WORLD OIL
On the North Sea Yggdrasil development, service providers are
collaborating to develop three platforms that will operate remotely from an
integrated onshore operations center. The project draws on experience gained
from the Ivar Aasen venture, marking a significant step forward in the pursuit
to increase offshore efficiency and sustainability.
With its diversity of energy
sources and opportunities for sector coupling, the North Sea will play a crucial
role in meeting the world’s growing need for reliable, affordable and
sustainable electricity. The region has been integral in supplying energy to
Europe through its oil and gas fields for decades. Now, it is poised to
accelerate the quest for net zero by becoming a global center for offshore wind
and a test bed for new technologies and concepts aimed at decarbonizing
offshore hydrocarbon production.
Siemens Energy is supporting
these decarbonization efforts by collaborating closely with major North Sea
operators in the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. Over
the years, we have been part of several groundbreaking projects, including Aker
BP’s Ivar Aasen production platform, which, in 2019, became the first manned
facility on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to be operated remotely from
an onshore control room in Trondheim. We are now applying the experience and
lessons learned from Ivar Aasen to the Yggdrasil (formerly NOAKA) field
development project.
Collaborative venture. Aker BP, and partners
Equinor and PGNiG Upstream Norway, are developing the area comprising three
fields. As part of the project, the Fixed Facilities Alliance, which
includes Aker BP and Aker Solutions, and Siemens Energy, will provide
the complete electrical, instrumentation, control and telecommunication (EICT)
systems for the Hugin A, Hugin B and Munin platforms.
All three platforms will
feature a high degree of digitalization and automation. Like Ivar Aasen,
they will be operated remotely from an onshore operations center. The
concepts and technologies employed will enable Aker BP to significantly reduce
manning levels in the field and contribute to strategic goals that the company
has established for production costs (<7$/boe), CO2 intensity (<4kg
CO2/boe), and the highest possible production efficiency.
Laying the foundation for
low-manned operations. Offshore producers are under pressure to improve
efficiency, reduce break-even prices, and lower the carbon footprint of their
operations. De-manning has long been viewed as a means of achieving these
goals. However, technology barriers have historically limited offshore
de-manning efforts to simple wellhead platforms without processing
capabilities.
This has changed in recent years,
as increased connectivity and digitalization advancements have opened the door
to safe and cost-effective remote control of larger, more complex production
installations. Original equipment manufacturers have also made progress in
improving the reliability of their products while at the same time minimizing
maintenance requirements. Together, these developments have allowed operators
to rethink facility operating models and opened the door to manpower reductions
that have previously not been possible.
To reduce manning to the greatest
possible extent in the offshore production environment, the concept of
de-manning must extend beyond facility operation to include shutdown,
maintenance, and start-up. While the precise strategy and number of persons on
board (POB) will look different for every company and facility, certain core
aspects form the basis of any de-manning initiative, Table 1.
The items shown in Table
1 loosely define an infrastructure, from which operators can build a
unique de-manning strategy and realize the following benefits:
- Reduced OPEX by decreasing offshore headcount.
POB reductions are achieved by removing the need for onsite control room
operators through remote process control. Automating certain manual tasks
(i.e., equipment inspections) also reduces the number of process operators
and maintenance technicians. Additionally, condition-based maintenance
(CBM) campaigns minimize full-time onsite maintenance staff. This is
further enabled by remote field support and collaboration (i.e., connected
worker concepts).
- Improved safety of both the people and the plant.
Studies have shown that human factors contribute to most offshore
incidents. Reducing the need for human intervention limits worker exposure
to high-risk environments while reducing the potential for human error
inherent in all manual actions.
- Increased uptime, due to less unplanned downtime from
the condition-based, predictive analytics deployed to enable CBM.
Opportunities also exist to reduce planned downtime by selecting material
and equipment, based on reliability and maintainability for longer mean
time between overhauls (MTBO).
- Reduced carbon emissions and environmental
impact from
fewer shutdowns results in reduced flaring, venting and blowdown. A
reduced number of POBs also translates into fewer helicopter trips and
lower emissions. The value of this benefit varies significantly, based on
the geographical location of the operating asset and the associated carbon
tax regime.
Applying low-manned principles on
Ivar Aasen. The Ivar Aasen field is 180 km (112 mi) east of Norway’s coast.
The ocean’s depth beneath the Ivar Aasen platform is approximately 110 m (355
ft). Field reserves are estimated at over 200 MMboe. First oil was achieved in
December 2016.
A low-manning concept was
considered from the earliest stages of the Ivar Aasen field development
project. Siemens Energy was selected as the sole provider of the EICT packages
for the platform. This afforded several advantages, one being that it
simplified the process of developing a digital twin of the facility. To enable
the low-manning concept on Ivar Aasen, a CBM model has been adopted through
remote condition monitoring of platform equipment, Table 2.
Time stamping—a distinctive, event-driven, “on-change”
data-sampling method—is employed to help control room technicians better
ascertain event sequences in operational data, considerably enhancing
diagnostics. The condition monitoring application is connected to the
platform’s EICT systems.
After a trial period in 2017 and 2018 of operating the platform
using two control rooms—one on the platform and an identical one onshore in
Trondheim 1,046km (650 mi) away—Aker
BP gained confidence in the land-based control room’s ability to operate the
platform competently and safely. In January 2019, the decision was made to
begin monitoring the platform solely from the Trondheim onshore control
room, Fig. 1.
