Harnessing the value of data in asset management for production assurance and to lower operating costs

Abstract

With rising costs, a tight labour market, and prolonged global economic uncertainty, it is unsurprising that investment decisions are being re-evaluated across Australia's resources and energy industry. Amid this tough market environment, effective asset management has never been more important. Asset management was first adopted by Australia's oil and gas industry in the early 90s and is now well entrenched. There is widespread acknowledgement that it breaks down project complexity and plays a critical role in maximising project net present value. If done well, asset management takes a long-term view of asset life-cycles–from concept and creation, to services that deliver production assurance and lower costs. While these principles are well understood across the market, asset data capture and analysis–a critical element to successful asset management–requires ongoing review. Accurate and comprehensive asset data is the basis on which all good asset-management decisions are made. Developments in geographic information systems, SAP, and cloud-based technology are redefining the way asset data is collected, stored, analysed, and fed back into asset-management decisions. Asset managers of oil and gas assets should, therefore, be asking themselves three important questions: Are we using the latest technology to collect, store, and analyse asset data? Which project stakeholders need to interact with the data? Do our existing or planned asset-management models have the capacity to integrate and evolve with new technology as it develops?