Oil & Gas Technology Autumn 2023

De-mystifying digital twins for oil and gas Five digital trends for success Digitalisation and the digital twin Focusing on digital transformation Advanced analytics solutions

ISSUE 58 | AUTUMN 2023

WHEN TRUST MATTERS

EMPOWERING CRITICAL DECISIONS UTILIZING YOUR DIGITAL TWINS DIGITAL TRUST by DNV

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CEO Mark Venables – Editor in Chief mark.venables@cavendishgroup.co.uk Managing Director Adam Soroka Advertising Director Mike Smith mike.smith@cavendishgroup.co.uk

The new epoch of digital twinning

De-mystifying digital twins for oil and gas Five digital trends for success Digitalisation and the digital twin Focusing on digital transformation Advanced analytics solutions

ISSUE 58 | AUTUMN 2023

Oil & Gas Technology

Digital twins are everywhere. And the term can be equally applied to a wide range of technologies and approaches. A digital twin could be a straightforward visualization technique – like a graph or a chart. Or it could be a highly immersive visualization environment (or HIVE) where operators can view, monitor, and remotely control an asset or process. It might be a digital representation of an object, an asset, a process, or a system. And it could be used for anything from training to operation.

The asset and operations-intensive nature of the oil and gas industry demands continuous and vigilant equipment monitoring, management, and maintenance. For starters, to be responsive to such dynamic and testing times, where oil and gas companies can’t churn optimum returns on investment, it is particularly helpful to have clear visibility and flexibility in operations to prevent millions of

dollars of loss of productivity and value.

Intelligent asset management, also known as predictive asset maintenance, involves proactive maintenance of on-field equipment like pipelines, rigs, storage tanks, wellheads, and other facilities. This is made possible with smart sensors and data transmitters that are connected to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. According to research, 63% of oil field assets are past the halfway point of their expected lifetimes. Consequently, equipment reliability can be a significant issue demanding fact and data-based decision support for assets.

The concept of digital twins has revolutionized asset management and maintenance in the oil and gas industry. A digital twin replicates the attributes and features of a physical asset, thus helping in the virtual monitoring of on-field assets.

It depends on reliable, high-quality data in real time to optimize and augment equipment performance. This can help detect early signs of equipment failure, unearth problems in equipment health, bring to light opportunities for improving O&G processes, and reduce unplanned downtime.

Moreover, digital twins help develop realtime modelling scenarios to determine drilling and equipment feasibility prior to operations.

What makes a digital twin valuable, however, is that it is connected to reliable and relevant data streams. The more ‘right time’, the better (live data may not always be what’s required). Regardless of their form or application, a digital twin should have a clear purpose, such as to allow decision-makers to reduce risk and increase business value. And to do that, it must be founded on quality data.

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Mark Venables Editor Oil & Gas Technology

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News

26 How can digitalisation and the digital twin help the oil and gas industry?

16 Rosebank field to progress in the UK 18 Succeed in the oil and gas industry with these five digital trends 20 Transmitting safely from the danger zone 22 Optimising production capabilities with additive manufacturing 24 Keeping an eagle eye on oil and gas assets

28 ETCA: We have everything in-house to make a real impact on the energy transition together 30 Enhancing Greece’s strategic and commercial position through natural gas storage capacity development 32 It is time we focused on digital transformation – not just technology 03

34 The role of generative AI in the oil and gas sector

42 De-mystifying digital twins for oil and gas

36 Advanced analytics solutions drive oil and gas efficiency and sustainability

46 Geoscience: The value of avoiding uncertainty in the ground

39 Incremental digital transformations that reduce time to value

48 Final Word: Digital Twins in the Oil and Gas Industry

40 A proven path to maximizing trust, confidence and returns on your digital investments

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Decoding your digital future.

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Shell delivers first gas from the Timi platform in Malaysia

More gas from Gina Krog with Eirin On behalf of the partnership, Equinor has submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Eirin gas field to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Recoverable reserves in the field are estimated at 27.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, most of which is gas. The Eirin field, which was discovered in 1978, will be developed as a subsea facility tied to the Gina Krog platform in the North Sea. Total investments are estimated at just over NOK 4 billion.

Utilising Gina Krog’s infrastructure will enable Eirin to bring new gas to Europe fast, with good profitability and low CO2 emissions from production. The development will extend Gina Krog’s productive life from 2029 to 2036, and will be vital for the Sleipner area,” says Camilla Salthe, Equinor’s senior vice president for

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field life extension (FLX).

When the energy crisis struck in 2021, there was close cooperation with Norwegian authorities to deliver as much gas as possible to Europe.

Increased gas export from Gina Krog, by exporting gas that was previously injected to improve oil recovery, was an important contribution. At the same time, this brought the need to accelerate projects to extend the field life.

Eirin is a central part of this work, and the project has been matured in record time. Production start-up is expected as early as 2025.

“Extending Gina Krog’s productive life also gives us the opportunity to mature additional new reserves in the area. We’re still seeing possibilities for new discoveries, which is why Eirin’s new subsea facility will enable tie-in of new fields,” says Ketil Rongved, Equinor’s vice president for FLX Projects.

With electrification of Gina Krog and partial electrification of Sleipner, production from Eirin will have low emissions, just three kilo of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalents.

The licence partners are Equinor (78.2 percent) and KUFPEC Norway (21.8 percent).

Sarawak Shell Berhad (SSB), a subsidiary of Shell plc, has announced that gas production has started at its Timi platform in Malaysia under the SK318 production sharing contract (PSC).

Timi features Shell’s first wellhead platform in Malaysia that is powered by a solar and wind hybrid power system. This unmanned platform is also more cost efficient, as a result of it being around 60% lighter in weight, than a conventional tender-assisted drilling wellhead platform that relies on oil and gas for power.

“Timi demonstrates we are delivering more value with less emissions,” said Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director. “Bringing the project online is also an example of our focus on performance, discipline, and simplification. It shows our ability to innovate and deliver safe, reliable, and sustainable projects that support a balanced energy transition for Malaysia.”

Timi is designed to produce up to 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of gas at peak production and will evacuate its gas through a new 80 kilometres (km) pipeline to the F23 production hub. The project supports the future growth in the central Luconia area, off the coast of Sarawak.

Shell is proud of its long and successful history in Malaysia. Under the stewardship of Malaysia Petroleum Management, PETRONAS, Shell remains committed to supporting the country’s economic progress and energy transition efforts with competitive and resilient investments.

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Update

bp’s Archaea Energy achieves major milestone, brings online first of its kind renewable natural gas plant bp’s Archaea Energy has started its original Archaea Modular Design (AMD) renewable natural gas (RNG) plant in Medora, Indiana. Located next to a landfill owned

by Rumpke Waste and Recycling, this is the first plant to come online since bp’s acquisition of Archaea in December 2022.

Landfill gas, a natural byproduct of the decomposition of waste in landfills, is a form of greenhouse gas. Using the AMD design, the Medora plant captures the gas from Rumpke’s landfill and converts it to electricity, heat or renewable natural gas, which leads to cleaner air, less odor and more sustainable energy when compared with traditional fossil fuel energy.

The Medora plant can process 3,200 cubic feet of landfill gas per minute (scfm) into RNG – enough gas to heat around 13,026 homes annually, according to the EPA’s Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator.

“What we are doing at the Medora plant is phenomenal and it’s just the beginning of what’s to come at Archaea,” Starlee Sykes, CEO Archaea Energy, said. “This is a powerful step forward in our net zero journey to capture landfill emissions and provide customers with lower emission, lower carbon fuel. Our goal is to safely bring several AMD plants online this year. I’m in awe of our team who designed, engineered and built this facility and we can’t wait to bring more online across the US.” Traditionally, RNG plants have been custom built, but the Archaea Modular Design allows plants to be built on skids with interchangeable components. Using a standardized modular design leads to faster builds than previous industry standards.

“Our family company is constantly looking for technologies to lessen our overall impact and further our efforts to protect and preserve the environment,” Jeff Rumpke, Area President, Rumpke Waste & Recycling, added. “The addition of Archaea Energy’s RNG plant at our site will help further reduce emissions and give residents and businesses assurance that their waste is not only being properly disposed of – but also being put to good use.”

With the acquisition of Archaea, bp is now the largest RNG producer in the US, enhancing its ability to support customers’ decarbonization goals and progressing its aim to reduce the average lifecycle carbon intensity of the energy products it sells.

Bioenergy is one of five strategic transition growth engines that bp intends to grow rapidly through this decade expecting to deliver around $2 billion EBITDA in 2025 and aiming to deliver more than $4 billion in 2030. In addition to bioenergy, bp’s transition growth engines include convenience, EV charging, renewables & power, and hydrogen. bp expects to invest up to $8 billion more in its transition growth businesses this decade to reach more than 40% of its total annual capital expenditure by 2025, aiming to grow this to around 50% by 2030.

Baker Hughes announces major gas technology equipment order for Venture Global LNG

Baker Hughes has announced Monday that it has been awarded a major contract, to be booked in the third quarter of 2023, to provide a modularized liquefied natural gas (LNG) system and power island. The contract was awarded under a master equipment supply agreement between Venture Global LNG and Baker Hughes for more than 100 million tons per annum (MTPA) of production capacity, which was expanded from 70 MTPA and recently announced during Gastech in Singapore.

The award builds on previous ones from Venture Global to Baker Hughes to provide comprehensive LNG technology solutions for the Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines LNG projects in Louisiana.

“We are excited to add another milestone in our successful collaboration with Baker Hughes as a strategic LNG technology supplier, building on the expansion of our agreement,” said Mike Sabel, CEO of Venture Global. “To enable a successful transition to more secure and sustainable economies, it is critical that we continue to further our

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mission of delivering low-cost LNG at a larger scale. We are grateful for our continued partnership with Baker Hughes, a world leader in energy technology, and look forward to building on our successful collaboration in our upcoming projects.”

