Unplanned downtime (UPD) is a continuous source of frustration and lost revenue to the energy sector. Remote operations and offshore facilities are continuously facing increased safety, risk and production loss when dealing with UPDs. As the industry still faces budget cuts leading to more experienced staff leaving the sector and the ever present issue of aging assets, companies are still reluctant to seek alternate solutions to mitigate these issues.
With the significant strides taken in the digital space, isn’t it time you seriously looked at digitalisation and predictive analytics as an answer?
In a recent survey by GE, it was found that “Offshore oil and gas organizations experience on average $38 million annually in financial impacts due to unplanned downtime. For the worst performers the negative financial impact can be upwards of $88 million.”
In a recent discussion with an international operator regarding one of their key regional assets, they noted that they expected to operate with 10% downtime per annum. This would equate to approximately 30 days over the year or $45 million in lost production revenue at $50 per barrel, not including the time to ramp back up to full recovery after a shut down!
The same report goes on to note that “Operators using a predictive, data-based approach experience 36% less unplanned downtime than those with a reactive approach” which, in the case above, equates to a potential saving of close to $15 million per year even when you include the implementation costs.
Fear of change:
“The biggest impediment to a company’s future success is its past success.” - Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal and Chairman of Symantec
In light of the empirical data, less than a quarter of plant operators across the Energy Sector have embraced a predictive analytical solution to remedy this situation, relying on more traditional reactive and time based maintenance options. So why the slow uptake?
A recent survey of the industry in general, carried out by Digital Plant Specialists, found out that the number one driver behind the acceptance of predictive analytics was fear of change at an operational and maintenance level.
“We have always done it this way”, “This (run to failure) has worked for 50 years in the Industry so what change it”, “If its not broke, don’t fix it” and “I looked at this 5 years ago and it did not work”, are real quotes from highly experience and well respected managers across the energy sectors. The fundamental communications break between the company executive and those that are running the plants is significant.
To breach this, Energy Company executives responsible for offshore and remote operations should work with their technology teams to create a digital strategy to reduce unplanned downtime that will be based on a foundation of data and analytics.
“90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy.” — MIT SLOAN AND CAPGEMINI
Oftentimes there is a lack of comprehensive and specific strategies for digital opportunities with asset repair and maintenance. Strategies should be developed at a high enough level to ensure that digitalisation does not happen in pockets, and it is able to scale.
Using a quote from Deloitte “Simply ‘doing’ digital things will not make an organisation digital.” Organizations need to go beyond just technology changes to truly embrace the benefits of digitalisation.
For more information on embracing the advances in unlocking the potential of your asset history and linking this to a tried and tested predictive solution addressing maintenance optimisation, get in touch with us at Digital Plant Specialists– www.dps.group
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