Integrated Asset Management Research Articles

Innovative inspection techniques for ultra deepwater drillships and other floating O&G production assets saving costs, enhancing safety, while assuring operational availability and asset integrity

The Hull Inspection Techniques and Strategy (HITS) Joint Industry Project (JIP), a subgroup of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Research Forum, called for new methods to be developed that enhance safety, reduce costs and support the assurance of integrated asset management. Hull integrity is critical to enhancing safety and operational effectiveness for production operations, particularly for high-value assets. Good hull integrity requires accurate, relevant hull-inspection data of the internal structure, isolation valves, moonpools, external appendages and positioning systems. Current methods use divers or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs); this often disrupts drilling operations and, in the case of divers, is a high but managed risk. HITS JIP called for methods to minimise diver and man intervention in confined spaces. This has now been achieved on several assets while on station, operational and on-hire by an innovative method of conducting inspections from within the hull and using advanced techniques to inspect critical isolation valves, moonpool high-stress areas, thrusters and hull appendages. Aligning internal and external structural inspections optimises operational availability further and is achieved by means of class-approved ‘long-term inspection plans’ that align the ‘underwater’ scope with other hull inspections and spreads the work over several 5-year cycles. As well as safety enhancements, benefits include over 70% persons on board (POB) reduction on diver under water inspection in lieu of drydocking (UWILD) operations, minimising downtime and operational impact, and high-value inspection data. Further advances in hull inspection have also been proven that eliminate man entry of confined spaces for inspection of ballast and other tanks.

An Integrated Asset Management Platform to Support Sewer Regionalization in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

An Integrated Asset Management Platform to Support Sewer Regionalization in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Studying the funding principles for integrating Asset Management in Operations: an empirical research in production companies

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate Asset Management (AM) implementation as a business process within production systems to contribute to operational excellence. The main fundamentals to be considered to properly implement AM within production companies according to the existing literature and standards are identified and they are: two dimensions - i.e., the asset life cycle (Beginning of Life, Middle of Life, End of Life phases) and the hierarchical level of the asset-control activities (strategic level, tactical level, operational level) - and four funding principles - i.e., life cycle orientation, system orientation, risk orientation and asset-centric orientation. An empirical investigation is then developed through multiple case-study involving eight production companies in Italy, in order to assess the level of orientation towards those funding principles within production companies as it is nowadays, in order to identify existing gaps and areas for improvements.

Towards green building performance evaluation using asset information modelling

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique conceptual framework for integrated asset management strategy that includes making use of available facility assessment methods and tools such as BREEAM In-Use, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED); and highlights proposes areas of commonality between these and the use of as-built Building Information Modelling, that ultimately becomes the Asset Information Model (AIM). This framework will consider the emerging requirements for the capture of Building Performance Attribute Data (BPAD), and how these can be managed in order to assist with effective post-construction building performance evaluation.Design/methodology/approach– A review of the current process relevant to the development of as-built BIMs and AIMs was undertaken which included a discussion of BIM standards and of the COBie process. This was combined with data provided by industry practitioners. This led to the concept of BPADs being developed, to be used within existing green building tool, BREEAM In-Use, COBIE and FM/Asset management methods. In turn these methodologies were used to identify possible synergies and areas of integration in AIM-enabled environments.Findings– Recognising the cyclical nature of asset management and BIM, a conceptual model was generated. It was found that BPADs could be aggregated within an AIM model which could influence the delivery of effective facilities and asset management. The model considers the use of existing Building Management Systems (BMS) and Computer Aided Facility Management Systems (CAFMs) and identifies issues associated with the overall sustainability strategy.Originality/value– A conceptual framework is generated that proposes the use of effective information management and aggregation of BPAD within an AIM.

