BP – Mastering effective daily management at terminal delivers performance improvements

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Submitted by BP

Impact

  • BP has delivered efficiency improvements on Sullom Voe Terminal’s Renewals and Turnaround projects by adopting a visual management process to expose, and then eliminate, waste.
  • Plan attainment of Renewal and Turnaround resources can now exceed 80% and safety improvements have also been recorded.
  • The system has evolved over the last year to incorporate comprehensive metrics to identify continuous improvements in everything from how the working day is structured to equipment hire, schedule variance, vendor invoicing and HSE audits.
  • An improved and collaborative work environment means less frustration among individuals.

Description of Best Practice

BP has delivered performance improvements on our Sullom Voe Terminal Renewals and Turnarounds projects by applying a visual management approach and implementing what the project team call the ‘war room’.

The Sullom Voe Terminal was built in the 1980s and most of the major plant items are now operating beyond their original design life. A number of different projects are currently underway to help support the current east of Shetland fields and expanding fields in West of Shetland.

As a result of this large and rapid growth of work fronts at site and the limited resources of Operations, coupled with the resulting lack of clarity associated with accountability, delays were being encountered in a number of the Renewals and Turnarounds team projects.

In 2014, the project leadership team could see that there were inefficiencies: plan attainment was only 50%, against a target of at least 80%. However, with numerous contract companies and BP functions involved, resolving technical and operational issues was a challenging and time consuming process. Daily morning meetings would uncover an issue or that some of the workforce were not at their scheduled activity due to being held up on the previous job. But with workers starting at 8am, it was usually already too late to do anything about it and several hours could be lost by moving them to the required job.

So, the project team established a daily forum open to all functions and contract companies that would bring work through and assign visible accountability for resolving any obstacles.

Known as the ‘war room’, key stakeholders meet at the end of each day to identify, and act on any issues for the following day. Heads of each of the service companies, as well as representatives from the relevant Operations departments and the person accountable for each job all attend. With everyone in the room at the same time it is a way to quickly resolve issues in preparation for the next day.

The team also adopted a combination of simple and effective visual information aids.

Gary Macdonald is Construction Manager for Renewals and Turnarounds. “Red and green dots symbolise each issue’s status. Red means an issue has arisen with no planned solution and we therefore discuss to resolve the issue and identify who will implement it. Green means a solution has been identified, the issue has been resolved and the function or supplier raising the issue is happy. Only the team raising the issue has the authority to change the status from red to green. Once green, the issue is recorded and reviewed so that it can be decided if a more formal continuous improvement event is required.”

The system has evolved over the last year to incorporate comprehensive metrics to identify continuous improvements in everything from how the working day is structured to equipment hire, schedule variance, vendor invoicing and HSE audits.

The process has exposed waste so that it can be eliminated and prevented from recurring, making the workplace and therefore project more efficient. Plan attainment can achieve more than 80%, with cost savings delivered and safety improvements also recorded.

“Now, representatives from each discipline leave knowing exactly how the day went, where their labour is going tomorrow and outstanding issues are being worked through to resolution,” says Gary.

Contact: Stephanie McHardy

stephanie.mchardy@bp.com

Exceptional sports performance inspires excellent team delivery at Nexen

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Over the past few years, Nexen’s management have set upon a journey to evolve the company’s performance to become a truly ‘Best-In-Class’ operator.

To inject creativity and eradicate entrenched ways of working, Nexen Petroleum UK’s leadership team examined the outstanding sporting excellence of Olympic athletes for inspiration in motivating their entire workforce and the resulting new practices have improved productivity offshore from five and a half hours to over eight hours per shift.

Nexen’s leadership understood that workforce collaboration and two-way communication was crucial in achieving cultural transformation – to create new experiences, beliefs and behaviours to deliver top business results and establish a common language which would drive accountability both individually and collectively across the business.

To help achieve ‘efficiency of execution’ in every aspect of activity, both on and offshore, Nexen invited Olympic rower, Cath Bishop, to its leaders’ forum in 2014 to share her insights into how businesses can develop practical strategies to unlock the full potential of their teams.

Cath outlined the philosophy behind ‘marginal gains’ theory which came to public attention when Sir Dave Brailsford became the British Olympic Cycling Team’s performance director.

The doctrine is about targeting opportunities to make small incremental efficiency improvements in any process which, when added together, deliver significant improvements.

