As the ITF Showcase kicks off in Aberdeen this week Dr Patrick O’Brien, chief executive of ITF, has taken up the role of Energy Voice’s guest editor. Follow along each day as he spells out the challenges and triumphs the industry faces.
The oil and gas industry, in common with other highly complex sectors such as aerospace, defence and nuclear, has traditionally experienced long development times and high up-front costs.
Despite the current economic challenges faced by the industry, a significant hydrocarbon prize remains up for grabs. The associated drive for efficiencies should be used as a catalyst to examine and implement approaches which may bring technology into operation as early as possible, optimise decision making, or generate efficiencies in other areas.
Identifying common needs that present barriers to development and offer opportunities for collaborative working is a start.
Another route involves looking to other industries and identifying proven technologies or processes that may have an application in the oil and gas sector.
One proven example is the use of Unmanned Airborne Vehicle technology to reduce costs and risk, and increase the efficiency of topside inspections. Another aviation capability that has the potential for transfer across into the oil and gas industry is Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) and the aviation industry’s adoption of the common data standard for avionics and cabin systems.
The aviation industry’s standardised approach to systems data transmission, combined with hardware and software technologies embedded in vehicle subsystems delivers a number of benefits.
It significantly reduces processing and operations manpower, provides predictive maintenance and delivers improvements in vehicle turnaround with less actual maintenance being performed due to improved vehicle health knowledge and fewer maintenance issues due to unnecessary intervention.
Learning important lessons from other industries and hearing how non-oil and gas industry leaders are tackling their own technology agendas and handling the move towards standardisation was a key theme at the Technology Showcase and generated a vibrant debate with participation from the automotive and aerospace industries.
It’s clear that by sharing cross industry insights, the oil and gas industry can achieve similar benefits at a time when delivering efficiencies is ever more critical.
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