“We have been a trusted partner in natural gas operations for more than 30 years and have been able to bring that depth of experience into the recent LNG market upturn. This further expansion of our collaboration with Venture Global reaffirms that Baker Hughes technologies are advancing the efficient use of natural gas, and we are honored to continue to support their projects,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes. “The continuing demand for LNG emphasises the pivotal role that natural gas will play in the energy transition, helping to secure supply and to reach net-zero emissions.”

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Update

Aramco to enter global LNG business by acquiring stake in MidOcean Energy Aramco has signed definitive agreements to acquire a strategic minority stake in MidOcean Energy for $500 million. MidOcean Energy is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company formed and managed by EIG, a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors.

MidOcean Energy is currently in the process of acquiring interests in four Australian LNG projects, with a growth strategy to create a diversified global LNG business. The strategic partnership with MidOcean Energy marks Aramco’s first international investment in LNG. The agreement builds on the relationship between Aramco and EIG, which was part of a consortium that acquired a 49% stake in Aramco Oil Pipelines Company, a subsidiary of Aramco, in 2021.

Completion of the transaction is subject to closing conditions which include regulatory approvals. Aramco also has the option to increase its shareholding and associated rights in MidOcean Energy in the future.

“We are pleased to be strengthening our strategic partnership with EIG through this acquisition, which marks Aramco’s first international investment in LNG,” Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President & CEO, said: said. “We anticipate strong demand-led growth for LNG as the world continues on its energy transition journey, with gas being a vital fuel and feedstock in various industries. We believe that gas will be important in meeting the world’s rising need for secure, accessible and more sustainable energy.”

Production start for Statfjord Øst project With this project, Equinor and its partners expect to increase production by 26 million barrels of oil equivalents from Statfjord Øst.

The project is completed with sound safety results and is expected to deliver within estimated cost, despite the inflation and weakened Norwegian krone. Production starts six months ahead of schedule.

“This proves the importance of extending the life of mature fields and maximizing value creation from existing infrastructure on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The project contributes to extending the life of Statfjord C to 2040. The profitability is high, and the value of increased production equals around NOK 20 billion at the current oil price. This is good use of resources which provide ripple effects for Norwegian suppliers,” says Camilla Salthe, Equinor’s senior vice president for Field Life eXtension (FLX).

Two new wells have been drilled from existing subsea templates, and three additional wells are to be drilled. Statfjord Øst is tied to the Statfjord C platform, and the project includes a modification on Statfjord C and laying of a new pipeline for gas lift to the subsea wells.

“This is a good example of how we work with mature fields. Equinor aims to be a leading operator of late-life fields on the NCS. That means that we need to find new ways of working to reduce costs. Together with our partners we have developed simpler and faster solutions while maintaining high quality,” says Ketil Rongved, Equinor’s vice president for FLX projects.

The oil recovery rate from the field is expected to rise from 58 to 63 percent as a result from this project. Statfjord Øst startet producing in 1994. The field is located five kilometres from Statfjord C. The project was decided by the partnership in 2020 and approved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in 2021.

Weatherford awarded offshore intervention services contract with Petrobras

Weatherford International has been awarded a five-year contract to provide Intervention Services for Petrobras in Brazil.

Weatherford has performed Intervention Services in Brazil for more than 20 years in close cooperation with Petrobras to develop a comprehensive offering to address subsea intervention and commissioning. To further enhance this offering, Weatherford will provide its state-of-the-art digitalization solution, the Centro well construction optimization platform, which provides exceptional visibility and performance in operations.

Girish Saligram, Weatherford President and CEO, commented, “We are very satisfied with the result of the bidding process with Petrobras. Our long history of collaboration to extend the productive life of Petrobras assets while reducing nonproductive time will be further enhanced through our cutting-edge digitalization offering. We look forward to a successful project and continuing our work together.”

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Update

ADNOC Takes FID on World’s First Project That Aims to Operate with Net Zero Emissions ADNOC has announced the final investment decision and award of contracts for the Hail and Ghasha Offshore Development project. The project aims to operate with net zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, reinforcing ADNOC’s legacy of responsible energy production and supporting its Net Zero by 2045 ambition and accelerated decarbonization plan.

The awards, which comprise two engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, were signed at ADIPEC, the world’s largest energy industry gathering. Hail and Ghasha are part of Abu Dhabi’s Ghasha Concession which is set to produce more than 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscfd) of gas before the end of the decade, contributing to UAE gas selfsufficiency and ADNOC’s gas growth and export expansion plans.

Over 60 percent of the investment value of the entire project will flow back into the UAE’s economy under ADNOC’s In-Country Value (ICV) program, reinforcing ADNOC’s commitment to ensuring more economic value remains in the country from the contracts it awards.

Abdulmunim Al Kindy, ADNOC Upstream Executive Director, said: “The final investment decision, for Hail and Ghasha, is a major milestone for ADNOC and our strategic partners and we are delighted to progress this pioneering project with net zero carbon dioxide emissions, significantly boosting ADNOC’s carbon capture capacity as we work toward a lower carbon future.

“The project will drive in-country value, provide highly skilled career opportunities for UAE Nationals and stimulate socio-economic growth for the nation. Natural gas is an important transition fuel and ADNOC will continue to responsibly unlock its gas resources to enable gas self-sufficiency for the UAE, grow our export capacity and support global energy security.”

The Hail and Ghasha development design combines innovative decarbonization technologies into one integrated solution. The project will capture 1.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of CO2 taking ADNOC’s committed investment for carbon capture capacity to almost 4 mtpa. The CO2 will be captured, transported onshore and safely stored underground, while low-carbon hydrogen is produced that can replace fuel gas and further reduce emissions. The project will also leverage clean power from nuclear and renewable sources from the grid.

The carbon captured at Hail and Ghasha will support ADNOC’s wider carbon management strategy, which aims to create a unique platform that connects all the sources of emissions and sequestration sites to accelerate the delivery of ADNOC and the UAE’s decarbonization goals. The final investment decision follows a recent announcement by ADNOC to double its carbon capture capacity target to 10 mtpa of CO2 by 2030.

The first EPC contract for the offshore facilities includes facilities on artificial islands and subsea pipelines. It has been awarded to a joint venture between National Petroleum Construction Company and Saipem S.p.A. The second EPC contract will deliver the onshore scope, including CO2 and sulphur recovery and handling. It has been awarded to Tecnimont.

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Chevron CEO talks boosting oil production amid record demand Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth laid out how the company is working to increase U.S. shale production—especially in the Permian Basin—amid unprecedented demand during a recent Bloomberg News interview.

“We’re going to see all-time record demand this year,” Wirth told anchor Alix Steele. “It will grow again in the year ahead.”

The wide-ranging interview also touched on how Chevron is working to improve costs amid inflation. It’s doing so, in part, by drilling longer horizontal wells and reducing the time it takes to bring wells into production.

The International Energy Agency said, in its latest oil market report, that while demand reached record highs in July, supply slumped to a nearly two-year low.

The drop was attributed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reducing its production by 1 million barrels per day. It has since extended its voluntarily output cut until the end of the year, further tightening supply.

Wirth detailed how Chevron is trying to increase the amount of oil it recovers in the Permian and other U.S. oil fields to further boost production and offset inflation.

To improve recovery rates, which are approximately 10%, Chevron is working on various drilling technologies and completion techniques.

It currently produces more than 700,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day in the Permian.

“If we can improve recoveries, that changes the entire economic equation in a very profound way,” Wirth said. “We’re working hard on that.”

Chevron expects to reach 1 million barrels of oil-equivalent per day in the Permian Basin by 2025.

Taming the data monster

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Update

SLB Launches first-of-its-kind, easy-toinstall methane measurement instrument bp and OMV have announced the signing of a long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) covering supply of up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 10 years from 2026.

Under the terms of the agreement, bp will provide OMV with LNG from its diverse and global portfolio of LNG, which will be received and re-gasified through the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where OMV holds regasification capacity, or other terminals in Europe.

Alfred Stern, chairman of the executive board and CEO of OMV AG, said: “It is one of OMV’s key priorities to drive forward our ongoing diversification of supply sources that encompasses gas from our own production and external sources from Norway, as well as additional LNG volumes. In tandem with the recent news regarding our additional gas transport capacities until 2028, our agreement with bp reflects our significant contribution to the security of supply to our customers in Austria and Europe. Our partnership with bp, spanning a 10-year period from 2026, is an important strategic step towards diversifying and safeguarding our supply sources in the long-term.”

Jonty Shepard, VP global LNG trading & origination at bp, said “At bp, we see LNG as an essential part of the energy transition and essential for our own pivot to becoming an integrated energy company. We are pleased to conclude this LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with OMV, with whom we have a longstanding relationship. Europe is a significant LNG market and this agreement with OMV further demonstrates our LNG supply capability in the region, supporting security of supply for our European customers.”

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bp and OMV have announced the signing of a long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) covering supply of up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 10 years from 2026.

Under the terms of the agreement, bp will provide OMV with LNG from its diverse and global portfolio of LNG, which will be received and re-gasified through the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where OMV holds regasification capacity, or other terminals in Europe.

Alfred Stern, chairman of the executive board and CEO of OMV AG, said: “It is one of OMV’s key priorities to drive forward our ongoing diversification of supply sources that encompasses gas from our own production and external sources from Norway, as well as additional LNG volumes. In tandem with the recent news regarding our additional gas transport capacities until 2028, our agreement with bp reflects our significant contribution to the security of supply to our customers in Austria and Europe. Our partnership with bp, spanning a 10-year period from 2026, is an important strategic step towards diversifying and safeguarding our supply sources in the long-term.”

Jonty Shepard, VP global LNG trading & origination at bp, said “At bp, we see LNG as an essential part of the energy transition and essential for our own pivot to becoming an integrated energy company. We are pleased to conclude this LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with OMV, with whom we have a longstanding relationship. Europe is a significant LNG market and this agreement with OMV further demonstrates our LNG supply capability in the region, supporting security of supply for our European customers.”

