Statoil, ABB Among Companies Pushing Integrated Operations Initiatives

Abstract

Exploration and production companies have long seen integrated operations (IO) as a key innovative strategy for maintaining high production levels. Automation, optimization of processes, and overall data management are the keywords for operators, information technology (IT) companies, and service companies looking to guarantee the maximum exploitation of their available resources. Some of these companies have taken steps recently to make IO system architecture and facilities a more central aspect of their operations. Integrated Operations Center In 2018, Statoil will establish a new onshore integrated operations center (IOC) that it says will help increase safety, add value, and reduce emissions from its installations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The company called the IOC an “important step” in its digital roadmap that will enable increased production efficiency and production potential on the NCS. The IOC is also intended to make data available in a more user-friendly format, providing the operations organization offshore with a better decision-making basis and support. Kjetil Hove, Statoil’s senior vice president for operations technology on the NCS, said that the åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea and Grane and Gina Krog in the North Sea will be the first fields getting support from the center after its establishment, and that new fields and installations will be gradually integrated to allow time for learning and adjustment to new work processes. The center will help ensure that production on the fields is optimally efficient at all times, solving bottlenecks through condition monitoring. This will be achieved by means of specialist support within production optimization and preventative maintenance from interdisciplinary teams; for example, within production technology, processing, mechanical, and electrical engineering. “We are now developing tools that will stream data live from the sensors offshore. The tools will help conduct detailed analyses of the production and the performance of equipment on the installations. One important goal for the center is to identify and prevent operational disruptions,” Hove said in a statement. Statoil said the IOC’s exact location will be determined later this year. The company will integrate the company’s existing production support centers and condition monitoring centers, which are located in various parts of Norway. On 9 November, Statoil opened the Valemon control room at Sandsli in Bergen. Valemon is the first platform in Statoil’s portfolio to be remote-controlled from land, and while the company currently has no other platforms of this kind it said this solution may be considered for other small- and medium-sized platforms in the future, and remote control may be a central building block of its future operations.