tions to work orders. The software generates70,000 work orders every year for mainte-nance.

The software can generate reports and calcu-late ‘key performance indicators’ for mainte-nance, and be used to demonstrate to theauthorities that the facility is maintainedsafely.

The system also stores information about any‘events’. It has stored 18,000 “events” relatedto maintenance over the past 5 years, which

are categorised as malfunctions, temporary re-pairs, program changes and modification pro-posals.

It integrates with company’s SAP human re-sources system for creating new users, and in-tegrates with SAP for materials management.It also integrates with the company’s IPL in-tegrated planning software.

The company recently linked the system withConnect@Plant, an IT security system whichmanages access to offshore installations.“That's another good story that we could tellyou,” he said. “We won a prize for this.”

You can watch Tor Ove’s talk on video anddownload slides atwww.findingpetroleum.com/video/1392.aspx

Siemens – using the same data for differentpurposesOne of the most useful aspects of Siemens’ “COMOS” plant information software is that it makes it easy to usethe same piece of data for different purposes, explained Thomas Andersson

Siemens’ plant information software “COMOS”is built around a single database where all datarelated to the same asset in the plant forms a unit– an object. The same object is then usedthrough the whole lifecycle, across disciplinesand work processes to manage data and docu-ments.

All this data can be used in many different waysby engineering, operations and maintenancestaff, said Thomas Andersson, Pre-sales Engi-neer, COMOS, speaking at the Finding Petro-leum forum in Stavanger on December 3,“Transforming Offshore Operations with Data”.

You could have a ‘traditional’ multi database setup of information systems, where searching forinformation will result in duplicates, various un-changeable formats and even contradicting in-formation. In other words poor data quality andavailability for end user.

Or you could have a more sophisticated systemwhere the object is the same regardless if you

look at it in the 3D model, in a document or inthe hierarchical data view. Users can then findthe object, for example a pump, in the 3Dmodel, and bring up data about it. Examples ofsuch data can be commissioning status, modifi-cation in parallel projects or operational as workpermits or running hours.

Navigating from the pump to its representationof a Piping and Instrumentation Diagram(P+ID) is done via a simple mouse click. Thesame navigation technique is used to follow thepump’s relation to other plant data. For examplenavigation can be made to the pump on the sys-tem control diagram (SCD), the single line rep-resentation of the power supply, to the spareparts or to the risk assessment.

There is still a need for manage documents in adata-centric plant information system, such asthe configuration file for a frequency converter,manuals, photos, etc. These documents are nat-urally stored with the object keeping all datatied to the object and available at the fingertipsof the user.

Maintenance management

The maintenance management system inCOMOS utilises the same objects in the samedatabase adding on additional information intothe object.

Maintenance planners can define a maintenancestrategy for each component, for examplewhether it should have condition monitoring,and whether it should be ‘run to failure’ or re-placed according to a regular schedule.

You can make an assessment of the likelihoodof failure and consequence for different items,which could be used to generate a risk priorityindex, how critical a failure would be. All dataused in the assessment is available and storedon the object thus adding more data to the sameobject as used in engineering.

The software can automatically generate ‘workpackages’, lists of work which need to be doneby a certain person or in a certain week, with allof the relevant information taken from the data-bases, he said.

It contains information about what kind of ma-terial you need, what equipment, whether youneed to reserve certain equipment or certain spe-cially qualified people to do the work.

If you need to do a risk assessment as part ofplanning a maintenance task, the data is readilyavailable from the objects and checklists suchas safe job analysis or base position lists.

When having all data in a maintainable format,it is then very easy to drill down and work withthe data, twisting it into a context that 'is rele-vant for the current user.”



Built in tools for data management such as aquery tool, report designer and status manage-ment ensures efficient management of data forboth retrieval and update. Status can for exam-ple be visualised with colour-coding showingthe status in the hierarchical structure, on 2Ddrawings and in the 3D model.

In one example, for a shutdown on a piece ofequipment, you can select the item on a 2D di-agram, and generate data about the standard op-erating procedure for the work, and thencompile and practise the procedure in the train-ing simulator.