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bp and OMV sign a 10-year LNG supply agreement

bp and OMV have announced the signing of a long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) covering supply of up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 10 years from 2026.

Under the terms of the agreement, bp will provide OMV with LNG from its diverse and global portfolio of LNG, which will be received and re-gasified through the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where OMV holds regasification capacity, or other terminals in Europe.

Alfred Stern, chairman of the executive board and CEO of OMV AG, said: “It is one of OMV’s key priorities to drive forward our ongoing diversification of supply sources that encompasses gas from our own production and external sources from Norway, as well as additional LNG volumes. In tandem with the recent news regarding our additional gas transport capacities until 2028, our agreement with bp reflects our significant contribution to the security of supply to our customers in Austria and Europe. Our partnership with bp, spanning a 10-year period from 2026, is an important strategic step towards diversifying and safeguarding our supply sources in the long-term.”

Jonty Shepard, VP global LNG trading & origination at bp, said “At bp, we see LNG as an essential part of the energy transition and essential for our own pivot to becoming an integrated energy company. We are pleased to conclude this LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with OMV, with whom we have a longstanding relationship. Europe is a significant LNG market and this agreement with OMV further demonstrates our LNG supply capability in the region, supporting security of supply for our European customers.”

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Rosebank field to progress in the UK Equinor and Ithaca Energy have taken the final investment decision to progress Phase 1 of the Rosebank development on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), investing $3.8 billion. The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granted consent for the development of the field on 27 September.

“Developing the Rosebank field will allow us to grow our position as a broad energy partner to the UK, while optimising our oil and gas portfolio, and increasing energy supply in Europe. Rosebank provides an opportunity to develop a field within the UK Continental Shelf which will bring significant benefits to Scotland and the wider UK,” says Geir Tungesvik, executive vice president Projects, Drilling and Procurement at Equinor.

The Rosebank field is located around 130 kilometres north-west of Shetland in approximately 1,100 metres of water depth. Total recoverable resources are estimated at around 300 million barrels of oil, with Phase 1 targeting estimated 245 million barrels of oil.

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Exploration and Production International. This development further strengthens our international business, and we look forward to collaborating closely with our partner and suppliers to develop and operate Rosebank with the lowest possible carbon footprint while bringing the maximum value to society in the shape of UK investment, local jobs and energy security.”

The Rosebank oil and gas field is being developed in compliance with the North Sea Transition Deal, an agreement between the UK government and the offshore industry. It acknowledges that whilst there is a continued, though over time reducing need for oil and gas, the remaining demand for oil and gas must be met with the lowest emissions possible.

The field will be developed with subsea wells tied back to a redeployed Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO), with start-up planned in 2026-2027. Oil will be transported to refineries by shuttle tankers, while gas will be exported through the West of Shetland Pipeline system to mainland Scotland.

The FPSO has been designed to be electrification ready and Equinor is collaborating with government and industry to pursue a regional solution for power from shore to Rosebank and nearby fields to minimise carbon emissions from production.

“We are pleased to move forward with the Rosebank field together with Ithaca Energy,” says Philippe Mathieu, executive vice president for

According to an independent socioeconomic report

by Wood Mackenzie and Voar Energy, Rosebank is estimated to create £8.1 billion of total direct

investment over the lifetime of the field, of which 78% is likely to be invested in UK-based businesses.

It is expected to support around 1,600 jobs during the height of the construction phase of the project, and it will continue to support approx. 450 UKbased jobs during the lifetime of the field.

“We know that the world needs to transition to new, cleaner energy systems and our broad energy investments into the UK support this. And while we do this there is going to be a continued need for oil and gas, which currently meets 76 percent of the UK’s energy needs. Our decision to progress the Rosebank development is the result of work and collaboration by our employees, partners, government, regulators, and other stakeholders to ensure that this development can help meet this ongoing need, with the lowest carbon footprint

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

possible,” says Arne Gürtner, senior vice president Upstream at Equinor in the UK. TechnipFMC has been awarded an integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (iEPCI) contract for subsea production systems, umbilicals, risers and flowlines with an estimated value of around USD 500 million for the local content part. TechnipFMC has estimated that more than half of the contract value will be generated from local activities across the UK, with a large portion in Scotland.

Project management and engineering activities will be performed mainly from Aberdeen and tree systems will be manufactured in Dunfermline. Umbilicals will be produced in Newcastle; pipelines will be fabricated in Evanton and the main vessel mobilisation site will also be in the UK. In addition, several other fabrication sites in the UK will contribute to the project.

Odfjell Drilling has been awarded a rig contract, with an estimated value of USD 328 million including integrated services, modifications, and options. The Deepsea Atlantic mobile rig is scheduled to start a seven-well drilling campaign in the second quarter of 2025, and in addition four single well options are included.

Altera has been awarded a bareboat charter and an operations and maintenance contract related to the

Petrojarl Knarr FPSO which is set to be deployed on the Rosebank field on a firm contract for nine years, and options up to a total of 25 years.

Equinor has been a reliable energy partner to the UK for 40 years, providing a stable supply of oil and gas, developing the UK’s offshore wind industry, and pioneering solutions to decarbonise the UK economy.

Today, Equinor supplies 29 percent of the UK’s gas, and 15 percent of the UK’s oil. Equinor is currently working with government in developing plans to invest over £10 billion in the UK by 2030, in total creating over 5,000 high-quality jobs. For every £1 we plan to invest in the UK in oil and gas we aim to spend over £2 in renewables, CO2 capture and storage, and hydrogen.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Succeed in the Oil & Gas Industry with These Five Digital Trends As the UK battles through the growing global energy crisis, oil and gas prices continue to rise. This is not only a huge concern for consumers, but also the gas and oil companies as they’re faced with the pressure of managing crippling shortages as well as new demands. digital-first approach could be fundamental in helping the industry succeed despite the increasing pressure. Digital innovation is crucial for alleviating the oil and gas crisis and working more efficiently.

A

safety while working under pressure within an oil and gas site.

Furthermore, this will help improve productivity as well as the speed of operations.

In this article, we’re going to explore the latest digital trends and innovations that the oil and gas industry can hugely benefit from.

Frost & Sullivan reported that the global gas and oil automation market is growing rapidly for two key reasons:

Robotics and automation Reducing manpower in favour of robotics and automation is one way to promote

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• To recover from COVID-19 • To meet the increasing demands for efficiency, sustainability, and safety

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

By 2025, the market is expected to reach £18.69 billion – which is a staggering increase of 43 per cent since 2020. Additionally, it’s growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent.

Digital equipment testing to enhance safety It should come as no surprise that oil and gas sites can pose a notable safety threat to staff. Although there may be certain safety measures in place, such as efforts to eliminate hazards and supplying workers with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), there’s certainly room to make these safety solutions more robust.

Carrying out effective analysis that adopts fast and powerful solutions is one great way to provide regular safety examinations of systems and prevent accidents.

For example, Enerpac’s Safe T Torque Checker validates and tests the exact torque equipment used on-site, whether that be the pump, wrench, or hose, to give a precise digital read-out.

an entire system are instantly validated, therefore minimising the chance of errors and incidents.

Comprehensive data analytics tools In the gas and oil industry, substantial volumes of data are generated every day to serve as a major part of daily operations.

With this, the performance and safety of As many industries will agree, data is crucial as it supplies powerful insight into both production and performance, which is then fed into optimisation processes and the growth of AI-driven algorithms and performance.

However, this data often fails to hold shape and deliver tangible results. That’s where comprehensive data analytics tools can help structure and analyse data, thus streamlining complex operational processes while minimising costs.

Laser scanning and 3D printing Sourcing complex, customised stand-alone parts can mean extended downtime across oil and gas companies. This continues to be a major issue within the industry as it causes significant losses of revenue.

One way to reduce downtime by months – as well as help optimise operations – is to laser scan every part of the impeller 3D models and

utilise 3D printing metal fabrication.

Tooling isn’t necessary with 3D printing, and it can replicate lightweight structures with complex internal elements.

Substructural simulations Many oil and gas companies often cite difficulties in monitoring the structural integrity of offshore assets and subsurface.

Real-time data and visualisations can help combat these issues, both of which can be provided by 3D modelling and substructural simulations.

As a result, companies can benefit from greater precision, insight into potential problems, and reduced planning time.

The sensors on the ring collect the data, and then the cloud-based solvers analyse this data. This process can help establish safety risks within the reservoir, as well as supply fresh perspectives on structural design.

Joining the digital innovation movement can notably help oil and gas companies weaken the current challenges and keep pushing in a competitive market.

Not only that, but the current digital trends can assist in strengthening the efficiency of operations, offer improved worker safety, and reduce vital costs.

This can happen at the same time as bettering processes and technology.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Transmitting safely from the danger zone In 2019 an accident at a Petrochemical plant in Texas caused the evacuation of 60,000 nearby residents. This event highlights the importance of taking every necessary precaution to prevent accidents in hazardous working environments.

T

he oil and gas industry and industrial processing industries create demanding and harsh industrial environments for electronics because of the volume of volatile chemicals.

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“Electronics like wireless transmitters face various challenges as a result,” Matthew Youngs, sales and marketing manager at sensing and measurement specialist Mantracourt, says. “ For example, if they are not sealed correctly, they can allow chemicals, combustible dust and other matter into the equipment. Not only can this interfere with the performance, but it can also create an environment where a spark could cause an explosion.

“Therefore, they must be specially designed for the application and rigorously tested and approved if they are to be used in these hazardous applications.”

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Regulatory compliance ATEX is a European single market directive that applies to electrical and mechanical equipment and protective systems. If equipment is being used in an area that is identified as potentially explosive, such as petrochemical plants, then it must be tested and certified to ATEX. There is also IECEx, which is an international certification relating to equipment for use in hazardous explosive atmospheres and is more commonly used outside of Europe.