Technicians in the remote-control center use typical office
facilities, including desktop PCs that present visual dashboards with detailed
information. Depending on their roles and access privileges, stakeholders can
view customized data to provide CBM oversight and engineering support. The
onboard control room has been left intact and operationally ready, should it be
required.
The high connectivity level provides equipment vendors access to
their respective operational data to better support their relevant
responsibilities for the platform’s maintenance work. Data from the platform
are analyzed, using Siemens Energy’s analytic software. KPIs from individual
signals and combinations of signals are compared to baseline equipment
operating signatures to identify anomalous behavior patterns, such as unusual
vibrations or pressure flows.
In addition, CBM helps optimize the platform’s spare parts
inventories, freeing up capital that a traditional maintenance approach might
otherwise tie up. A high-fidelity “as is” digital twin of the Ivar Aasen
platform was developed and is continuously updated. It includes all the
platform’s equipment and processes.
Today, Aker BP has a digital program comprising digital twins,
aiming to harmonize technology, partnerships, processes, and execution capacity
across projects and all producing assets. Strategic partner Cognite constitutes
an Industrial DataOps platform powered by a flexible data model, while Aize
provides a visualization and collaboration application that delivers the twin
to the end-users. Data from the EICT provider is essential to this digital twin
ecosystem in Aker BP.
Taking the next step. Building off the experience of Ivar Aasen, Siemens Energy is now
continuing to work closely with Aker BP on the Yggdrasil development project.
The area includes several fields and is estimated to contain around 700
MMboe. Yggdrasil will include 55 wells tied back to three offshore
platforms (Hugin A, Hugin B, and Munin). Siemens Energy has been selected as
the sole provider of EICT packages for all three facilities.
The Munin unmanned production platform will be installed at
a water depth of 105 m (344 ft) in the northern part of the Yggdrasil area. It
will be connected to 23 wells and is designed without a helideck or living
quarters. Manned maintenance campaigns will take place annually. The Hugin A
production, drilling, and quarters platform will be installed in the southern
part of the area and receive the oil production from the Munin and Hugin B
platforms. Frøy field will be developed with the Hugin B unmanned wellhead
platform, which will be tied back to the Hugin A platform. A total of nine
subsea templates will be tied back to Hugin A and Munin.
The digital twin, combined with work processes, is a central
part of the operations strategy for Yggdrasil. Since last autumn, the digital
team for Yggdrasil has worked to build a digital platform in collaboration with
Cognite and Aize. The data platform is built on Cognite’s flexible data model
solution and the Microsoft Azure Data Factory. It is the foundation for the
Yggdrasil digital twin ecosystem. Data from Siemens Energy are included. Two full-scale
simulators also will be installed, one for operator training and the other for
engineering and service.
In addition to routine control room tasks, Aker BP will have all
the required facilities and systems to support maintenance and modifications.
Several integrated operational rooms that cover dedicated functions will be
established. An example of such a function is support for rotating equipment,
where experts can monitor and investigate any circumstances that may occur and
develop reports and work orders for further actions. Control room operators
will have continuous programs, where different scenarios can be rehearsed to
keep the operators prepared for critical situations.
Digital support systems will be based on Siemens Energy’s
Omnivise for Offshore (O4O), which provides dashboards, interfaces, and reports
for condition and performance monitoring. O4O is being adapted according to
Aker BP’s organizational structure, demands, and unique work processes.
Alliance model. In keeping with the principle of close collaboration, Yggdrasil
is being developed under Aker BP’s Alliance Model. Four alliances spanning from
drilling activities, subsea, pipelines and platform constructions are involved.
Siemens Energy is part of the Fixed Facilities Alliance, which will deliver the
engineering services and construction of the Hugin A and Hugin B topsides and
jackets.
A core tenet of the Alliance Model is to select strategic
partners for the project early and involve them in all phases, including
conceptual studies, front-end engineering, construction, commissioning,
operations, and maintenance. The intention is to facilitate cooperation between
parties and streamline decisions and work processes by creating a single
integrated team. It forms the basis for a long-term strategic partnership based
on trust, collaboration, empowerment and transparency.
The Fixed Facility Alliance for Yggdrasil includes Aker BP,
covering top project management; Aker Solutions, overseeing engineering
activities and construction; and Siemens Energy, providing the EICT technology
and services. The organizational structure is matrix-based, with a low degree
of hierarchy, so there are short paths for decisions. The Norwegian
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) approved the plans for development and
operation of Yggdrasil in June 2023. Onshore construction work for the project
began this autumn. Start of production is expected in 2027.
Developing fields of the future. The oil and gas industry faces several challenges in the coming years.
In addition to mounting pressure to decarbonize operations, producers must
contend with operating long-term in a highly uncertain environment. This is
particularly a concern for the offshore industry, where long project cycle
times and high development costs leave many companies exposed to market
volatility. Given the current outlook, it is no surprise that operators have
increased efforts to reduce risk and lower break-even prices through de-manning
of fields.
Many forward-thinking operators, like Aker BP, have already
adopted low-manning initiatives for greenfields, and others are following suit.
While the objective of these initiatives is similar, the process for getting
there will look different for every facility. Ultimately, driving a successful
implementation requires a combination of technology expertise and an
understanding of the business situation. Both criteria should be prioritized
early in the project timeline when selecting partners.