The value of understanding your projects…

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Technical & Commercial Evaluation & Validation

The Projects Team (TPT) are an organisation who help other companies realise value and efficiency through rigorous application of management and technical processes. The case study below is a real-life example of how their processes offered huge savings, identified several efficiency opportunities and encouraged continuous improvement.

  1. Task
    TPTs SMEs were tasked to implement & deliver the following evaluation activities on the ISBL FEED Study deliverables submitted by a technology owner under a lump sum basis for the client (classified).
  2. Activities
    The TPT SMEs implemented the following activities:

    – An impartial cold eyes evaluation & validation review of the study;
    – A bottleneck evaluation to determine all design limitations within the plant design to engineer out future debottlenecking and major CapEx investment for the 1st 20% production capacity increase;
    – The Application of TPT’s and the client’s value improvement practices to optimise plant performance operability;
    – An evaluation & qualification of all identified bulk quantities which is a critical aspect in achieving overall project success;
    – The Generation of an AACEI Class II cost estimates utilising the evaluated, validated & corrected FEED study Technical & Commercial deliverables. Validate the accuracy parameters met the client’s internal governance structure;
    – The generation of a full evaluation Risk & Opportunities Register including the identified cost levels and risk factors plus a full evaluation findings & recommendations report (Rev. A1 & C1).
  3. Findings
    Following the TPT SMEs implementation of the technical & commercial evaluation, an optimised engineered solution was presented, with all clarifications, technical & commercial errors being addressed. This resulted in a total identified overestimated value of 29.25m€, almost 30% of the original total project ISBL upgrade cost estimate, that was derived from the following:

    – Identified errors, optimisation & savings within the estimated minor equipment deliverables totalling 2.9m€;
    – Identified errors, optimisation & savings within the estimated steelwork structure deliverables totalling 0.9m€;
    – Identified errors, optimisation & savings within the estimated pipework materials deliverables totalling 3.1m€;
    – Identified errors, optimisation & savings within the estimated instrumentation deliverables totalling 7.2m€;
    – Identified errors, optimisation & savings within the estimated total electrical deliverables of 3.4m€;
    – Identified errors & savings within the estimated total design and engineering costs totalling 3.3m€;
    – Identified savings within the estimate defined construction overheads/expenses costs totalling 8.45m€.
  4. Outcome
    This enabled the client to reduce the overall estimated project cost requested at the Final Investment Decision (FID) as well as helping our client to negotiate a lower contract price with the technology owner.

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Non-transferable travel tickets – 25% saving in annual travel budget

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An operator in the oil and gas industry noticed that there were inefficiencies in their internal travel system. A short desktop exercise highlighted that the organisation was hugely inefficient when it came to booking flights – incurring costs for fight transfers, name changes and last minute cancellations.

The operator decided to trial booking non-refundable tickets instead. All employees must travel on the train, plane or car they had booked and could not be transferred.

This small change has resulted in a 25% cost saving in travel across the entire company. This also would have reduced the carbon footprint for the organisation overall.

A spokesperson for the company said, ‘it is amazing how one small change like this makes such a big difference. If a person needs to change their flight it is escalated all the way to the top for approval – so everyone here has changed their mindset to ask themselves if they really need to travel, and when. It’s a personal ownership of being more efficient. It makes sense.’

Are you familiar with your travel policy?

Carbon efficiency – Gas turbine routine fuel changeovers

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Glen Lyon has 4 gas turbines which typically run of fuel gas to provide electrical power to the plant. Each turbine is duel fuel meaning they can also operate on diesel.

In order to check this duel fuel facility each unit is run on diesel for four hours each month. This is to perform a number of key performance checks while on a liquid fuel. The Glen Lyon team identified that these checks could be performed in 15 minutes. Reducing the duration of diesel combustion by 3.75 hours. This change gas now been formalized on the FPSO and lessons shared with other BP assets for implementation where possible.

Cost Saving = £51,700 in Carbon + £855,000 in diesel
Diesel saving = 1710 M3/yr
Total CO2 saving= 2048 TCO2/yr
FuelHoursCO2 per testCO2 per year
Diesel0.257373
Gas3.75683549
Diesel41155970
Gas000
Total Saving2048

By replacing diesel combustion with Gas combustion the mass of CO2 is reduced as per tonne, diesel emits more CO2 than Gas. Further more Gas has a higher energy value so less gas needs to be burnt to generate the same power as diesel

In addition to Carbon and diesel savings, this change prevent the turbine burners being choked up so quickly and make efficiency savings through not having to needlessly replace the burners, changeout diesel filters and time saving within the electrical technician’s week.