“ATEX zones are defined based on the likelihood and duration of the presence of a potentially explosive atmosphere in a particular area,” Youngs explains. “There are three zones: Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2. Zone 0 is an area in which an explosive atmosphere is present continuously, or for long periods of time, or frequently. Zone 1 is an area in which an explosive atmosphere is likely to occur in normal operation and Zone 2 defines an area in which an explosive atmosphere is not likely to occur in normal operation, but if it does occur, it will only be for a short time.”

ATEX and IECEx approval means that electronic products have been designed and manufactured to prevent the ignition of explosive atmospheres, significantly reducing the risk to the safety of personnel and equipment. It is a legal requirement for electronic products to have this approval when used in these zones.

Key considerations Although ATEX certifications are a

to replace or recharge batteries, improving their safety and reducing the risk of accidents,” Youngs continues.

“Temperature fluctuations can cause changes in the electrical properties of the sensor or the instrument, resulting in variations in the output signal.

“Electronics with low temperature drift help maintain stable and predictable electrical behaviour, reducing the risk of sudden temperature-related failures or malfunctions that could ignite the hazardous atmosphere. They also degrade at a slower rate in environments with variable temperatures, further enhancing their durability.

requirement for equipment that is to be used in these environments, there are other considerations to make when choosing the right wireless telemetry

“Mantracourt’s X24 range including its Telemetry Strain Transmitter Module and its Handheld Telemetry Display is approved for use in explosive atmospheres Zone 1 and Zone 2. These devices operate with strain bridge inputs and gather and transmit data from force, weight, torque and pressure sensors.

system for the job.

“Instruments with long battery life can reduce the need for personnel to access hazardous or remote locations

The Transmitter Module can transmit data to existing T24 receivers in the safe zone. This reduces the risk to personnel by allowing them to monitor their systems from a safe distance. The T24 wireless telemetry system can then link to a PC in the safe zone, where users can safely access SensorSpace, a cloud-based platform with a 24/7 live feed.”

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Optimising production capabilities with additive manufacturing In December 2022, the leading trade body for the UK’s offshore energy industry, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) published a report highlighting an industrywide skills shortage.

Component production is one area where a lack of skills could hold back the UK’s transition to cleaner energy. However, additive manufacturing (AM) can help firms overcome this skills shortage by reducing the need for manual labour and largely automating design and production.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

“For many years, 3D printing was seen as an inhouse prototyping solution that could reduce the risk of producing manufactured parts that were not fit for purpose,” Dave Moore, 3D print consultant at Tri-Tech 3D says. “AM offers speed and allows manufacturers to produce multiple iterations so that they can achieve the perfect part before production.

With the addition of new materials and systems, AM is moving to the production line, and we are seeing a greater use of printed parts for tooling.

“Offshore applications include investment

casting, sand casting and composite layup tools.

We’re also seeing this technology optimise turbo machinery, rotors, stators, greasing jigs and other components. Even 3D printed holding fixtures and checking gauges for welded parts that would traditionally be hand fettled and made, are now additively produced in many offshore manufacturing facilities.”

Material choice

control. Manufacturers also have the freedom to additively manufacture various geometries sand configurations depending on the application. For example, I worked with one business that used additive techniques to produce remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for carrying out underwater inspections, and others have used this technology to print wellheads and subsea trees that control oil and gas flow.”

The availability of increasingly sophisticated metals, ceramics and thermoplastics means oil and gas firms can now additively manufacture durable, high-performance end-use parts on demand.

For example, manufacturers can use new highperformance carbon-filled materials to produce metal forming and bending tools, rather than having to wait for tools to be machined.

The future is additive

“Material options for tooling and other offshore components also include ULTEM 1010 resin, which has a good strength-to-weight ratio, and is flame, smoke & toxicity (FST) certified, for safe use in confined spaces,” Moore continues. “Meanwhile, ANTERO 840CN03 is a fused deposition modelling (FDM) PEKK-based electrostatic dissipative (ESD) thermoplastic. Both are high strength, heat resistant and offer exceptional outgassing capabilities. Meanwhile, more systems, such as the Stratasys F900 industrial FDM printer, can accommodate a vast range of thermoplastics, and require less operator input than traditional CNC machines. Therefore, manufacturers can create a wide range of reliable, heat-stable and corrosionresistant parts from one system without straining inhouse skills.”

“While the industry is now using 3D printing for factory floor production, manufacturers are still heavily reliant on CNC,” Moore concludes. “Additive scores where complexity is needed — it gives manufacturers freedom of geometry and the ability to print bespoke high-value parts costeffectively and with little waste. From a skills point of view, it also eliminates the need for assembly and many systems are automated so they can run without someone standing next to them on the factory floor.”

For companies operating in the oil and gas equipment-manufacturing industry, CNC machining allowed manufacturers to produce heat exchangers and other components with precision and speed. However, highly skilled employees are needed to assemble the parts, which is challenging during an industry-wide shortage.

While the OEUK report highlights some glaring skills shortages in the oil and gas market, encouraging the transition to AM could help production firms streamline manufacturing while reducing pressure on already stretched inhouse skills.

More than prototyping 3D printing is removing many barriers of traditional manufacturing — it requires fewer raw materials, it reduces waste and shortens supply chains and, of course, deskills production. So, why not use it for more than prototyping?

“Yes, 3D printing is not new as a technique, but more firms in this sector are now realising its benefits for end part production,” Moore adds.

“Traditional machining skills are in short supply and manufacturing firms across all sectors are under pressure to improve efficiency and output while keeping production costs under

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Keeping an eagle eye on oil & gas assets Keeping track of assets and equipment spread over multiple worksites and often remote locations is a constant challenge. For an oil and gas (O&G) company, centralising information and data on fixed and mobile assets is invaluable. Two complementary technologies, namely Geographical Positioning Software (GPS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software, are the industry’s tools of choice. GPS is designed to identify, manage, and allocate mobile assets throughout the value and logistic chain. Conversely, GIS is designed for land assets and can store, retrieve, manage, display, and analyse geographic and spatial data.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

GPS also provides real-time updates on the location of specific vehicles or vessels worldwide. In addition, organisations can fit heavy equipment with GPS tracking devices to monitor temperature and fuel level changes. This allows managers to see if workers use the equipment safely and efficiently.

Geo-fencing and notifications use GPS to create spatial virtual fences, which can be any shape or size, to prevent entry by company vehicles. A case in point is Geo-fencing to prevent a high-sided vehicle from driving under a low bridge. Likewise, this GPS software can record and track personnel entering and leaving a Geo-fenced zone.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Global Positioning System (GPS) GPS tracking technology is ideal for monitoring the daily whereabouts of expensive heavy equipment. Workers can also use its tracking movement between sites. For instance, workers using GPS trackers monitor assets across Alaska’s harsh and remote North Slope. Several commercial GPS devices are ideally suited to provide asset management solutions for the oil industry. For example, the O&G GPS tracking system from Trackimo provides companies with tools to track the location of crews, heavy equipment, and other valuable assets.

GIS helps companies manage their land assets by providing easyto-use digital maps and spatial analysis. Throughout the extraction process, management and crew can use this technology in the field. GIS lets decision-makers see the topography, geology, and potential drilling constraints on a site in 3D. Moreover, with GIS mapping, managers can superimpose high-resolution imagery onto existing site maps to help determine project selections and surveys. Once managers select the site, they can visualise the oil well planning process in 3D as well. GIS also enables users to comprehend large volumes of geographic data visually. This practice complies with local laws and regulations at a particular location. GIS software has been especially valuable in shale plays to determine well-pad patterns. Spatial analytics help determine the most effective drilling configuration.

GIS software can provide particulars of a site. This includes the landowner’s name, planning restrictions, or lease expiration dates regarding land management data. In evaluating a possible bid at auction, GIS software can incorporate tailored information to feed into whether or not to bid for an oil bloc license. It is thought that oil majors employed GIS software to guide their response to Brazil’s November 2019 offshore oil and gas license auction.

Using a GPS tracking solution also helps energy companies maintain staff safety. Many tracking options also feature panic buttons that workers can activate in emergencies, as well as Geo-fencing that creates an alert when the wearer leaves a predetermined geographic area.

Benefits of Using GPS in Tracking Equipment Real-time tracking enables managers to locate an asset, its status, and a historical record of its movement. Data obtained from these practices can help improve efficiency. Pipelines are the lifeblood of the O&G industry, and just like arteries and veins, they need to be clear to run smoothly. Pipeline Inspection Gauges (PIGs) are devices that run inside pipelines.

These tools take readings and pictures to detect anomalies or signs of corrosion, leading to leaks or bursts. Technicians can align PIG readings with an exact location by tracking devices along pipelines and GPS-synch time and location technology. This information helps them improve the accuracy of PIG readings and reduce the time and costs associated with doing PIG runs.

Energy companies also use aerial drones equipped with GIS software to obtain high-quality images of their sites in the field.

These images track subsidence, a significant risk in high-intensity drilling areas like Texas. As for planning pipeline routes, GIS helps owners juggle with stakeholders, including landowners, planning authorities, state regulators, and construction firms. Similarly, GIS tools are invaluable in helping companies avoid sinkholes, earthquake-prone areas, or even national parks.

Finally, GIS can also help employees on the ground. These benefits include repairing a drill or compressor by providing data to answer a particular need or producing digital maps. The digital maps delivered by web-based GIS applications require little or no staff training before use. They display all relevant data in a single interface. Workers can monitor this information on a rugged tablet or computer with 3D goggles.

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SUSTAINABILITY

Journey to a more sustainable future How can digitalisation and the digital twin help the oil and gas industry?