Integrating Asset Management Across Fremantle Ports

Asset ownership is a significant cost to Fremantle Ports and developing a best practice strategic asset management (SAM) framework that provides a simple, logical and innovative approach for optimising the whole of life cycle cost of asset delivery in meeting the agreed levels of service and risk exposure has been a corporate priority over the past years. With the development and implementation of the SAM framework well underway, Fremantle Ports now focuses on the integration of asset management practices across the business, from operational through to tactical and strategic planning. A pilot project has been proposed to assess and improve asset management practices across one of Fremantle Ports’, most critical asset classes, the wharves and jetties. This paper reviews the findings and challenges of this project and the various tools that were developed, including a life cycle cost model. This model is based on asset condition and related deterioration curves that allow for the estimation of remaining life. In addition, the model enables the selection of most cost effective rehabilitation strategies while considering risk profile and available funding, assisting Fremantle Ports in optimising the decision making process by providing an actual and an optimised life cycle cost plan.

Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County – Integrating Asset Management and Master Planning to Assess Future Investment Needs

Water and Sewer Authority of Cabarrus County – Integrating Asset Management and Master Planning to Assess Future Investment Needs

Integrating Asset Management Principles to Stormwater Management: A Risk-Based Approach to Management of Stormwater Assets

Integrating Asset Management Principles to Stormwater Management: A Risk-Based Approach to Management of Stormwater Assets

도로시설물 자산관리를 위한 서비스수준체계 개발

PURPOSES: The aim of this paper is developing user-oriented flexible Level Of Service (LOS) system for integrated asset management of various road facilities. It is essential to overcome limitations of general management systems which only focus on a type of assets (e.g. pavement, bridge etc.), and to serve a customizable LOS platform for smooth implementation and future improvement of the LOS considering various managerial environments of road agencies. METHODS: This study suggested a total framework of the LOS system as a process for self-development, operation and improvement of LOS system to conduct the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) in management process. In the process, we adopted user-customizable elements regarding asset definition, service index and evaluation method to match with the managerial environment of road agencies. In addition, we conducted an empirical study on the entire process of the suggested LOS system with a real road agency (Korea Express Highway) to prove applicability of the LOS system. RESULTS: From the empirical study, we confirmed that the suggested LOS system framework were suitable for development of customized LOS system. In addition, evaluation of asset conditions by LOS ratings, and quantification of vision achievement of the Korea Express Highway were successfully made. It would be the first trial in integrated management approach with LOS systems for numerous road facilities. CONCLUSIONS : It was recognized that easy application and sustainable improvement of the LOS was the most critical point in asset management. The suggested LOS system would be a powerful weapon as a managerial tool in preparing tight budget, aging infrastructures, and increased demands for more accountability both in Korea and internationally. Implementation of the LOS system needs to be expanded to the other infrastructure members to serve satisfactory level of service to taxpayers.

Integrated Asset Management – An Investment in Sustainability

Maintenance has traditionally been viewed as a negative aspect of doing business, incurring cost and causing downtime. For the mining sector, maintenance can be up to 30% of direct costs and much more in terms of the hidden costs of lost production, higher energy costs, reduced asset life and increased safety and environmental issues. By combining leading edge proactive maintenance strategies with the unique knowledge of an experienced equipment supplier, the concept of an “integrated asset management” partnership can turn this traditional view of maintenance into an investment that will improve all aspects of sustainability in an increasingly competitive and complex business environment.

A utility-tailored methodology for integrated asset management of urban water infrastructure

This paper presents the integrated methodology for infrastructure asset management (IAM) developed in AWARE-P, an R&D project aimed at producing adequate and effective support tools for assisting urban water utilities in decision making and rehabilitation planning (www.aware-p.org). The proposed methodology addresses all three planning and decisional levels (strategic, tactical and operational) and follows a plan-do-check-act (PDCA)-inspired cycle. The methodology assesses the water systems and any planning solutions along the cost, risk and performance dimensions, with a variety of standardized assessment methods and models proposed for each. It differs from existing approaches in the incorporation of the entire IAM process into a single organised framework, with an integrated, long-term vision of the urban water network – looking at the infrastructure as a system, and not as a mere sum of individual assets. The paper describes the approach and illustrates its application with reference to the several business cases already undertaken.