As a result, the company’s new mindset and behaviours, encompassed in a business model known as ‘The Steps to Accountability’, include a commitment to effective planning and each person holding themselves and others to account for achieving superior results. Along with a suite of tools to equip employees in implementing the culture change and to naturally engrain the new ways of working into everyday tasks, this is now making a difference to the company’s success as the largest oil producer on the UKCS.

Ray Riddoch, Nexen’s managing director UK and SVP Europe, explains: “Efficiency of execution is the core value, along with excellence in HSE performance, which we encourage throughout every department in the organisation, no matter how big or small the task. Our highly effective mechanism ensures all good ideas are gathered, evaluated and disseminated across the company. It is important to ensure collaboration at all levels and share how someone’s input has contributed to our aim of reducing the lifting cost per barrel.”

Nexen used this cultural shift and the new tools to more efficiently provide safety briefings to the 1,000 or so new workers or ‘green hats’ who descend on Nexen’s assets each year. In practice, if ten scaffolders are required for a job, contractors provide five ‘seasoned and experienced’ offshore workers together with five staff new to the platform, creating a ‘buddy system’ which ensures rapid and effective dissemination of key safety procedures and allows Nexen to increase productive time ‘per green hat’.

Another example of the cultural shift and commitment to effective planning is the approach now being taken to well intervention operations. Nexen deploys a tool in the planning stage to measure the condition of internal components within oil wells which, together with predictive technology, allows highly accurate ‘virtual’ well interventions to be modelled. The process has transformed the ability of engineers to visualise the wellbore, select the appropriate tools before the intervention takes place and as a result, reduce the time required to return the well to production.

Aberdeen University industry collaboration ensures people and asset management now on the right track

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An Aberdeen based IT services company, which has provided technology to the global oil, gas and maritime sectors for 25 years, has developed Onboard Tracker – a software to simplify workforce planning and reduce costs.

Managing the logistics, training and competence of oil industry personnel is an intensive and costly process using many people and systems. With budget and headcount reduction on everyone’s mind, the monthly subscription model with no upfront capital cost creates immediate efficiency.

The visibility created allows companies to maximise personnel yield, control overtime and reduce training wastage.

Kevin Coll, Founder of Onboard Tracker and Managing Director of Solab, said: “Prior to the introduction of Onboard Tracker, oil and gas companies were accustomed to using multitudes of spreadsheets, network shares and departmental databases to monitor staff and equipment as their large, expensive corporate systems were not written with offshore operations tasks in mind.

“We developed Onboard Tracker to remove the duplication of systems and data that make daily operations of crews inefficient and costly.

“Finding an available employee, qualified and equipped to take the job offshore, was a laborious task involving multiple people. Often the easiest solution was to keep the person on the rig on high overtime rates as no replacement could be found.”

Access to corporate systems, data protection and confidentiality are significant challenges with multiple systems and spreadsheets. Onboard Tracker’s secure, easy to use web interface ensures that users only see what they should.

Since its launch in 2012 Onboard Tracker has spread across the offshore industry – now being used to manage people and equipment on more than 40% of the manned rigs in the UK Continental Shelf and in over 30 countries.

One company to recognise the benefits is global oilfield services company is Archer.

Managing a workforce of 1,500 people in roaming and rotational teams throughout the North Sea meant that operations, logistics, training, competency and finance personnel were laboriously updating data into spreadsheets and systems.

Mark Cowieson, Archer Operations Manager, said: “We used a number of different spreadsheets and databases with no tracker facility and no visibility of our operations. Spreadsheets were travelling from one email to another, from rig manager to payroll/finance department and so on. There was a lot of manual intervention associated with maintaining and updating documents and spreadsheets to meet client requirements and there were issues around who could get access to a particular spreadsheet, who couldn’t, who needed access and at what level.

“Onboard Tracker almost transformed the way we did business overnight. No longer did we need to lose time tracking down data – it was right there and we could access it when needed.”

Commenting on the University of Aberdeen’s collaboration with Solab, University MBA Director Ian Heywood said:  “Now, more than ever, the industry needs to develop better ways to manage its resources.

Working with Solab and Onboard Tracker has enabled us to help drive better practice and also share case studies and white papers. It’s a win-win situation for us, the University, students, Solab and most importantly the industry.”

ENDS

Link to Onboard Tracker’s website: http://www.solab.co.uk/onboard-tracker/

Link to University of Aberdeen Business School: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/business/

Link to Archer: http://archerwell.com/

Direct Link to Case Study: http://www.solab.co.uk/casestudy/case-study-onboard-tracker/

BG Group launches efficiency drive by reducing ‘dead’ time and empowering workforce

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BG Group intends to make its offshore platforms more efficient by significantly reducing ‘dead time’ on installations and empowering the offshore workforce to carry out scheduling and planning.

