Following the positive outcome of their pilot project, GE and Maersk Drilling have extended the scope of their digital partnership, to bring innovative efficiency services to the offshore market by enhancing drilling productivity.
During the extended partnership, the two companies will expand the scope of the 2016 pilot project—one vessel, one asset, one year—to nine subsequent vessels, targeting 110 key equipment assets, such as the top drive, draw works, thrusters and main engines, over a multiyear contract starting later this year.
GE’s SeaStream Insight Marine Asset Performance Management (APM) solution will be implemented to enable more consistent and predictable drilling performances on nine selected units across Maersk Drilling’s fleet, ensuring an accelerated basis for time to value of the digital transformation.
Jesper Hansen, CIO of Maersk Drilling, suggests that the systematic adoption of reliability-centered maintenance analysis and digitization will be a step change in the industry.
“To do that, we must acknowledge the need to break down the industry silos and work collaboratively across the value chain, as the sharing of data will enable further digital breakthroughs, which can enhance efficiency and remove waste across the supply chain”, he explained.
Enhancing drilling productivity presents true value to operators, by reducing total well cost. By offering performance analytics for the rig, deviations are reduced and productivity is increased in drilling operations such as Drilling, Tripping In, Tripping out, Running Riser and Pulling Riser.
“By scaling from one pilot project to fleets, it helps drive consistent drilling excellence at a global level, and this is how digital solutions will bring a multibillion-dollar impact to the industry,” said Tim Schweikert, president & CEO, GE’s Marine Solutions.
In addition, this partnership aims to offer predictive maintenance. Maersk Drilling and GE have developed digital twins — virtual representations of key equipment on the rig tuned through sensor and other equipment data – for the major drilling and marine systems equipment. By using the digital twins in combination with GE’s zonal analytics, the digital solution can reduce unnecessary maintenance and its associated cost. In addition, the solution is able to detect equipment anomalies that could result in an equipment breakdown, providing foresight weeks in advance of pending issues.