Finding information

Perhaps the biggest value for a system like thisis still making it easier to find the right infor-mation and it is easier to trust.

With most software currently in use, engineers“spend a lot of time waiting for, searching forand validating information,” Mr Anderssonsaid.

It is common that “data is often re-entered inmultiple systems, so duplicate copies existhopefully with the same value.”

“Companies still have silos of information andneed to build systems to integrate them. Theseintegrations consume resources and makes con-tinuous improvements and changes in one sys-tem harder due to the interconnections”

Staff often have to work with a range of differ-ent software systems, all with different user in-terfaces, which they have to learn how to use.With COMOS it is one interface.

Much information is stored as documents ratherthan data, particularly for old facilities, he said.This is something which needs to be efficientlymanaged and utilized with a strategic approach.We call it hybrid implementation where you en-sure availability of all data by combining themodern data structure and object orientationwith existing documents which may be verystatic.

Value for users is that data is available at theirfingertips regardless of source and as objects aremodified the old documents are modified, mi-grated or replaced creating even more value forfuture use.

You can have a hybrid solution with some ofyour data in different formats at the same time,new and old together. “That is the case for mostinstallations,” he said.

Building it

When implementing a new plant informationsystem, it is good to start with a ‘base’ creatingthe fundamental data model, and then imple-ment and release small functionalities at a timeon top of that, such as a commissioning system,P&ID, datasheets.

“Our strategy is not to go all in in those full bigbang implementations, especially since our sys-tems supports stepwise configuration and isonly using a single database.” he said.

Having an open configurable platform asCOMOS gives our customers a foundation tomake data work.

Watch Thomas’s talk on video atwww.findingpetroleum.com/video/1591.aspx

How do you like to see pump information – on a piping and instrumentation diagram (left) or on a 3D model (right?)Probably, both views are useful

Intergraph – how plant information can helpwith safetyThe most important processes in offshore operations are process safety management, maintenance,ensuring reliability, and doing modifications. Better plant information software can help with all of these,Intergraph says

In a customer survey, oil and gas operators saythat the most important activities in productionoperations are process safety management,maintenance, reliability, modifications, saidJens Olav Nordanger, Sales Manager of Inter-graph.

“If you want to be good at this you need to havegood quality and trustworthy information,” hesaid.

One research company established that havingpoor data costs a company the equivalent of 1.5per cent of annual sales, Mr Nordanger said.

These costs could be further segmented into op-erational delays, reduction in availability, mod-ification projects more expensive, moreexpensive maintenance costs, plus an impact onsafety.



“It is something that has an impact on our dayto day business,” he said.

“A lot of companies have a vision where youhave a trusted source of data that you can re-use,all linked together,” Mr Nordanger said.

But in most plants today, “a lot of the documen-tation is not up to date, and scattered around dif-ferent sources,” he said.

Over half of the respondents said they use over20 per cent of their time searching for data.“The ability to search for data is really impor-tant,” he said.

SmartPlant Fusion

Intergraph produces the “SmartPlant Fusion”software, which is designed to help companiesintegrate all of their existing ‘old’ data and doc-uments.

The software includes optical character recog-nition (OCR) tools to scan the text out of thedocuments.

There are tools to compare different versions ofdocuments to help you work out which one isthe ‘master’.

Once you’ve identified a ‘master’, it will searchthe document to find the objects mentioned(pumps for example) and then link to other doc-uments which mention the same item.

Once everything is indexed you can see whereyour gaps and inconsistencies are. You can havea single point of access.

Doing more with data

The technology can be used together with laserscan data.

Leica Geosystems, a sister company with Inter-graph (they are both part of Hexagon AB) is amajor producer of laser scanning devices.

By combing structured data with laser scan data,you can see the tag numbers of individual com-ponents shown up together with a laser scannedimage of them, and then click to bring up therelevant documents.

This could be part of a workflow, such as choos-ing an item to do maintenance on, clicking onit, and generating a work order and maintenanceinstructions.

The system could provide data to ‘augmentedreality’ 3D headset device, and be used forsomeone to practise doing the work they areabout to do.