D

espite attention largely turning to green and sustainable forms of energy to help benefit the planet, BP’s Energy Outlook 2020 states that oil and gas will continue to remain the primary source until 2035. However, the sector now faces a number of significant challenges, from meeting carbon goals associated with the production of energy at lower costs to making drastic reductions in carbon emissions in the wake of net zero targets. Alongside this, oil and gas exploration targets are now becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.

“It’s a set of challenges that are creating growing concerns among oil and gas companies in terms of their future relevance,” Stuart Querns, Director for Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Delaware says. “This is why it is becoming critical to explore methods that help boost production, save costs, and reduce carbon emissions during a period of unprecedented scrutiny to be more sustainable.”

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Sustainability in the sector In the face of increasing focus on renewables, the oil and gas industry rebounded strongly throughout the course of 2021, with oil prices also reaching their highest levels in six years. In its findings, Deloitte also discovered that many oil and gas companies are focussing on reinventing their operations by analysing financial health, practicing capital discipline, transforming their business models, and making clear commitments to battling climate change.

“This is opening up two areas of focus where a critical balance needs to be struck,” Querns continues. “As is the case of most businesses, ensuring profitability is still king for many of these companies in the sector and will remain so. In the third quarter of 2021 alone, 24 top oil and gas companies made more than $74bn in net income. From January to September of last year, the combined profits of Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP was $174bn alone.

“Despite strong figures, these numbers aren’t detracting from the growing drive among oil and gas businesses to become more sustainable. Much of the cause of this is both from investors prioritising firms with strong ESG credentials and the trend for customers to seek

SUSTAINABILITY

out sustainability-led businesses. So what is the key to ensuring both of these goals can be met? Part of the answer is technology.”

How digital drives benefits Today, digital technologies are being increasingly used to deliver far-reaching benefits for oil and gas companies across an extensive range of operational and maintenance areas.

They can for example help to reduce breakdowns, reduce operational costs, and minimise lost production time by providing the right information in the form of defined data analytics that delivers the information on recurring equipment faults, system failures and associated maintenance costs.

Additionally, digital tools are able to provide stock availability and usage detail that give maintenance crews the ability to analyse data and attain a more accurate visibility of stock across all assets in the organisation. Integrating repairs processes across the supply chain and work management maintenance teams can then help accurate repair costs to be allocated and also enable rental terms and costs to be more easily traceable.

Expanding the value with digital twins In addition to enhanced data analytics, the use of digital twin technology is one of the most effective ways that oil and gas companies can drive efficiencies and deliver enhanced sustainability today. This technology effectively empowers these organisations to model new, existing and alternative operational scenarios in a customisable and fully virtual environment to quickly identify improvements and resource usage. They can then apply these changes in the real world.

“By operating a digital twin, organisations can run hundreds or even thousands of trials to achieve a more thorough exploration of capabilities and options, without ever incurring risk

as equipment doesn’t need to be used,” Querns continues. “Such trials can also be operated remotely in a safe area without any tangible impact on environmental conditions. Digital modelling also allows the improvement process to become more predictable, helping to reduce cost and assist in optimising the overall performance.

“It’s with the adoption of digital twin technology that oil and gas companies can play their part in the global drive towards reduced carbon emissions. Testing in the digital environment can identify areas where less energy and water can be used. It’s via these methods that such companies can drive the ideal blend between operational efficiency and sustainability.”

Plotting the way forward While profitability is of course crucial for oil and gas companies to maintain operations and expand growth in a competitive market, it’s only one key factor that will shape their long-term global responsibility and ultimately define their success. Without doubt, the sector remains beset with challenges, from controlling increasing costs in a volatile global environment, to driving digital transformation in the era of Industry 4.0 and beyond plus boosting sustainability efforts as more countries set targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. To help balance these strategies moving forward, the combination of actionable data and the right digital tools can combine to help them meet operational and environmental efficiency goals in the years ahead.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Simone Kranendonk: “At the ETCA campus, we have everything we need to make a real impact on the energy transition” Liaison manager Simone Kranendonk took on the exciting challenge of getting innovative companies to work together in one campus. ‘With this unique initiative in the industry, we explore new avenues to make an impact in the energy transition. If we want to accelerate, we need to prioritize the common goal and drive viable opportunities together’.

I

t is only just over a year since the former Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam transformed into the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam (ETCA). For decades, Shell professionals have worked here on new technology development and energy solutions, and today is no different, only with an updated approach.

Shell created the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam with the belief that no company can make the transition to cleaner energy alone, the reason why collaboration is key.

At the official opening event in June 2022, ETCA kicked off the campus concept with the impressive announcement of 14 innovative companies stepping in as so-called ‘ETCA members’: all eager to find synergies in an open innovation

Picture of the ETCA Building + Our mission: Solving the world’s biggest energy challenges through collaboration, technology and innovation in one single campus.

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campus. Since then, the number of ETCA members has only grown.

With her background in political science, Kranendonk knows what it takes to break through traditional barriers and get to decision making. In her role, she works together with the different companies, Shell R&D groups, and local partners. As an experienced

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

facilitator in diverse environments, she brings challenges to the table effectively - leading to new opportunities for all parties involved. Simone puts everything aside to confidently set up a successful campus community platform whose key factors for success, she believes, are already in place.

“Our campus, located at the Northern banks of the Amsterdam IJ River, offers a state-of-the-art sustainable 90,000m2 building,” Kranendonk says.

“A little less than 25,000m2 is with fully equipped lab facilities with the right permits. The remainder a modern conference center, other common areas and office floors designed to facilitate inspiring cocreation sessions. I believe this, together with the unique combination of companies, with their bright minds and capabilities, can really accelerate the energy transition. This is the place where you can test game-changing ideas and scale solutions from lab to market.”

Now, after one year, the campus has no less than 24 logos on its membership wall, the community is clustered around six core technological themes, and the seventh, digitalization, is the strong enabler in all these themes.

The community platform Kranendonk is building in ETCA gives all members opportunities to deep-dive and find synergies in their areas of work. “In the sessions, we identify gaps and opportunities in technology development, and we explore where the ETCA ecosystem can play a role in the solution.”

Kranendonk says she really enjoys working along with Shell colleagues Rishabh and Alexander and with the enthusiastic group of digital innovators in the ETCA ecosystem, who are also present at the 2023 Future Digital Twin event.

Do you want to know more about our ETCA digital cluster capabilities or Digital Twin Solutions? Please reach out to Rishabh Chopra (ETCA Innovation & Partnerships Lead) and Alexander Gorlov (Digital Twin Innovation Lead) info@ energytransitioncampus.com

“The campus environment feels very dynamic with this unique mix of start-ups, scale-ups and leading companies,” Kranendonk adds. “By bringing all these professionals together under one roof, we can already see that we have the essential knowledge needed to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy. The next step is to leverage our capabilities to bridge the gap not only for our own companies, but also for each other. We have everything in-house to make a real impact on the energy transition together.”

facilitate more streamlined scope 1-3 emissions management,” Kranendonk explains. “This integration of two key capabilities has been developed here in recent months, because of lowkey connects on a shared office wing.

The common goal of accelerating the energy transition, feels very powerful in this ecosystem.

It makes me proud to be able to contribute to new collaborative projects that would probably not have happened otherwise.”

For the near future, Kranendonk will keep driving collaborations at the same pace as she did the past year. “It is good to see that the teams’ efforts pay off and I am proud of the used cases with impact we can present to you today as a group,” Kranendonk concludes.

Together with the members, ETCA laid a foundation for success. For the coming years, the ecosystem aims to make a tangible impact on the local environment and will demonstrate its capabilities as one campus to the Energy Transition.

Do you have a challenge to solve, and do you want to become part of this unique initiative in the industry? Or interested in joining? Reach out to us via e-mail or follow us on LinkedIn, where we promise to keep you posted.

Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam info@energytransitioncampus.com

Kranendonk indicates that the enthusiasm and drive to explore together in the digitalization cluster translates into an opportunity funnel with projects in energy management systems, dynamic grid connections, robotics, and hydrogen pay-peruse solutions.

The office wing that accommodates ETCA’s ten digital members has an open collaboration space used for cluster meetings, brainstorms, and external business meetings. “It’s great to see how this already resulted in one of the best examples with impact: by bringing together Kongsberg Digital and Streamba under one roof, they started a close collaboration connecting their asset and supply chain digital twin solutions to

Simone Kranendonk, Liaison manager Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam 29

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Enhancing Greece’s strategic and commercial position through natural gas storage capacity development

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n recent years, Greece has taken proactive steps towards a more influential role in global energy developments. Here, Dr Valentina Dedi, Lead Economist at KBR Consulting International, and Panagiotis Mavroeidis-Kamperis, Member of the Executive Board, Greek Energy Forum, delve into Greece’s efforts to assert itself in energy advancements, particularly considering its historic commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century. This commitment has paved the way for various energy policies and strategies, aiming not only at positioning Greece as an emerging player in climate discussions, but also helping it build competitive markets, including that of natural gas.

Realising national energy ambitions In May 2022, by adopting the National Climate Law, Greece made a historic commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 – a pivotal move in the fight against climate change. To achieve this, the country has introduced several policies and strategies, which aim not only to solidify Greece’s standing in climate discussion, but also create competitive energy markets, including that of natural gas.

One of the key policies was the binding commitment to cease coal-fired power generation by 2028, elevating the role of natural gas in Greece’s energy portfolio.

However, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the persistent rise in natural gas prices, the question of supply security has become paramount. The Greek government is now re-evaluating not only the role of natural gas in securing the domestic market, but also its potential to position Greece as a key European hub.

If these ambitions are to be realised, Greece will need to dramatically increase its gas storage capabilities. Currently, the domestic gas market faces a significant lack of dedicated storage facilities at a time when the country is entirely dependent on imports from third-party nations. Adequate storage is pivotal in safeguarding against supply disruptions from geopolitical tensions or market fluctuations. It also provides a stable

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foundation for domestic consumption and regional energy distribution.

