The Impact of Digitalization on Offshore Operations

Abstract

Most of today's digital initiatives in oil and gas are incremental rather than disruptive. Some companies are taking a step forward to make improvements in technical or operational capabilities, but many are not fully embracing the power digitalization can provide. Numerous benefits such as increased cost savings and significant improvements in collaboration, productivity, maintenance and revenue have been realized through digitalization…if only more offshore operators would take the technological plunge. Online collaboration technologies provide offshore engineers the ability to digitize workflow and planning processes, optimize decisions between experts, disciplines and companies involved in the life of field perspective, and visually identify operational activities and maintenance events once projects are online. Through digitalization, all offshore field projects – assets and activities – are: easily understandable through online 2D/3D visualizations; rapidly created or replicated using existing field layouts with a 3D asset library; immediately monitored and reporting to real-time operating levels; and getting an instant view of the cost consequences due to a required action or change to a field. Offshore operations would dramatically change upon oil and gas companies embracing and upgrading their digital capabilities, thus improving the way they collaborate with and connect new data insights to their operating models. The novelty for offshore engineers is that digital collaboration tools are easy to integrate and train the next generation of employees to, and capable of accelerating project timelines by up to 80%, especially during the early concept and FEED phases. These time savings can drive cost savings as high as 70% across a project's lifecycle. The benefits are undeniable when this technology is implemented across the oil and gas industry…regardless of current oil prices.