Integration with mobile

For field work, Intergraph has created a mobiletool which can be used to report observations.Observations can be photographed or writtendown and entered into the system.

The same system can be used for carrying anddisplaying documents related to the task you aredoing. You can ‘drag and drop’ relevant docu-ments onto the mobile device, and then viewthem offline when you go out to the field.

New data can be uploaded when you get backto the office.

As an example, imagine a field worker findinga leaking valve, then creating a report on hishandheld computer.

He can use a laser scan image of the plant toidentify to his supervisor which valve it is, andregister if the leak is low medium or high, oradd photos if necessary.

The supervisor can tell the maintenance depart-ment that they have a problem with a valve witha specific tag number, and a plan can be put intoplace to fix it.

The supervisor can check the piping and instru-mentation diagram to see if any of the pipingneeds to be isolated before the valve is repairedand how that should be done.

When a maintenance technician goes to repairthe valve, it is easier for him to find the rightvalve. When you reach the valve, you can seethe notes by the previous field worker aboutwhat was wrong.

You can mark the problem on a live piping andinstrumentation diagram.

You can see if the line is high pressure, or ifthere is any other critical information to check.

Finally the field change request can be filed.

Safety

The software can be used as a basis for sophis-ticated safety management systems.

For example, Intergraph integrates with soft-ware from Netherlands based eVision IndustrySoftware.

The eVision software can be used to help ensuresafety when a maintenance task is being done.

It can pull the permit to work from the com-pany’s work management system (such asSAP), and pull relevant data from Intergraphsoftware, for example the 3D scans, the pipingand instrumentation diagrams, and the datasheets associated with the valve.

It visualises where the work will take place onthe plant.

You can see if anything is happening nearbywhich might add to the risk such as hot work.

There is a step by step ‘wizard’ which will workout if a new risk assessment is applicable or not.

If the task requires isolation (cutting off flow offluids to and from the valve), you can make an‘isolation plan’ to do this using the piping andinstrumentation diagram.

You can work out which valves you need to turnto isolate the leaky valve. You can see all theisolation points on a 3D model of the plant.

Once this is done, it can be copied back to theIntergraph software for final checks.

To make sure valves are not open by mistake,you can hang a physical label on the valve say-ing it is switched off, and scan the valve, so datais updated in the permit office. Once it is OK toopen the valve, the instruction can be given.

Once everything has been approved, the job canbe executed, and de-isolation team can go to thefield.

“This is a huge time saving for the workforce,”said Kasem Challiou, Global Alliance Manager,eVision Industry Software, who was jointly giv-ing the talk.

The main business benefits are increasingsafety, and improving efficiency of offshoreworkers, increasing their ‘hands on tool time’,and reducing preparation time.

Some clients say ‘hands on tool time’ is as littleas 20 per cent.

There can be big delays, for example if a workerhas to drive a long distance to reach a well andthen can’t do the planned work.



Big screens – a great tool for decision makingBig screens, showing up to date 3D models of the plant can be a great support for decision making, saidAVEVA’s Harald Gunnerod

Most of us are familiar with 4,000 pixels, or “4K”screens, these days.

“You probably have one in your living room,” saidHarald Gunnerod, Senior Account Manager withAVEVA, speaking at the Finding Petroleum confer-ence in Stavanger on December 3, “TransformingOffshore Operations with Data”.

As well as being used for home movies, the screenscan also be used to support offshore decision mak-ing, if they make it very easy to see a detailed andup to date 3D model of the plant, and look in detailat anything you want and bring up associated data.

They are touch screens, which means that the imagecan be moved around by wiping your hands on thescreen, similar to how you swipe on a tablet com-puter.

The model is uploaded to the graphics card. Thismeans the response of the system is instantaneousand you can manipulate huge 3D plant models. Youcan even make live cuts into the model to look atthe inside of the structure in realtime.

Mr Gunnerod showed a 3D model of an offshoreplatform, which was developed together with Shell.

The model is connected to the master plant infor-mation database, in this case AVEVA.net.

You can look at the offshore asset with many dif-ferent views – for example you could see pipingcolour coded for the fluid it is carrying.