By enabling employees offshore, rather than logistics co-ordinators based onshore, to manage materials, plan projects and schedule jobs, the right parts, people and processes should be in place when a job is due to begin. So-called ‘dead time’, common when tasks are delayed, should reduce and efficiency increase.

The company has embarked on the second phase of a £300 million investment in its Lomond and Everest platforms, 140 miles east of Aberdeen.

The North Everest platform has produced since the early 1990s and investment is required to enable it to safely produce to 2025 and beyond. Operating costs must also come down to ensure that it remains economic for as long as possible.

Read the full BBC story here.

BP- Waste ‘swap’ delivers savings of £9million

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Impact

  • BP has saved approximately £9 million by changing how we manage waste water from well plugging operations on our Valhall oil field.
  • The new, offshore-based approach avoids the need to transport and treat the waste onshore and send to landfill.
  • Well clean up fluids can now also be recovered and reused.

Description of Best Practice

BP has delivered an innovative solution for offshore well waste management on our giant Valhall oil field in thesouthern Norwegian North Sea, where 31 older wells will be permanently plugged over the coming years.

Preparing a well for permanent closure generates thousands of cubic metres of water containing oil based muds, cuttings and cleaning fluids. Due to lack of capacity and/or facilities offshore, this waste water is traditionally shipped onshore to be treated and then disposed of safely at significant cost.

On Valhall, a single waste injector facility was being used to treat and then inject the giant complex’s drainage waste water into the ground. However, this waste water is 98% pure and the project team realised it would be more efficient to use this facility to treat and then inject the higher solids waste water generated from the plug and abandonment operations.

At the same time, a separate cleaning plant was installed on the nearby drilling rig being used for the long-term plug and abandonment programme. The platform’s drainage water is now piped to the rig, where it is treated and purified to the extent it can be discharged to sea.

Planning for the new system took four months and the first lot of waste was transferred in June 2015. The drilling rig has since treated 49,362 barrels of open drain water from the Valhall complex while the platform has received 85,228 barrels of waste from the plugging and abandonment operation, delivering cost savings of approximately £9 million. The new approach also avoids the need to transport and treat the waste onshore and send to landfill

An unplanned benefit has been that the brine water used for clean up of the wells is being reused. Some 3,200 barrels have been recovered during the treatment phase and reused on other well kill operations.

Arnfinn Grøette, Waste and Fluid Operation Specialist, said: “Before the project, a single well abandonment generated approximately 2,000m3 of waste water and cost £950,000 to send back onshore for treatment and disposal. Now, a major part of this is treated to a defined specification before it is sent to the solids handling module on the production platform and then reinjected.”

Jeroen Nijhof, Engineering Team Lead, added: “The Wells team essentially swapped our waste with Operations. It sounds simple but it was vital to have everyone in all functions on board and to believe it was possible before embarking on the project. It demonstrates what is achievable when different functions come together to find a solution to a problem.

Contact: Stephanie McHardy, BP
stephanie.mchardy@gmail.com

New app makes vessel sharing plain sailing

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Members of the Aberdeen Marine Logistics Alliance (AMLA) now have instant access to vessel sharing opportunities thanks to a new app from the group’s facilitator, Peterson.

The app, developed by technology specialist Streamba, gives AMLA members access to available sailings up to a week ahead, alongside real time information on estimated cost and CO2 savings.  The system uses route visualisation software to help users plan voyages more efficiently.

Users can upload availability on their own vessels to ensure any additional capacity on voyages around the North Sea is made available on the market. With an established agreement covering the contractual and commercial terms of AMLA shares, once a suitable share is identified arrangements can be finalised within an hour.

Chris Coull, regional director at Peterson said: “This app is our latest step in applying data driven technology to facilitate sharing in the North Sea.  Our approach of building software from the bottom up helps us deliver solutions developed from a user perspective and we engaged with AMLA members throughout the development and testing stage.

“With AMLA it’s all about facilitating ad hoc shipping requirements quickly and effectively.  Input and feedback from our members told us that instant access to real time sailings and capacity was fundamental.  This app puts the members in control, giving them full visibility of options and costs from which to make a choice and significantly shortening the time from request to finalisation.”