Model Integration and Data Optimization Software Enables Integrated Project Modeling

Technology Update Integrated asset modeling and optimization is an underserved niche in an industry where its demand is increasing because of the growing complexity of operating environments. Software called Pipe-It, which falls under the category of “integrated asset management tools,” and specifically “model integration and optimization,” was unveiled in December by Petrostreamz of Norway. It is designed for building integrated model-based tools for oil and gas asset optimization. Petrostreamz is a software spinoff of PERA, a consultancy firm in global pressure, volume, and temperature (PVT) modeling and gas enhanced oil recovery modeling. Curtis H. Whitson, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the chief technical officer of Petrostreamz, said the software addresses a much needed, underserved segment. Although it is a commercial product, it is made available to university students and research institutes in order to cultivate a data stream translation user community in the oil and gas industry. The company has published two Pipe-It integrated asset management (IAM) technical papers: the first in 2009 with paper SPE 121252, “Model-Based Integration and Optimization—Gas Cycling Benchmark,” and the second in 2010 with paper SPE 130768, “Multi-Field Asset Integrated Optimization Benchmark.” In both, all model data sets are made avail-able to the public, including the Pipe-It project itself, for those who wish to test their IAM solution against the company’s published results. The second benchmark is a complex integrated model publicly documented from NTNU’s Center for Integrated Operations (www.ntnu.edu/iocenter), with specific attention to the paper SPE 130768 benchmark (www.ipt.ntnu. no/~io-opt/wiki/doku.php). “If the application runs from a command line, you can integrate it in Pipe-It. In the past, model integration was more limited, as market solutions were sold in packages from a single vendor,” said Petrobras production engineer Sthener Campos. “It was used as a commercial strategy to tie the client. This scenario goes against a smooth implementation as it clashes with the profile of final users. Preset integration packages require users to change the software they used to develop engineering, and the knowledge they already own.” Streamz Technology The software performs four main functions: data stream translation, the orchestration of multiple processes, parametric analysis, and project optimization. The data stream translation is based on a technology for translating data streams for oil, gas, and water, from one description to another, with each description being needed as input for different software applications.

Asset Management: Time for an Integrated Approach

Information has been collected and evaluated regarding the status of asset management for nuclear power plants in the United States. The current condition if measured by plant capacity factors is fundamentally sound. On average a value around 90 % is stabilizing with the highest quartile being in the range of 95 %. Examples of motivations for continued enhancement and improvement of these solid plant capacity factors include: (1) organizational commitment to continuous improvement, (2) movement from a lower quartile of unit performance to a higher quartile as well as (3) avoidance of the pitfalls of complacency associated with excellence. An integrated approach to asset management will involve technical actions that are proper and properly timed, accomplished correctly, and carried out in a structured and repeatable manner.The evolution into this integrated approach should confront the feedback collected from utilities and elsewhere in the industry including observations such as:(a) Needing a better focus of maintenance expenditures on critical systems and components(b) Integration between engineering and work management(c) An interest in good, accurate assessments(d) Addressing if the “run to failure” category is being evaluated well and populated fairly(e) The challenge of maintenance resources as a precious commodity not to be wasted.Effort is underway to assess current conditions at nuclear power plants and the benefits that are hoped to be achieved from this systematic approach to asset management. Some examples of benefits for which this work approach can deliver results include plant capacity improvement, reduced investments in maintenance expenditures, enhanced confidence in technical evaluations, rapid turnaround of equipment condition assessments, central location of relevant plant information, improved knowledge transfer to new personnel, and reduced manpower burdens to perform related tasks. Challenges to success will include the recognition and need to a committed task approach to transition management of such a change including involvement of the work force in appreciating the value of this approach, user requirements, and effective training and training materials. Incorporation of an integrated approach is expected to be applicable to operating fleets as well as new reactors.The presentation will include a current status of the incorporation of integrated asset management at nuclear power plants in the US. For emerging interests in nuclear power generation, the maximum effectiveness and benefits for an integrated asset management attention are best achieved through leveraging approaches occurring elsewhere and apply this experience early in the planning and design process.