If you are planning a purchase of spare pipe, youcan see how much piping you have on the assetwhich is a certain diameter as a visual image.

You can see equipment tagged by vendors. If youfind one vendor has supplied poor quality products,you can see where all of the products they have sup-plied are.“It gives a unique ability to understand that greatamount of data,” he said.

The data is also useful in an emergency if you canfind what you need faster. You can click on a pumpor any other item and see all the documents associ-ated with them, such as instrumentation diagrams.

The business benefit is that it will help staff makethe right decisions quickly about any operationalchanges, including modifications, which need to bemade, Mr Gunnerod said.

Laser scanning

Laser scanning technology has improved a greatdeal in recent years, Mr Gunnerod said.

The basic idea is to point a laser around in the plant,and it records how far away different items are, andtheir location.

The technology has improved a great deal in reso-lution, now about to calculate millions of pointsvery quickly, and record colours, so it is “as goodas a photograph,” he said.

The laser scan devices are handheld, so you canscan the plant, or a new addition to the plant, just bywalking around with a 3D laser scanning device.

The computer image processing has developed soit can allow you view the plant from any positionand in any direction you like, even if the plant wasnot actually laser scanned from that specific point.

If you record a scan of your plant from a few dif-ferent points, “You have a very good 'as is' modelof your situation,” he said.

E3D

AVEVA has updated its modelling software E3D totake advantage of the improvements in laser scan-ning.

You can see the laser image (known as a ‘pointcloud’ because it is made up of millions of points),superimposed on the 3D model (which has beencreated from the plant design data).

So if there are any modifications to the plant, andyou don’t have a model of the modified plant fromthe designer, you can just take a laser scan of it, andincorporate this update on your 3D model.

You can make sure you have a completely updatedmodel, made up of a mixture of laser scans and orig-inal plant designs.

This can be used to plan future modifications, forexample making sure that any new equipment youplant to install will fit.

The 3D data is also easy to manipulate, so you cansee what the plant would look like with a certainitem removed.

The work can be done on a normal computer work-station.

The design files can be web hosted, so people canwork on it around the world.

If you are working in a large design team (for ex-ample on a FPSO), you can assign ‘owners’ to dif-ferent pieces of equipment. If you want to make ahole in the design for a certain piece of equipmentyou need to ‘request it’ from the owner of the equip-ment.

Lifecycle

Over the asset lifecycle, the oil company aim is tomaintain a single digital version of what is goingon, rather than different disciplines putting out dif-ferent information and trying to figure out after-wards what is right.

A good place to start connecting the different disci-plines is to connect the P+ID from process engi-neering with the 3D model created within areaengineering. It is critical that these two deliverablesremain consistent through the engineering and lateroperation phases of the lifecycle.

You can track changes and in the P+ID that will af-fect the 3D model. This can be shown with colourcoding showing anything which has changed.

If they are not connected, that means that you needto keep a manual list of changes to the P+ID dia-gram since the plant was constructed. For this, mostpeople use Excel. “That's not a good tag manage-ment system due to the lack of history or connectionto the design tools,” he said.

Watch Harald’s talk on video and download slidesat http://www.findingpetroleum.com/video/1598.aspx



Big data to increase productionOil and gas companies would really like to use what they have to get more out of current investments. Howdo we get there? Eldor’s Bjarne Andrè Asheim has some ideas

A pathway to increase production is to reduce ef-fects from “unplanned situations” by using realtime data, new modelling and rule based technol-ogy to help operators handle abnormal situationswith limited effect said Eldor’s Bjarne AndrèAsheim, speaking at the Finding Petroleum Sta-vanger forum on December 3, “Transforming Off-shore Operations with Data”.

We need to provide more value to operations fromthe data we already have which means that we needinnovative technology to preprocess raw data sothat we can deliver data that gives real time deci-sion support to operators of these highly complexengineered systems, he said.

“The overall goal is to deal with all the upsets up-front as early as possible.”

Business case

The business argument is that better abnormal sit-uation management could lead to an increase inproduction of 5 per cent. “That’s what we believein,” Mr Asheim said.