The structural failure of the current gas system Greece is one of the few European countries that does not have dedicated natural gas storage facilities. The LNG storage in Revythoussa – with a capacity of 1.54 TWh/year – covers only 2.7%

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

of the total domestic consumption (2022).

While additional LNG storage facilities are expected, including the Alexandroupoli FSRU, as well as the potential Dioryga Gas FSRU station, these are projected to cover only 4% of total demand (2.6 TWh/year).

According to the European gas storage regulation, Greece needs to cover 15% of its annual consumption to secure its natural gas reserves, which implies that the country must look for storage sites in other member states.

The structural failure of the national gas system came back to the fore last year when Europe was faced with the nightmare of gas shortages due to the war in Ukraine.

While security of supply in other European countries was helped by the significant amount of natural gas storage capacity, Greece had to increase its lignite stocks as a safety reserve and tap into Italy’s storage areas to meet winter gas demands.

According to DESFA, the storage of natural gas in facilities in Italy and the leasing of an LNG ship for a year for use as storage incurred a total cost of 300 million euros.

In contrast, estimates suggest that the expense of converting the nearly depleted natural gas field south of Kavala into an underground natural gas storage facility ranges from 400-450 million euros.

conditions, Greece will find itself in the uncomfortable reality of following prices, unable to compete with this huge market. The distant Fukushima incident still evokes memories of panic in the market, just as it did with the war in Ukraine.

• Increased demand due to winter conditions, either at normal levels or with lower temperatures; not unlikely scenario in Europe and thus in Greece, considering the historical data at our disposal.

Building a strategically resilient future Natural gas is expected to be a major energy source, maintaining an important role in electricity generation as a base load source and in industrial sectors. Therefore, if Greece wants to shield its economy and mitigate the risks of a possible energy crisis, as well as play a more strategic role in the regional natural gas market, it needs to build sufficient storage capacity, as well as regulate the relevant framework for mandatory reserves between the state and the participants in the natural gas market.

Simultaneously, it is important to highlight the commercial value of storage facilities for both domestic and regional players, where natural gas can be stored based on price dynamics and seasonal demand fluctuations.

Moreover, there exists the opportunity to harness cross-border trade, particularly towards Central Europe and Italy.

Nonetheless, the possibility of another gas crisis looms. Outlined below are three scenarios where the Greek natural gas market, the local economy and, consequently, society, could once again find themselves in an emergency situation, without the cushion of strategic reserves and exposed to the global LNG market: • If natural gas flows from either Azerbaijan or Turkey are stopped, thus minimising the flow of natural gas at the entry point of New Mesembria.

• If the Asian market is in a state of gas shortage due to fundamental

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

It is time we focused on digital transformation – not just technology Rob Kennedy, Global Director – Digital Twin Solutions, Wood

D

igitalisation has the power to transform industry and deliver the energy and materials that the world needs efficiently, effectively, and environmentally. Digital twins have a critical role to play, integrating data and systems to form the asset’s digital backbone – the foundation that enables transformation across multiple departments and disciplines, through the full asset lifecycle.

In the energy and materials sectors, digital twins are at an inflection point. Over the last five years we’ve proven the technology at increasing scale and created significant expectations around its potential. However, through our work with clients globally, we continue to see repeated failures to unlock this potential, with many asset owners struggling to deliver a return on investment.

This isn’t due to technology failings, but because

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businesses are failing to transform considering the new technology.

support they need to be successful.

Evolving processes

We clearly need to address more than just

Trying to implement a new solution around an

the technology to be successful. Decades of

existing process can be challenging, and it’s

experience in integrating digital solutions on our

important to evolve processes alongside new

clients’ assets has taught us that any successful

solutions. Updating processes to prescribe

digital implementation needs to address the

new ways of working can be a highly effective

people, process, and data aspects, as well as the

way of embedding the transformation. It’s also

technology.

important to implement new processes and procedures to maintain and sustain the digital

Investing in people If users do not adopt the solution, it simply won’t

twin and the underlying data.

generate a return for the business. It’s essential

Improving data quality

to develop a deep understanding of users and

Data challenges can manifest differently between

their jobs so that the solution and associated

projects and operations, however a common

processes make their jobs easier. Users must also

challenge is the absence of appropriate data

be empowered through training and given the

standards that serve the full asset lifecycle. These

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

standards are a critical pre-requisite to digitising brownfield facilities and commencing design. Effective strategies should specifically consider data aspects, with data gathering, management and improvement initiatives sequenced on the roadmap alongside technology implementation and organisational change.

work to be performed from shore To successfully implement digital twins, asset owners must start with a strategy that considers the people, business processes and value streams that will be impacted. The implementation of

Selecting the right technology Digital twins serve a range of disciplines and it’s often not possible for a

such strategies should encompass the users as

single solution to encompass the breadth of functionality required. As a

Only then will true lasting value realisation and

result, a digital twin will either need to comprise multiple off-the-shelf

return on investment be achieved.

well as the technology and required information.

solutions integrated together, or require bespoke development. In selecting technology, it’s important to align with the asset owner’s corporate strategy

At Wood, digital twin is just one of the core

and partnerships, to maximise the scalability and sustainability of solutions.

digital solutions to drive performance through

By utilising this approach to digital twin, Wood has been able to:

data-driven insights, extend the life of assets,

• Mitigate over $1bn worth of design risk on a Middle East mega-project

and accelerate the energy transition. Discover

• Generate a 6x Return on Investment in 16 months for a major oil & gas

how we’re decoding digital and addressing client

operator • Remove over 1,200 offshore days per annum in the North Sea by enabling

challenges to transform industry: woodplc.com/ solutions/digitalisation.

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FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

The role of generative AI in the oil and gas sector The speed of acceleration required to handle a growingly complex energy system hinges on the industry’s ability to continuously adapt, evolve, and integrate new ways of working – with digital tools taking center stage.

T

he number of new energy assets to be managed is increasing, with overall renewable energy capacity additions globally growing by nearly 13 percent in 2022.

The energy system is also more distributed and decentralized due to limited land availability and regulatory obstacles like distance rules, biodiversity concerns, and costs. Even when land is accessible, strategic placement of developments becomes challenging. Renewable energy sources must be linked to aging infrastructure, the demand for CCS is growing (130 commercial-scale CO2 capture projects were announced in 2021), and volatility in the global energy markets adds complexity to an industry that is moving toward electrification.

How might generative AI help address these challenges?

“A digital twin elevated with Generative AI can bring that last mile of contextualisation, giving users a more flexible and intuitive way of interacting with vast amounts of data.” – Haavard Oestensen, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer at Kongsberg Digital

volume of data but rather its effective utilisation.

Unlocking the potential of this data is challenging.

In this context, a powerful solution emerges: the digital twin.

Building a solid data foundation

AI uses content that already exists to analyze and identify patterns, and then prescribe actions.

Generative AI can create completely new content with limited information – like a single sentence, or just one word. Generative AI also requires foundation models trained on enormous data sets.

But much like a digital twin, once the foundation is in place, the opportunities to build out applications are endless.

To grasp the potential of generative AI in the energy sector, consider the foundational role of digital tools and data. There are innumerable data points across the value chain. Imagine the wealth of information involved in a major plant turnaround, including engineering specs, plant conditions, schedules, crew availability, and more.

While operators possess vast and valuable data, it’s often distributed across disconnected systems, ontologies, and models. The issue isn’t the

What’s the difference between AI and generative AI?

Data, and technology that makes data useful, lies at the core of the energy transition. The right technology unlocks the full range of asset performance data, in a way that makes sense to users and stakeholders. It provides an intuitive and actionable way for people to access and use information. It forms the foundation for business owners and operators to pivot from driving incremental production optimizations to incorporating AI that sees increased ROI, improved energy efficiency, and beyond.

A fully digital context By having data available and mapping business needs to workflows and use cases where the digital twin can bring value that scales, businesses can witness the true strength of a digital context. With a solid data foundation presented in a digital twin where users can plan, execute, and close out entire

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workflows from start to finish, a fully digital context opens new possibilities for remote surveillance, support, and control.

“This fully digital context is the perfect playground not only for operational decisionmaking and asset management, but also for robotics and drones, sensors, virtual reality, generative AI – the options are endless,” Haavard Oestensen, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer at Kongsberg Digital, says.

Generative AI in action When a combination of data standards, fuzzy rule matching, and a powerful data graph are present, a digital twin is well-appointed to deal with the myriad of complications like different naming conventions, indirect references, and misspellings that arise when it comes to data ingestion and contextualization. However, there are always outliers, like data that might be missing or misplaced.

Based on experience and knowledge of a particular facility, a human operator may be able to find the connection and fix the outlier, but programming a rule to catch these is more challenging. That’s exactly where generative AI comes in. By using natural language processing on humanreadable text – for example, found in the description of a tag – and matching this to examples found by queries, your digital twin can begin to suggest automatic proposals for fixing this data. Over time, this can help repair the dataset for the operator in a semi-automatic fashion. And when metadata is insufficient or unstructured data is too complex, Generative AI and natural language algorithms can extract this information in mere seconds.

“Unstructured data holds a wealth of valuable information, just waiting to be discovered. With the latest advancements in natural language understanding and Generative AI, we can harness this potential to improve data contextualisation and drive innovation that accelerates the energy transition,” Eivind Roson Eide, Senior Director Kognitwin Product Development at Kongsberg Digital, says.

The growing potential of generative AI Generative AI and natural language will not only benefit data contextualisation but also make great strides in improving the human-technology experience. Possible use cases include: Giving users data they might not even know to ask for.

Feeding through alerts from other systems and tools unprompted and based on a trigger that a human might have missed.

Building complex multi-step queries and configuring custom dashboards for particular use cases.

Understanding spoken language and converting that to direct control of a user interface.

Summarizing large amounts of information from different sources to make important information more readily available to an operator.