Analytical Hierarchy Process and Goal Programming Approach for Asset Allocation

Asset allocation in portfolio construction must simultaneously consider market conditions and investors’ specific preferences. Therefore, it is a multi-criteria decision that goes beyond the scope of the two-criteria, mean and variance of the portfolio returns, optimization method that traditionally prevails in the financial literature. This article suggests a procedure that makes integrated asset management possible, based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process combined with a mean variance and goal programming model. We illustrate this procedure with data from Canadian mutual funds over a total period of five years and three months, from September 2002 to November 2007. The results obtained are encouraging, as the portfolios constructed in this manner perform better than the S&P/TSX 60 index, which is the reference portfolio for the Canadian market.

Automating the Oilfield Asset - Artificial-Intelligence-Based Integrated-Production-Management Architecture

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 144334, ’Automation of the Oilfield Asset Through an Artificial- Intelligence-Based Integrated-Production- Management Architecture,’ by Cesar Bravo, SPE, Halliburton, and Luigi Saputelli, SPE, Hess Corporation; Jose Aguilar Castro, Addison Rios, and Francklin Rivas, Universidad de los Andes; and Joseph Aguilar- Martin, CTAE - Aerospace Research and Technology Center, prepared for the 2011 SPE Digital Energy Conference and Exhibition, The Woodlands, Texas, 19-21 April. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Integrated asset management is highly complex and requires the combined effort of several disciplines and technological tools. Orchestration of disciplines, workflow tools, and available data are important issues. Resource negotiation, communication language, and decision-making protocols are minor issues that exacerbate the problem, resulting in poor and delayed decision making. This study approached these challenges through implementation of distributed-artificial-intelligence-based architecture designed for automated production management. Introduction As systems technology improves, oil-production-automation systems have become complex, and management of oil-production assets requires new methods of work and new technological tools that allow collaborative efforts between all those involved in the production process to support accurate and timely decision making. This collaboration has several names in literature. For this study, the phrase integrated production management (IPM) was used. Many studies about IPM address enterprise-information-system integration as obtaining all information related to the production process to achieve the entire vision of the asset’s state. Several oil-production companies are developing projects oriented to IPM. IPM requires defining data models that enable information interchange between various applications of the enterprise. There are several ontological frameworks applied to the information interchange between production applications. This study proposed a complete approach over the technological tools required to support IPM and is based on the definition of an IPM architecture (IPMA). Proposed IPMA This architecture consists of the technological tools required for the acquisition, treatment, and analysis of the process information. The IPMA also considers business-process automation and decision-making support. The architecture has three layers, as shown in Fig. 1.

The success story of Windalia waterflood optimisation through integrated asset management in a mature field

Australia’s Barrow Island Windalia reservoir—the nation’s largest onshore waterflood—was developed in the late 1960s. The Barrow Island oilfield is Chevron Australia’s only mature waterflood, comprising more than 220 active injectors. The injectors pressurise and increase oil recovery from the geologically complex, low-permeable and heterogeneous Windalia Sand Member. To date it is estimated that the value of waterflooding has effectively reduced the field decline rate from approximately 18 % per annum to less than 2 %—adding millions of barrels in recovery and years on to productive field life. In September of 2008, the Windalia Waterflood achieved full field restitution. This involved the replacement and commissioning of glass-reinforced epoxy injection flow lines, a ring-main network and produced water re-injection facilities. Significant challenges were overcome in the process of realising the restitution’s full potential. Several waterflood optimisation activities have now been executed to achieve oil uplift and to capitalise on Chevron Australia’s investment. Compounded with restitution, the activities have successfully achieved the asset objective of arresting field production decline. This paper highlights the challenges encountered by the waterflood team, providing insights and lessons learned in the dynamic and holistic nature of waterflood management. It also highlights the interplay of considerations and what is crucial to achieving optimum sweep efficiency and pressurisation.