Studies of “abnormal situations” on plants haveshown that they can lead to losses of between 3 and10 per cent of total production every year, accord-ing to the ‘Abnormal Situation Management Con-sortium”, with members including Chevron, BP,Total, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell andSasol.

ASMC studies have also shown that 50 per cent ofunplanned situations are due to lack of situationawareness, for the control room operator and forthe team around the control room operator,” hesaid. “They also say 90 per cent can be preventa-ble.”

Things tends to happen that affects production andin many cases it´s very difficult for operations tounderstand complexity of the situation fast enoughto avoid losses, he said.

Software modelling

There have been many advances in software mod-elling which can really help.

Software modelling can help to find out the rootcauses, not just recognise symptoms, as alarms do.

For example, “if you have a high pressure on atank, the high pressure is not the root, it’s a symp-tom of something else. The operator has to think,what is causing this high pressure, and what shouldI do.”

Better software will also guide the operator to theright answer, rather than tell her what it is.

“We want to show the operator what is the conse-quence of what is happening, what will happennext.”

Compared to e.g. the automobile industry we´re farbehind in preprocessing data with advanced sensortechnology to advise operators, Mr Asheim said.

Functional modelling

The best method for understanding complex sys-tems is to use ‘functional modelling’, which basi-cally breaks the engineered system down intofunctions.

For example, your living room light is a fairly sim-ple function. If there is no light, you should be ableto find a switch. If the switch doesn’t turn it on,probably the fuse is broken.

“We think in functions as human beings.”

“That's also how the operator is thinking when heis trying to find the reason behind this high pres-sure. He is also thinking in functions. He's not try-ing to follow the P&ID,” Mr Asheim said.

So a useful software tool would “model the means,ends and the goals of functions, we put these func-tions together,” he said.

By understanding the functional models, “we cancheck the root cause, consequences, and create adynamic counteraction plan for all situations.”

Visual interface

Eldor has also been experimenting hard at devel-oping more useful ways the information can be vi-sualized on screen.

“We have been looking into how information canbe displayed in a way where we use the advantagesof the human brain” he said. “We are looking intousing symbols instead of text.”

“Most likely we need more than one user interfacebecause people are different.

“I've seen that many times, an operator has one setof screens, there is a shift change, and the new op-erator changes nearly all the displays and are work-ing in a different way. It is amazing to see,” he said.

You might expect that since both operators aredoing the same task with the same data, they wouldwant the information to be displayed in the sameway, but this is not the case.

Eldor works together with a local multidisciplinarydesign studio to design the user interfaces. “Wewant something new, up to date, made by design-ers, not engineers”, he said.

Eldor

Eldor is a small engineering company establishedin 2006, focused on the oil and gas industry, basedin Forus, Stavanger. It employs around 40 engi-neers.

Main focus is on telecom, control and safety sys-tems, industrial IT systems, and onshore operationcenter including control rooms.

The company is currently looking for oil compa-nies interested in forming a ‘joint industry project’to develop software for optimal real time decisionsupport.

You can download Bjarne André’s slides at http://www.findingpetroleum.com/event/6ca14.aspx

Finding Petroleum: Transforming Offshore Operations with DataStavanger, Dec 3 2015, Attendees

What did you enjoy most about the event?

“ “New relevant information- and establishing contacts for further discussionsTerje Hundvik, Forthun AS

Interesting topicsaround OptimizingProduction Operations andaugmented reality.

” ”

The high quality of the presentationsand the discussions between partici-pants and presenters. Very relevantand to the point.Christian G. Elmose, Siemens Industry Software A/S

“ “Interesting to see the future possibilities in thefield. Although most ofwhat was presented isavailable today I guessonly the future will showif the industry will be willing to see the valueand do the necessary investments.

Cross section ofrelevant industryplayers. I likedKarl's commentsafter each presen-tation. All in all awell run event.VisCo

“The attemptto show actual businessvalue for operations inthe differentsystems.

