A study by the UK oil and gas industry’s Technology Leadership Board, the Oil & Gas Technology Centre and the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has found that adopting data analytics and digital technologies for asset maintenance and operations could increase production and reduce maintenance costs worth £1.5 billion annually to the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
The failure of critical equipment offshore, such as gas compression, oil export, power and water injection systems, led to lost production of around 110 million barrels of oil equivalent on the UKCS in 2017.
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The study also investigated how data from topsides production and operations equipment is being used, and can improve production efficiency and maintenance planning, reducing operational costs.
More than 60% of the study’s participants reported that adequate data infrastructure is in place, with extensive sensor coverage across offshore assets and ‘good to excellent’ transmission and data storage capabilities.
A small number of North Sea and international operators are already benefitting from data analytics technologies, with case study examples including a 65% reduction in system outages and annual maintenance savings of more than £1 million per year on a single system.
However, data analytics are not widespread across the industry, as there is a lack of awareness as to what digital technology is available and the potential value it can deliver to a business. There is also high cost of implementing such technologies, and risk aversion to their deployment.
Furthermore, other industries are more advanced than the oil and gas one, and have been using data analytics in managing their assets, demonstrating efficiency gains.
Adopting data analytics and digital technologies across the basin could improve by 25% the reliability of critical equipment and systems and by 15-20% reduction in overall maintenance spend, resulting in £1.5 billion of value to the UKCS per year.
In order to overcome these barriers, the following measures can be adopted:
- Assign ownership of these findings to the appropriate industry groups, like the Asset Stewardship Task Force (ASTF) and the Production Efficiency Task Force (PETF), to ensure an industry-wide understanding on how digital technologies can deliver value to UKCS operations;
- Issue the industry with a standard methodology for assessing their data analytics technology maturity and engage the industry leadership on opportunities to close the gaps;
- Through the OGA, engage operators on the deployment of digital technologies at their UKCS assets as part of their Technology Plans.
The landscaping study report can be downloaded here.
You can see more in the PDF herebelow