This improvement was Identified and executed through BP’s Challenge , Check and Change initiative

Iron Ocean/OGIC – Collaborative working for life-saving technology

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Problem Statement   

Globally there are 370,000 deaths annually due to unplanned immersions into open water, as reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Aims

To develop a highly engineered offshore travel system designed to save lives at sea. Self-heating when immersed in cold water to prevent cold shock and hypothermia, the garment is also fire resistant and features anti-slash properties. A collaboration with Heriot Watt University & The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC), the garment is the first of its kind.

Method

Designed to be worn under the traditional offshore survival suit, the ‘Centurion 3’ garment has been developed as three separate garments that are worn together. Garment one is a CARFIBEX base layer, an extremely soft material bespoke to Iron Ocean incorporating anti-static, advanced moisture management, anti-bacterial and superior thermal properties.

Garment two is a self-heating layer infused with Iron Ocean’s flagship technology REACTA GEL AQUA, a compound engineered to provide immediate heat on contact with cold water. Garment three is the fire and slash resistant outer layer developed to promote escape through areas of high heat and jagged wreckage.

Impact

As a major hazard industry, the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector has a duty to protect the health and safety of its people.

The prototype ‘Centurion 3’ garment, developed alongside OGIC and Heriot-Watt University, could save the lives of offshore workers in the event of an incident at sea.

With unique properties, the ‘Centurion 3’ effectively protects workers from the harsh elements of the North Sea.

Acting as an under layer, the garment will activate to produce life-saving heat in the event of outer suits being torn or found to be leaking.

This pioneering technology underpins collaborative working with a strong focus on safety; ultimately ensuring people come home safely.

It allows the industry to become more efficient, whilst reducing risks to the workforce.

Click on the image above to download the case study.

CONSUB – Safety Critical Valve Inspection

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Problem Statement   

CONSUB’s client had identified issues in the effectiveness of valve inspections to identify valve anomalies and capture the data for subsequent integrity assessment.

Aims

CONSUB  were requested to undertake an inspection program on a large quantity of safety critical valves on offshore and onshore North Sea facilities.

Method

CONSUB  developed a digital checklist application which uploads the inspection results in real time allowing the specialist valve engineer to check and confirm  the inspection results.

Impact

CONSUB trained an inspector to perform the at site inspections supported by an office based specialist valve engineer. This allowed the inspection services to be conducted by only 1 inspector at site and ensured anomalies were correctly identified and reported.

Using the CONSUB digital checklist with automated report production resulted in inspection efficiency improvements.

The combination of ensuring inspection team competence and development of the inspection software platform have improved the process and reduced the costs to the client

realising up to 70% cost reduction to conduct inspections and issue reports.

Total Savings Anticipated

£100,000 estimated.

Click on the image above to download the case study.

CONSUB – ESDV Condition Monitoring

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Problem Statement   

Client had identified performance issues with safety critical pipeline valves.

Aims

CONSUB undertook review of the safety critical valve operating data to identify root cause for performance issues and to identify solution to maximise safety critical valve availability

Method

A condition monitoring software platform was developed to analyse available SCADA data allowing safety critical valve performance trending to be established.

Impact

The development and implementation of the valve condition monitoring software platform allowed CONSUB’s valve specialist to trend the data and identify root cause for the safety critical valve performance. This allowed implementation of a condition based maintenance plan to coincide with planned shutdown.

The development of the condition monitoring platform also resulted in the implementation of a revised spares strategy that resulted in a significant reduction in repair durations for unplanned shutdowns of around 80% with an estimated saving of 360 days over the design life of the facilities.

Total Savings Anticipated 

360 days saved

Click on the image above to download the case study.

Safehouse – Safehouse Habitat applied to LPG Tanker

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Problem Statement   

An LPG tanker was in need of urgent repairs to its hull in order to remain within the parameters of its license to operate. Due to the nature of the ship and its cargo, carrying out hot work to repair such damage would normally require the ship’s tanks to be purged of all traces of hydrocarbon gas and the work to be carried out in a dry dock. In addition, the work would have to be carried out in a very restricted space on the inside of the vessel.

Aims

Avoidance of the need to purge the ships tanks of all hydrocarbon gas, taking the ship off-course, saving the operator thousands in associated costs and delays.

Method

Safehouse’s Technical Director visited the vessel to identify where would be safe to assemble the habitats and carry out hot work. To ensure the repair work complied with maritime regulations, Safehouse reviewed its procedures and developed a work pack detailing the proposed solutions, including having a Safehouse team on standby to immediately mobilise the equipment. Our solution was to build two habitats; one on the exterior of the hull, and another between the hull and gas storage tank. This allowed for the segregation of the hot work activities from any potential hydrocarbon sources. The flexibility of the SAFEHOUSE habitat combined with the expertise of our technicians allowed us to overcome any obstacles and to be installed easily in restricted areas.