The tech-driven energy transition holds the powerful potential to lower repair costs and minimize emissions, increase production, improve drilling efficiency, and limit equipment downtime – all the things that operators worldwide strive to achieve as pressure mounts for near-net-zero operations and working environments that are smarter and safer than ever before.

Use cases for energy and maritime are already being tested. Generative AI has joined the industrial transformation journey and will play an increasingly vital role in ensuring the seamless availability of business data for informed decision-making and efficient work execution. It is well poised to have a substantial material impact on existing and new ways of working, ushering in new dimensions of efficiency, reliability, and sustainability in industrial processes.

The Industrial Work Surface is an end-to-end dynamic digital twin ecosystem where end users are at the center of intelligent assets, perfectly positioned to access the information they need. Get in touch to see what our AIinfused Industrial Work Surface can do for you and your business, today and in the future.

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Advanced Analytics Solutions Drive O&G Efficiency and Sustainability As time-series process data compounds over time, spread throughout multiple systems and databases, advanced analytics solutions help teams make sense of it all with centralization, contextualization, analysis, and insights.

By Morgan Bowling, Seeq Corporation

O

ver the decades, there has been a wide variety of process control and software systems deployed throughout refineries and petrochemical plants to monitor, gather, and process data in real time. These various systems include distributed control, supervisory control and data acquisition, laboratory information management, and others.

As information has increased, there is a growing volume of time-series data that can be used to identify operational optimization opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce upsets, aligning with critical corporate initiatives. Yet, many organizations face challenges accessing and connecting data from so many systems, analyzing it efficiently, and operationalizing insights in an effective manner.

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Addressing these and other issues, modern advanced analytics solutions are enabling operating organizations throughout the energy and chemicals industries to automate data collection and cleansing. This enables companies to decrease time to value, by shifting operations and maintenance from reactive to proactive and predictive, and enabling teams to share insights more broadly with multidisciplinary teams.

Spreadsheet limitations Although analytics applications have come a long way over the years, a shocking number of engineering experts are still stuck using spreadsheets for data aggregation and analysis, requiring time-consuming manual data preparation and cleansing from multiple sources. Spreadsheets present myriad limitations, including subpar computational capability, lack of live data connectivity, prohibitively difficult shareability, and clumsy visualization and reporting functionalities.

Void of live connections to both historical and live data sources, engineering experts are forced to manually query individual databases, extract the data needed for analysis, then aggregate and align mismatched timestamps in a spreadsheet. Whenever a new time period of interest is identified, the process must be repeated.

With so many hoops to jump through, it is easy to understand why nearly 80% of engineers, scientists, and analysts surveyed in a 2016 CrowdFlower study reported spending more time collecting and wrangling data into formats suitable for analysis than any other task (Figure 1).

FUTURE DIGITAL TWIN

Figure 2: Advanced analytics solutions enable users to identify time periods of interest in their data and superimpose information from multiple assets to identify patterns and anomalies.

In the point-and-click environment, SMEs can quickly configure machine learning capable models without assistance from IT teams, regardless of their coding capabilities. Once unique conditions are defined for a single asset, the solution empowers teams to seamlessly scale a single configuration across a fleet of similar devices for nearreal time monitoring.

In addition to the obstacles they present, spreadsheet-based analyses leave little time for gleaning meaningful insights, preventing organizations from making sense of data to garner insights necessary to increase operational efficiency and profitability.

can leverage purpose-built, point-and-click tools for descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics to improve performance based on reliable insights. Advanced analytics solutions incorporate visualization into the analysis workflow, empowering SMEs to see the impact of their analyses in near-real time, identify errors, share insights with team members, and iterate more quickly than before.

Save valuable time with automated data conditioning and reporting Using advanced analytics solutions, organizations can shift away from spreadsheets—automating data collection, conditioning, and subsequent reporting— and free up large periods of experts’ time that can be reallocated to optimize operations and improve production efficiency.

These solutions empower SMEs to identify unique time periods of interest in their data, characterized by qualities known as conditions, to determine when equipment is exhibiting abnormal operational behavior. These time periods are typically defined by superimposing multiple operational parameters and identifying areas with rapid process value changes, specific signals, or trends that exceed static operating limits (Figure 2).

Automating greenhouse gas reporting When Chevron needed to automate its regulatory compliance reporting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their refineries, the company turned to advanced analytics to automate this workflow. Using Seeq, Chevron populated data from refinery historians and applied calculations and contextualization for quarterly regulatory emissions reporting.

Additionally, extensibility features within Seeq facilitated development of a custom solution for extracting final

Many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies are deploying advanced analytics solutions, like Seeq, to provide these automated and self-service analytics capabilities to their process engineers, operations personnel, and data scientists.

These solutions immediately alleviate the challenges of live data connectivity because the software automatically connects to and aggregates data from many disparate sources. Information integrity is kept intact because the analytics solution does not modify any data stored in the system of record.

With data access and preparation barriers removed, SMEs (subject matter experts)

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emissions data, and format it for direct ingestion into their corporate greenhouse gas reporting software (Figure 3).

tasks and over 1,500 notifications each month. What was being manually identified in the past is now automatically flagged, increasing production capacity by proactively identifying issues to increase uptime.

Embracing advanced analytics applications for digital maturation In today’s information landscape, leveraging advanced analytics solutions is critical for operators to maintain efficiency and competitive advantage. These solutions provide personnel with the tools they need to contextualize, analyze, and make the right decisions.

Figure 3: Advanced analytics solutions, like Seeq, can monitor and automatically report on key emissions metrics across an entire fleet of refineries.

Chevron reduced analysis time from two or three days to only a few hours, enabled by automatic calculations and realtime updates incorporating the latest data. Most notably, access to this near-real time data empowered the team to shift to a proactive approach to emissions identification and mitigation. With up-to-date and readily available emissions performance information, emissions events can now be prevented, rather than detected after occurrence.

Automating exception-based surveillance Marathon Oil teams are tasked with monitoring nearly 4,000 wells throughout its enterprise. Recently, the company eased this significant task by implementing and scaling Seeq, automating workflows to create alerts, which reduced the time required for this task from months to hours. These intelligent alerts drive and prioritize maintenance tasks and work orders for personnel in the field, empowering operational teams to reduce unplanned outages, which increases production and profitability.

Marathon Oil has over 50 employees using the solution with 170 Workbenches in Seeq, and the software generates 1,500

Advanced analytics solutions designed to scale high-value use cases across assets can increase data maturity. Digital transformation is an organizationwide initiative, and placing analytics solutions in the hands of all personnel can significantly increase adoption, leading to increased production, profitability, and sustainability.

All figures courtesy of Seeq About the author Morgan Bowling is Director of Industry at Seeq. She has a process engineering background with a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toledo. Morgan has nearly a decade of experience working at both independent and integrated major oil and gas companies to solve high-value business problems leveraging time-series data. In her current role, she enjoys monitoring the rapidly changing trends surrounding digital transformation in the oil & gas industry and translating them into product requirements for Seeq.

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Incremental digital transformations that reduce time to value The iPhone 15 has just launched to similar fanfare as its predecessors - and the usual queues outside Apple Stores. There are some improvements, some new features but mostly it’s still a phone with access to the internet.

N

o transformation, no disruption. Yet incremental improvements still generate excitement because they improve our lives in some way.

Not unlike the changes we see in digital oil and gas.

Thoughtfully-designed digital solutions that help engineers do more: make better decisions, work more productively, get ahead of risks and issues.

Real digital transformation is less about the hype associated with new technologies, which are merely the inputs to change, and far more about the outcomes, the impact of change - what people can do today to improve their lives.

At Eigen, we are experts in digitalisation and industrial systems, with more than sixteen years building solutions that deliver value for offshore oil and gas operators.

Since our early beginnings, supporting bp’s operations in the Caspian Sea in the design, implementation and support (to this day!) of networks and digital systems, Eigen continues to innovate.

With today’s Cloud and Knowledge Graph digital twin technology, we are focused on helping operators maximise value from their data and preventing those data from becoming an unmanageable monster.

knowledge graph technology to save a senior engineer a week every month.

A knowledge graph, unlike a data lake, links to source data, bringing with it context and meaning. No data is moved or copied requiring minimal disruption to existing databases or systems and a faster time to value.

For the operator, each time the plant was depressurised, owing to a trip, a report was required to verify safe blowdown in all 61 blowdown segments. An engineer had to manually pull data generated by 150 sensors, run analyses and calculations in Excel, build charts and prepare reports to be emailed to management confirming plant safety. The operator recorded that the entire activity took six days of a senior engineer’s time.

By building a knowledge graph using open source Neo4j with Eigen’s Python library of standard code, our team was able to automate the data collection and integration, with calculations and visualisations to enable the engineer to spend just one day focused on the high value analyses and assurance before sending a link to a dashboard-based report to management highlighting areas for intervention. “[The Blowdown Analysis Tool] gives us a much better understanding of the performance and how it develops over time. And it has already proven useful in troubleshooting

Building a knowledge graph We built an Automated Blowdown Verification solution for one Norwegian operator, which used

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A proven path to maximizing trust, confidence and returns on your digital investments Digital transformation is key to safeguarding energy supply while decarbonizing and electrifying our society. Without digital transformation, it will be significantly harder for organizations to join the energy transition in a meaningful and efficient way.

D

igitalization not only helps improve efficiency and sustainability, but also opens new opportunities in the energy market. While significant investments have been made in digitalizing the energy sector, digital twins represent an opportunity for organizations to make significant returns and outpace their competition. Currently, most organizations use digital twins as complementary tools for less critical decisions and are therefore not maximizing their value.

complementary sources of information.

• It is very hard to get value from advanced solutions without a solid foundation.

• Artificial intelligence has significant potential but is currently not yet widely used.

• There is a growing awareness of the importance of data quality.

• Digital twins need to be integrated in work processes to be sustainable.

• A common digital architecture is emerging.

