The use of data in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors is nothing new, according to Walter Pesenti, global petrochemical operational excellence manager for BP. These sectors are at the leading edge of data collection. But in order to "fully embrace the digital revolution," Pesenti said companies must recognize the importance of operational excellence.
"The digital dialogue is redefining the context of operational excellence," he said in an address at the Downstream Exhibition & Conference held recently in Houston. "To understand digital, you've got to understand operational excellence."
Pesenti recommended industry leaders examine four current business trends and "chokepoints" to operational excellence.
"Companies are looking to run operations in real time and increase flexibility to react to changes. Understanding the value at risk defines solutions for tomorrow," he said. "I call them 'solutions for tomorrow,' but these solutions are actually happening today."
Trends, chokepoints, risks and solutions
The first business trend Pesenti cited was supply and demand dynamics.
Chokepoints include poor integration of production planning and oil movement, incapability to plan feedstock and product slates, and lack of global access.
The value at risk involves overruns in forecasting and joint industry projects logistics, execution damage in market and unrealized cash margin improvement.
Solutions require integrated operations planning and scheduling, use of predictive analytics and schedule management within the cloud.
"What are the latest inventions that we can incorporate and integrate into the industry to make the supply and demand more robust?" Pesenti posed.
The next trend -- production and operations -- "is a big one," Pesenti said. "We have to keep the equipment available to utilize it."
The chokepoint, equipment unreliability, results in the inability to standardize and automate "from one plant to another and site to site" and increased reliability-based infrastructure costs.
The risk value, Pesenti said, is a net cash margin in reliability improvement ranging from $0.10 to $0.50 per barrel.
The solution calls for real-time monitoring in data analytics across assets, sophisticated technologies and robotics for process and personal safety, Pesenti said.
The third trend focuses on health, safety and environment (HSE).
"HSE is a big opportunity," Pesenti said. "How do you increase personal safety and process safety?"
Chokepoints to HSE operational excellence result in major operations incidents, gaps in HSE management systems, and increased personnel and equipment safety concerns.
The value at risk, beyond personal injury, includes large fines and reputational damage, which leads to sales losses.
"If we don't have our reputation, we cannot be in business," Pesenti said.
Solutions include data consolidation and systems integration for enhanced monitoring and reporting, as well as predictive and visual analytics to better assess and mitigate risk.
"What can we do differently with digital technology to incorporate risk into the schedule in order to mitigate that in the future?" Pesenti asked.
The final trend examines talent availability, with the obvious chokepoints being a lack of skills and training and slow adoption of change, "especially with the new generation of workforce coming," Pesenti said.
The risk is lower quality and safety standards stemming from lack of knowledge retention and transfer.
Solutions include remote monitoring, operations and training centers.
"This new generation loves technology, so a remote technology center is a big deal to them," Pesenti observed. "We've got to do machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). It's the way to stay competitive."