Per Erik Holsten, managing director for ABB Oil, Gas and ChemicalsABB
Autonomous operations have been the goal of the oil and gas sector for manners years, but despite many false dawns the autonomous future appears to be as far away as ever. Successes have been few and far between. One such was earlier this year when a project by the Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) started developing a mobile robot for autonomous operational inspection of offshore platforms.
“The industry is moving towards autonomous operations, and within 10 to 15 years we will have full automation, but for now it’s a stepwise process,” Per Erik Holsten, managing director for ABB Oil, Gas and Chemicals. That aspiration is still some way off, but certain areas are developing faster than others such as remote operations and collaboration rooms, manual operations into automated processes, robotic inspections, predictive maintenance, and subsea applications.
Remote operations and collaboration rooms
Holsten explains that the technology is now available whereby an expert can sit in a collaboration room in Houston and remotely operate, inspect and maintain the facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. “This will save traveling time and expenses and draw on specific skillsets quickly and efficiently,” he says. “Adoption will be a stepwise process over the coming years, as operators feel confident that they can ensure and maintain the integrity of their plants remotely while managing challenges such as government regulations, job rotations, maintenance safety, and personnel changes.”
Manual operations into automated processes
Thousands of manual operations will be distilled and refined into a small number of automated processes, managed by the touch of a button. This has already been seen at Aasta Hansteen where ABB delivered the world’s fastest start-up process for first gas through our ABB Ability System 800xA simulator which was used to do a virtual start-up of the plant. A sequence of over 1000 steps was automated, reducing a complex set of manual interventions to just 20. It is estimated that this work has saved about 40 days in the commissioning phase of the project, leading to a reduction in troubleshooting and corrections, saving about 2700 man-hours.
Robotic inspections
More readily available will be advanced robotics that have been made specifically for inspection of equipment, much like the OGTC robot developed earlier this year. “These robots can replace the manual inspection of facilities including inside tanks and pipes, along with platform parts, and in areas subject to corrosion and complex access points,” Holsten adds.
“The robots can not only carry out inspections, passing clear images back to the remote operator, but can also maintain the equipment at the same time, such as painting platform legs subsea. This removes humans from dangerous situations in inhospitable high-risk environments.”
Predictive maintenance and condition monitoring
With technologies such as sensors becoming more affordable and robust, and with these sensors attached to standard equipment, overall asset health can be monitored more efficiently. “Collating this data gives operators a better overview of the condition of their assets, and by looking at patterns, we can begin to predict when equipment might fail,” Holsten continues. “Operators can then intervene before this takes place, ensuring maintenance is implemented, downtime is reduced, and efficiencies are increased.”
Subsea applications
Finally, the world of subsea operations, a vital area for developing some of the world’s untapped resources particularly in offshore Africa and Brazil. “Putting an oil and gas production facility on the seabed has been one of the holy grails of oil and gas exploration,” Holsten says. “In 2019 we will see a breakthrough as we complete the final tests for a Joint Industry Project with Statoil that will see us prove that modular seabed power substation works up to 600 km offshore and to depths down to 3,000 meters reaching nearly all known assets.
“Power consumption will be reduced as the power distribution system will be closer to the reservoir. New digital solutions will enable intelligent remote control and unmanned operations. This saves money, reduces risks to personnel and provides continuous exploration in the most extreme environments.”