”” ”

“These types of workshopson hot and critical topicsare an efficient and inter-esting half day includinglunch refreshments. Youmanage to gather a goodnetwork.Arild N. Nystad, PetroManagement AS

”

“”

Johanna Rasmussen, GeophysicistBørre Heggernes, CTO, Amitec ASSigve Hamilton Aspelund, Entrepreneur, Aspelund Consulting Energy Offshore Development International & NationalHarald Gunnerod, Senior Account Manager,AVEVAJohan Jotun, Technical specialist, AVEVAJarle Soland, Chairman of the board, Avito ASDerek Göbel, CEO, Avito LoopsScott Simpson, Formation Evaluation ServiceCoordinator, Baker HughesYoseph Ghezai, Reservoir Application Manager,Baker HughesSheena Smith, Document Control Lead, BGGroupStein Roalkvam, Senior Consultant, Bouvet ASJohannes Stavland, Manager, Bouvet Norge ASTetyana Kholodna, CapgeminiItalo Chirico, Director of Engineering & Tech-nology, Cofely FabricomMichael Sund, Sales Director, ComputasRoar Fjellheim, Director, Computas ASTram Tran, Entrepreneur Founder InformationData Petroleum Innovator, ConsultantMehmet Fidan, COPBjarne André Asheim, Managing Director, EldorHafrun Hauksdottir, EldorMohamed Anwar Khodair, Project Manager,EmersonTor Ove Holsen, Leader Document and Information Management, Engie (GDF Suez E&P Norge)Kasem Challiou, Global Alliances Manager, eVision Software

Joe Chesak, CEO, Fablabs ASRichard McIntyre, Sales Manager, Finding PetroleumKarl Jeffery, Editor, Finding PetroleumTerje Hundvik, Owner, Forthun ASAtul Mehta, Operations Leader, HalliburtonGeir Lerfall, Managing Director, IKM Operations ASJonathan Franklin, Business Manager, InfoplusJens Olav Nordanger, Senior Sales Executive,IntergraphGaute Madsen, Sales Executive, IntergraphMari Helgeland, Marketing and Sales, IntergraphNorge ASØystein Drivflaadt, CTO, IntOpKarl Ernst Karlsen, Consultant, IO KonsulentenPål Hjertholm, MD, IOSolutions ASJone Aase, Consultant, JA ConsultingAnnette Larsen, Manager, LogtekMarie Austdal, Researcher, Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyGladys Hovland, IT Manager, Ocean InstallerTone Sleveland, LCI Supervisor, OmegaArild Nystad, CEO, PetroManagement ASMikhail Smirnov, Sales Engineer, Roxar FlowMeasurement ASHector Escalona, Senior Production Engineer,SchlumbergerGordy Shanor, Owner & Principal Consultant,Shanor GeoSolutions ASElisabeth Molz, Marketing Manager, SiemensIndustry SoftwareThomas Andersson, COMOS PreSales Engineer,Siemens Industry Software

Christian Elmose, Project Executive, Siemens Industry Software A/SNigel Sams, Executive Sales Manager, Siemens Industry Solutions - COMOSVidar Gunnerud, CEO, SolutionSeekerOle Martin Bakken, StatoilPeter Scott, Senior Advisor, Tellmann EAArne Beyer, Senior Advisor, Tellmann EAKaren Oldenziel, Project Coordinator, TOTAL / BouvetIda Marie Kastrud, Head of Methods & Tools in Field Operation, Total EP Norge asArvind Keprate, PHD Student, UISElbarra Elbadri, UMSTJane BråtveitTerje Amundsen Adiyaman Daksinamoorthy, CEO, VIAAN ASJared Hanscom, Executive Sales, VisCoTore Kvam, Manager, ViscoEinar Bekkevold, Business development, ViscoØystein Stray, CEO, VisCo ASAlisa Smerdova, Senior Consultant, WebstepArve Gruehagen, Maintenance Engineer, WestconSolveig Bjørheim, Enterprise Content Management Lead, Wintershall Norge ASViviann Grønnevik, Information ManagementCoordinator, Wintershall Norge ASFrode Adelsten Jensen, Advisor InformationManagement, Wintershall Norway



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