The oil and gas business is incessantly demanding innovative solutions, methodologies and automated systems to reduce the craft labor required to complete both routine and specialist tasks.
Recently, there has been a particular focus on corrosion mitigation, coating and inspection, which are all labor-intensive and relatively inefficient. The effort and cost required to inspect, assess, and repair or refurbish an item has risen steadily over the years and is directly influenced by skilled labor availability and market labor price.
Available solutions an d changes to data and digitization
Many different tools and systems address the needs of customers by reducing both risk and cost while increasing quality and productivity.
For example, in the mid-1980s, the introduction and development of industrial rope access was a way to successfully reduce scaffold requirements, personnel and risk for offshore maintenance work. At the time of roll-out, this innovation was viewed suspiciously, but today, more than 30 years later, almost every petrochemical plant and offshore asset has a rope access team working.
Another example is a robotic solution to prepare surfaces, which only recently has been substantially applied. The same is true for caisson inspection tools, tank and vessel inspection crawlers, online de-sanding systems and inspection drones. The industry needs companies to look for available solutions even before they become mainstream.
The industry places emphasis on robotic solutions. However, we are noticing an even greater promise related to data. Currently, data is collected from many sources, both digital and hard copy, and they are handled by different departments without collaboration. What if coatings, inspection and operating data and integrity requirements were all digitally acquired and centrally handled? The reduction of unnecessary work and concentration on necessary work would easily result in saved cost, reduced downtime and increased asset productivity.
Digitization is becoming easier and more affordable as technology improves, but it is critical that this is accompanied by skilled and experienced analysts and maintenance experts. If we don't know what the data is telling us, how can we use the information to apply it to real-world situations?
Another issue is data access. Globally, there are many issues with privacy of information, and that naturally spills back into daily work. "Is it OK to share this data with contractors?" Again, fear of the unknown is stifling innovation, despite the seemingly great rewards. It is not surprising we see the most progress being made on those facilities where we have a longstanding relationship with the asset owner and where there is mutual trust to overcome often irrational fears. In some cases, it is also pragmatism on the client's side that makes data innovation work: They understand services providers are reliant on continued work from them, which gives them a big stick to ensure compliance.
What industry experts are seeing, though, is that while the demand and solutions are there, the uptake is greatly lacking. Some contributing factors to slow uptake could be:
- Tool rentals are usually perceived to be high per unit rate as compared to labor unit rates.
- Changes in methodology are difficult to accomplish within an industry nervous about change.
- No one wants to be "first" in case the claims about effectiveness prove false.
- Service companies find it hard to justify capital outlay for expensive automated systems when there is no sure return on investment.
Making solutions actually deliver
Despite contributing factors, not all is doom and gloom. Several operators and international oil companies (IOCs) have been actively investing in R&D in conjunction with service providers, universities and OEMs to develop tools and systems applicable to reliability and maintenance activities. In the past several years, one of the super-majors has trialed and adopted efficiency optimization initiatives, robotic surface preparation, dry ice blasting and on-line de-sanding, as well as several other non-automated innovations as part of its ongoing commitment to improve efficiency and reduce cost while increasing safety.
Another super-major adopted a new concept for maintaining offshore installations, which reduces personnel on board (POB) on assets, negates contractor equipment on platforms, and reduces the need for large flotel campaigns by putting the maintenance team and their equipment on a separate vessel that can move to various locations in the field carrying out planned maintenance while having the flexibility to react to emergency maintenance or repair requirements.
An additional super-major has also been proactive in the adoption of innovation and efficiency-improving tools and systems. We have seen the uptake of the surface preparation tools like Spiderjet and automated dustless grit and sponge blasting systems for small-bore production piping, as well as the general adoption and co-development of condition monitoring systems to reduce requirements for NDE inspectors to collect data on offshore and onshore assets, thereby both increasing the frequency of data collection and improving accuracy of data trends.
Another IOC has recently green-lighted a coatings robot designed initially for its floating, production, storage and offloading hulls. This was the result of collaboration with an engineering company, universities and a service provider to design and develop a robotic tool capable of delivering consistent coatings quality over large flat areas. The funding was provided by the IOC, and the result was the first computer-driven robotic painting crawler that delivered consistent required coatings thickness and quality of application. The effort required several years of design and testing but resulted in significant cost and labor savings for an ongoing corrosion mitigation requirement.
The development and adoption of innovative coatings systems, as well as the use of composite repairs, have also been at the forefront of R&D for several of the majors. Advances in new coatings technology, as well as the development of composite repair solutions in lieu of weld repairs or spool replacement, have also increased recently. Most IOCs have been supportive and even instrumental in the development and adoption of these innovations.
A greater appetite for innovation and automation adoption exists in regions like the North Sea, Australia and Southeast Asia, but adoption is still not stellar. No one seems to find it easy to change methodologies and culture surrounding assets. These innovative, automated systems and radically different approaches to conducting work scopes are viewed suspiciously and as threatening by operators, contractors and their people, who can be both an asset and liability to a company. Reducing the number of people required to produce a completed scope of work also reduces cost, safety exposure and overhead while at the same time increasing efficiency and productivity. Automation and innovation are a win/win for both clients and companies, if they can move past the implementation challenge.
To help overcome the slow adoption rate, try to actively partner with both asset owners and OEMs to collectively come up with solutions. This partnering is born out of trust and a joint desire to improve.
Trust doesn't happen overnight. Therefore, it is not surprising to see higher productivity on sites where you have a permanent site presence. This allows for higher-qualified and experienced personnel to build up that trust. Although the unit rate for these technicians is higher, the increased productivity, elimination of re-works and consistency of quality far outweigh this higher rate.
Innovation doesn't need to be rocket science. In many cases, the best innovations are actually quite straightforward re-combinations of existing solutions. And sometimes they are happening right under our noses, but just in a different industry.
To stay at the forefront of innovation and technology, select a network of coordinators who can help "catalyze" client-focused innovation and, once found, make sure that others in your company are aware of it, too. This can be done via online knowledge sharing systems, global expert teleconferences, cross-pollination sessions between facilities and innovation catalogs, to name a few. Each region should be encouraged to support and work with universities, colleges, trade groups and manufacturers to come up with concepts, designs, testing and development of solutions. There is little point in developing tools and products without an industry need, so it is vital that asset owners are actively involved in all stages of the innovative process.
All in all, the industry is demanding innovation. The tools and technologies are often available, but to unlock the potential that data and robotics hold, deep commitment and collaboration are required among multiple stakeholders in the supply chain.
From integrity, engineering and inspection to coatings and flange management, scheduling, planning, fabricating, shipping and execution of work, look for companies that utilize available digital and robotic systems to drive down costs and enhance facility reliability and integrity.
For more information, visit www.stork.com, call (832) 781-5713 or email iain.gault@stork.com.