For further information on the AMLA, please visit www.amla.uk

BP- Integrated SIMOPS tool improves understanding of risks

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Impact

The use of a visual reference for each activity taking place improved the team’s understanding of potential risks and hazards. It also provided a clear identification of the limits of each work scope within the work area, as well as detailed information by clicking on the activity (colour coded by function).

Description of Best Practice

BP and partners are currently investing at significant levels in the ETAP life extension project (ELXP) to secure the future of the field until 2030 and beyond. The safe and effective management of simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) between the ELXP project and the ETAP asset was a critical part of project delivery. To assist with this, the team introduced a new software system called ‘Blue-Beam™’ which allowed the project to introduce multi-layer PDFs showing work activities by function. They also utilised ‘Return to Scene’ (R2S) technology – a virtual ‘Google-style street view’ survey of the plant – which allowed functions to survey and tag sections of the asset that were planned to be addressed during the intervention, whilst also enabling participants at SIMOPS sessions to visualise the worksite in 3D.

Contact: Stephanie McHardy, BP
stephanie.mchardy@bp.com

BP – New technology and focus on performance management improves efficiency of drilling operations

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Submitted by BP

Impact

Reduced drilling time by 24 days per 10,000 feet drilled compared to previous campaigns

Description of Best Practice

Major oil and gas operator, BP, has achieved a significant reduction in drilling time by focusing on performance management and introducing new technology.

During the appraisal of the possible third phase of development on the Clair field, West of Shetland, the application of new technologies, applying lessons from previous drilling campaigns alongside a rigorous focus on performance management reduced drilling time by 24 days per 10,000 feet drilled compared to previous campaigns.

The continuous improvement from the first well to the last saw productive rig time –the underlying operational time to completethe same tasks –improve from 53 days to 39 days. The implementation of new technology saved an average of four days’ drilling per well. In addition, completing a dual zone well test in a single run instead of two saved two to three weeks of well testing operations.

Russell Morrice, BP Drilling Engineering Manager commented: “Our approach to well operations in the appraisal of Clair reduced drilling time to such an extent that an additional sixth well was drilled within the original five well schedule. This enabled further appraisal of the Greater Clair field in support of both a potential Phase 3 development and ultimately maximising recovery ofthe UK’s oil and gas. The approach will now be used in other drilling campaigns”.

New technology and focus on performance management improves efficiency of BP’s drilling operations

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Major oil and gas operator, BP, has achieved a significant reduction in drilling time by focusing on performance management and introducing new technology.

During the appraisal of the possible third phase of development on the Clair field, West of Shetland, the application of new technologies, applying lessons from previous drilling campaigns alongside a rigorous focus on performance management reduced drilling time by 24 days per 10,000 feet drilled compared to previous campaigns.

The continuous improvement from the first well to the last saw productive rig time – the underlying operational time to complete the same tasks – improve from 53 days to 39 days. The implementation of new technology saved an average of four days’ drilling per well. In addition, completing a dual zone well test in a single run instead of two saved two to three weeks of well testing operations.

Russell Morrice, BP Drilling Engineering Manager commented: “Our approach to well operations in the appraisal of Clair reduced drilling time to such an extent that an additional sixth well was drilled within the original five well schedule. This enabled further appraisal of the Greater Clair field in support of both a potential Phase 3 development and ultimately maximising recovery of the UK’s oil and gas. The approach will now be used in other drilling campaigns”.

PlanSea collaboration yields £6.5million saving for Nexen

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A collaboration between Aberdeen-based software firm PlanSea Ltd and Nexen has resulted in a yearly saving of £6.5 million for the operator.

By applying software developed by PlanSea, Nexen were able to simulate 65 weeks of North Sea operations using different schedules of platform supply vessel (PSV) operations. The simulations demonstrated that significant improvements in fleet size and vessel utilisation were possible if operations were reorganised.

The innovative system, which was developed by an expert team at Robert Gordon University before being spun-out as a separate company in 2015, uses advanced algorithms to optimise vessel utilisation. Working with PlanSea, Nexen were able to reduce their North Sea PSV fleet from four vessels to two.

Jim Cargill, CEO of PlanSea Ltd said: “The ability to accurately identify feasible ways in which reduced fleets can operate and validate that in realistic simulation is a game changer. There is a tremendous opportunity for the industry to collaborate with shared PSV fleets, potentially taking 40% – 50% out of resource costs. In the North Sea that could mean continued viability for assets that are struggling to break even in the current environment.”

For further information on PlanSea, please visit http://www.plansea.co.uk/