Development of the City of Scottsdale's Integrated Asset Management Program for Above- and Below-Ground Assets

Development of the City of Scottsdale's Integrated Asset Management Program for Above- and Below-Ground Assets

Semantic Web Technologies for Smart-Oilfield Applications

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 112267, "Semantic Web Technologies for Smart Oil Field Applications," by Ramakrishna Soma, Amol Bakshi, and Viktor Prasanna, University of Southern California, and Will DaSie, SPE, and Birlie Bourgeois, Chevron Corporation, originally prepared for the 2008 SPE Intelligent Energy Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam, 25-27 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed. In model-based oilfield operations, engineers rely on simulations to make important operational decisions on a daily basis. Generally, an engineer is an expert in only one aspect of oilfield modeling and trained to use only a few tools. Accessing information captured in models that are not in the area of expertise of the engineer and are created by different processes and people is not easy. The full-length paper examines the application of semantic Web technologies to address the problem of information represented differently across models. Introduction The work described in the full-length paper is part of the Integrated Asset Management (IAM) project at the Chevron-funded Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies at the University of Southern California. The current focus of the IAM project is to enable model-driven reservoir management. Consider a typical oilfield operation for a greenfield. Because little or no performance-related data for the field exist, the production engineer must rely on simulations for making the initial set of asset-development decisions. Different simulation models of the oil field including Earth, network, reservoir, and integrated-system (coupled)-simulation models are created. These simulation models are built and used at different times and locations, and by team members of different disciplines. A particular member of the team typically is an expert in a particular modeling and simulation technology and is familiar with certain software toolkits in that domain. This means that models, workflows, and results created with other software tools in other domains are not usable and accessible by that expert. As a result, the insights and understanding of a team member in one role are not used fully by someone in another role. These simulation models can be modified constantly as new data are produced in the oil field and interpreted by one or more members of the asset team. In this situation, changes made to the model(s) by one team member should be communicated immediately to other team members who may be using that model as the basis of scenario planning and forecasting, or who may need to modify their own models to match the updates.

Agent-Based Integrated and Collaborative Engineering Asset Management

Engineering assets are fundamentally important to enterprises. Thus, making the best use of engineering assets attracts equipment and system engineers’ attention. The state-of-the-art researches contribute to asset condition monitoring, asset symptom diagnosis, asset health prognosis, and the integration of above knowledge. However, they still lack the combination with enterprise resources to determine the best maintenance/renewal time for the optimization of total enterprise benefits. Consequently, this paper proposes the integrated architectural framework, activity and process models of a multi-agent system called agent-based integrated engineering asset management (AIEAM) based on agent techniques to build collaborative environment for asset manager, diagnosis expert, prognosis expert and enterprise resource manager. An engineering asset management case (for repair and maintenance of automatic parking tower) applying the proposed architecture and models is depicted in the paper.

BUILDING AN INTEGRATED ASSET MANAGEMENT CULTURE: Palm Beach County Water Utility Department's Experience

BUILDING AN INTEGRATED ASSET MANAGEMENT CULTURE: Palm Beach County Water Utility Department's Experience

One asset, one view - integrated asset management at British Columbia Transmission Corporation

This article provided an overview description of the recently implemented integrated asset management solution at BCTC. The solution is currently in production and is rapidly gaining acceptance from users for key functionality. More functionality is being added, and a continuous improvement path has been identified. This article shows that the asset management solutions require not only technical design and implementation work but also a close look at business processes modeling and change management within the organization. BCTC expects to do some more work on the current AMP solution to enhance existing functionality for its users.