Impact

The Panama Canal authorities were initially very reluctant to allow hot work to go ahead within their waters on an LPG tanker that had not been confirmed gas-free. Safehouse liaised closely and contributed to the authorities HAZOP process to satisfy their concerns. When the project was completed on time and without incident, the ship operator and canal authorities were satisfied that their extremely high safety standards had been met.

Total Savings Anticipated

168 man and machine hours saved

£350,000 estimated.

Click on the image above to download the case study.

Repsol Sinopec – Remote Tank Inspection

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Problem Statement   

Traditionally, when carrying out Class-required crude oil tank inspections on the FPSO, a minimum four-man team of Rope Access Technicians had to enter the confined space and work at height for lengthy periods of time. This methodology incurred significant risks including mechanical isolation; the set-up of rope rescue evacuation systems; and significant tank cleaning to prevent slips – which also took up valuable manpower resources.

Aims

Now, a Class-approved remote inspection technique by EM&I – a leading global organisation providing inspection and specialised repair and maintenance services to the oil and gas industry – is being used which involves deploying a pressurised camera with inbuilt lighting and remote pan and tilt control through deck access hatches and lowering it to the designated inspection depth. As well as the inspection being carried out a lot faster, there is also no need to make the tank safe for manned entry.

Method

The project was led by our Naval Architect on Bleo Holm, working with the full support from all other appropriate teams.

Appropriate risk assessments were carried out in advance of implementation.

Impact

A double safe win with the need to enter confined space and the need to work at height removed. 90% reduction in manhours. This represents a saving of £20,000 per tank. Sixteen tanks over five years equates to a potential saving of circa £320,000.The team are now looking at four other chemicals to identify if savings can be made. Learnings are being shared with other assets to allow them to investigate if they can realise savings by implementing the same steps where appropriate.

This inspection technique will continue to be used on Bleo Holm

Total Savings Anticipated

90%+ Reduction in man hours

£20,000 per tank and £320,000 over 5 years.

Click on the image above to download the case study.

Repsol Sinopec – Chemical Injection Management

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Problem Statement   

The Claymore team, led by the OIM challenged several areas associated with chemical injection management including discrepancy in volumes, injection rates, and use of 500 gallon capacity tanks.

Aims

The team observed a 10% discrepancy in volumes of the chemical ‘H2S scavenger’ shipped (500 gallons ordered, only 450 gallons recovered).

They questioned whether injection rates were still appropriate as they had remained constant for many years.

They queried the use of 500 gallon capacity tanks and whether 600 gallon tanks could be used so that we could ship fewer containers over a year.

Method

The team used ‘Lean’ techniques to identify and implement simple, low cost solutions:

They requested that the chemical vendor demonstrate accuracy of tank fills by way of fiscal metering.

Following an independent verification, the team also reduced the injection of the chemical from 85 ppm (parts per million) to 65ppm meaning a reduction in the number of tote tanks required.

Impact

  • Reduction of chemical injection rate delivers an annual saving of £120k, plus a reduction in number of tote tanks, which will ultimately lead to a reduction in the number of shipments needed.
  • Potential saving of >£1M if applied across all assets (where appropriate).
  • Contract performance management with the chemical vendor to provide assurance on delivery.
  • The importance of precision and accuracy has been reinforced to the team to apply in all future activities.

The team are now looking at four other chemicals to identify if savings can be made. Learnings are being shared with other assets to allow them to investigate if they can realise savings by implementing the same steps where appropriate.

Total Savings Anticipated

£ 120k to date

Potential of >£1M across all assets

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INEOS Oil & Gas – Marine PSV Sharing Solution

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Problem Statement  

The PSV spot market was not an economic solution for INEOS’ Normally Unmanned Installation (NUI) support  – The challenge was trying to share other Operators’ PSVs with production assets when the time on a NUI platform is limited.

Aims

The aim was to work closely with other local operators who had PSVs on charter and who were willing to collaborate on a workable solution while sharing goals and expectations.

Method

INEOS identified an Operator with spare capacity on its chartered PSVs and logistics teams worked closely to set out a flexible sharing agreement without onerous terms and with an element of trust.

Impact

The INEOS logistics team works closely with the other Operator’s marine coordinator in the field to communicate the requirements of INEOS’ platform(s) and activities on a day to day basis  ensuring INEOS works within their sailing plans. Good communication mitigates the impact of schedule changes with enough awareness of each others operations. Throughout the first year of the agreement, the operational & cost benefits of such a flexible sharing agreement have enabled INEOS to manage the requirements and demands of a NUI without an INEOS chartered PSV.

Total Savings Anticipated

20%

Click on the image above to download the case study.