• There are significant investments in new information models addressing the entire life cycle.

• Most organizations show an increased awareness of cyber security threats.

We also believe that the introduction of the EU AI Act, with its broad definition of artificial intelligence, combined with initiatives from national authorities, will result in increased regulatory complexity.

How can we move towards a reality where digital twins are trusted as the main source of information for critical decisions, and ultimately used in an automated way?

This reality requires organizations to build trust in their digital assets.

DNV works with global energy companies, leading platform providers and agile technology vendors to increase the quality and robustness of both transformation processes and digital twin solutions.

Throughout the work we have undertaken we have observed that: • Digital twins are mainly used as

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Figure 1: This graphic illustrates the structure of a digital twin by its capabilities and areas of application.

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How can organizations navigate these complexities while also getting more value from their digital investments?

Our experience shows that more advanced use of digital twins – with broad coverage and built on top of a strong foundation, will results in more efficient and less labour-intensive processes. This approach releases staff to focus on more critical operational improvements, which ultimately maximizes output.

Another way to get more value from a digital twin is to break it down into capabilities and areas of application and use that to define how to build trust.

• Capabilities vary from descriptive models

Figure 2: Proven best practices for building trust and consistency into digital solutions

– which typically could be dashboards and 3D-models, via predictive models where the solution predicts future states like remaining life, time to next repair etc., – to full automation where the digital twin triggers an action without human intervention.

• Areas of application defines how broadly the solution is used – from digital twins on equipment level, via complete installations or facilities, to solutions covering an entire

These are what we call recommended practices.

By following a proven and well-documented methodology, trust can be built in an efficient manner with a consistent risk level, rather than using case-by-case or ad-hoc approaches. DNV’s recommended practices for assurance of digital solutions cover the entire value chain, from where data is generated, to how it is analysed and used for decisions.

enterprise.

Building trust within your organization With increasing complexity comes a requirement to build trust. If you cannot trust your digital asset, you cannot use it in the real world. Without trust at all levels, a company’s digital transformation may encounter internal roadblocks and not realize its full potential. Relationships with important stakeholders may be challenged or even broken down if you don´t succeed in building trust.

Trustworthy digital twins can significantly increase efficiency and safety in the project execution phase and the operational phase. A systematic way of addressing and assessing quality will increase trustworthiness of digital twins. By following a proven methodology addressing the entire value chain, trust can be built in a consistent and efficient way thereby contributing to increased return on digital twin investments.

With thoughtful planning, the right strategy and a robust assurance process, you can save significant time and money. Before embarking on a digital twin journey, we recommend asking the following five key questions to maximise your returns: • Am I confident in specifying the scope of the digital twin’s functionality?

• Will my digital twin work correctly and evolve

alongside my physical asset over time?

• Is my digital infrastructure right and safe for digital twin planning and operation?

• Is my organization ready for digital twins and able to evolve alongside them?

• Am I prepared for upcoming regulatory changes and updated international standards?

Supporting your digital twin journey Building on our best practices, DNV can support you in your digital twin journey, covering inception, operation and evolution. By combining two decades of experience in qualifying thousands of pieces of hardware with in-depth data science expertise, we help you scope, build and maintain your digital twins.

DNV has prepared a set of best practices – our recipes for success – based on our significant track record in securing physical assets and our knowledge of digital technologies and processes.

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De-mystifying digital twins for oil and gas Every day, we hear from our customers wanting to implement digital twins to improve operations, product offerings, and business value. A challenge, however, is that digital twins mean different things to different people. We have heard the term digital twins be applied in the broadest sense to traditional methods such as engineering design simulations, CAD models, 3D visualizations, IoT dashboards, and immersive environments. This has led to confusion as we are left wondering how does simply renaming existing methods drives new business value. To clarify, digital twins is more than just a new marketing term, but rather a new technology that has only become feasible in the past few years with the convergence of at-scale computing, predictive modeling methods, spatial computing, and IoT connectivity.

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n understanding our customers’ interpretations of digital twins, we found a range of concepts including engineering analysis of a physical component, predictive maintenance, performance optimization of processes, 3D virtual walkthroughs of a factory with automated operations, and everything in between.

What these ideas all have in common is that a digital twin consists of a digital representation of something in the physical world, is updated with live data, and drives business outcomes. With this backdrop, we define Digital Twin as follows: A digital twin (DT) is a living digital representation of an individual physical system that is dynamically updated with data to mimic the true structure, state, and behavior of the physical system, to drive business outcomes.

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Per the above view, a digital twin has four key elements. The first is the physical system – meaning there has to be something real, something tangible.

The second is the digital twin itself which is a model. In this case we do not just mean a computer science data model, but rather a behavior model such as a simulation or other response model to which you provide an input, and it

returns back a response output. The third is the data connectivity between the two and this is the key to the definition of digital twin. The real-world operational data from the physical system is used to update the model on a regular basis as the

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physical system evolves. The data could be sensor data, time-series data, inspection data or any other data. Lastly, there must be a purpose for the digital twin. We always work backwards from the desired outcome because that determines which part of the physical system should be modeled, at what fidelity, and how often we need to update the digital twin model. These all depend on the specific use case. For example, if we have a digital twin for crack growth in a part, then updating on a weekly or monthly basis is usually enough to capture

L1 Descriptive is about describing the structure of the system. This includes all the engineering and scientific simulations such as 1D analysis, systems dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, and structural mechanics. It also includes visual representations such as 2D engineering diagrams or complex high-fidelity 3D/AR/VR models used for virtual walkthroughs or immersive training.

L2 Informative is about understanding the state of the system. This is through connectivity where the IoT sensor data and maintenance data from the physical system is aggregated and displayed in context relevant manner. It enables the end user to understand the present condition of the physical system and can include simple analytics to trigger alarms. This is the domain of IoT and asset

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the dynamics of the crack growth. However, if we have a digital twin predicting near real-time performance of a chemical processing plant, then we will likely need data feeds every second or more.

Now, in discussing with customers, we found that we had to expand our interpretation to include other use cases that our customers considered digital twins.

The digital twin framework

management integrated with enterprise asset management (EAM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to show asset configuration, maintenance history, and upcoming work orders on a single pane of glass.

L3 Predictive is about understanding behavior using a pre-trained model with the implicit assumption that future behavior is the same as the past. The model can be a physics-based (first principles) model, an ML model, or increasingly, we are seeing hybrid models. The predictions can also be tied to recommended prescriptive actions that the user can take to remedy identified or predicted anomalous operations.

L4 Living is also about understanding behavior but for situations where the future behavior is not the

In our L1-L4 framework, Level 4 is the definition of digital twins described earlier. Levels 1 through 3 are other categories of use cases that have business value and our customers are asking for.

The L1-L4 framework helps operators understand the data, models and business operations needed by first helping them categorize their use cases and identifying similar use cases solved by others. In our leveling framework, we define the 4 levels as L1 Descriptive, L2 Informative, L3 Predictive, and L4 Living.

same as the past. This is the norm for industrial equipment whose performance evolves over time due to degradation. Here we need a living model where the data from the physical system is used to update and individualize the model parameters itself to make probabilistic predictions and what-if scenario analysis.

The benefits of digital twins in oil and gas Let’s now use the L1-L4 framework to understand how digital twins can help address some of the key challenges facing the oil and gas industry, specifically the challenges of retiring workforce, lowering production costs, and optimizing production processes. We will discuss some of these applications below.

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In our discussions with oil and gas customers, the concern of knowledge loss due to a wave of retirements of the most experienced operators was top of mind. Periodic economic shocks over several decades has resulted in low hiring rates of younger, next generation employees. Now, there is an urgent need to capture the knowledge of the most experienced personnel and to transform that knowledge into engaging training content and operational decision support for the next generation.

In this context, L1 DTs of virtual immersive environments of offshore oil rig platforms or refinery control room environments can be used to provide realistic scenario training for operators. Similarly, L2 DTs can support the augmented worker to have most relevant information available at their fingertips. The use of augmented reality (AR) can help new technicians by providing context aware prompts for service interventions, in effect offering a virtual apprenticeship, as well connecting to a centralized pool of experts for remote assist.

Building maintenance plans with digital twins As we look to managing production costs, we see digital twins used across the board particularly in predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) of equipment and then building predictive maintenance plans to insure continuity of operations. One challenge is that it has been common to use L3 DTs (pre-trained models) to predict equipment failure. This approach, however, tends to lead to large number of false positives as the L3 DTs are based on pre-trained models based on average fleet behavior. An improved approach is to use L4 DTs where the models are individualized using sensor data from the specific equipment, in effect creating a “model of one”.

These L4 DTs are created using a combination of physics-based models, augmented with ML, and using probabilistic Bayesian estimation methods to provide predictions with uncertainty estimates. For example, knowing your compressor is predicted to fail in 6 months +/- 5 months drives a very different operational business action versus a prediction to fail in 6 months +/- 1 week.

For optimizing production processes, L3 DTs for anomaly detection go beyond simple threshold and pattern-based alarms, but rather use models

of the process itself to identify deviations from expected operations. L4 DTs, however, are the most relevant as the “model-of-one” approach with uncertainty quantification enables more accurate up to date models to conduct what-if scenario analysis for their facility. For example, refineries already use model-based control paradigms, and extending the concept to using probabilistic Bayesian calibrated plant models to conduct scenario analysis enables operators to identify the optimal operating parameters.

Additionally, unconventional oil production is common for an oil well to start with thousands of barrels per day of flow, and then drop to hundreds or even tens of barrels of oil over a few months. Determining the optimal artificial lift throughout the life cycle of the well is a complex decision based on techno-economic factors such as reservoir conditions, operating conditions, well-to-well flow interactions, and the market price for crude. These decisions are historically based on operator experience and rules-of-thumb developed over years. We’re seeing customers build L4 DT “artificial lift optimizer” models to better support the field operators in deciding when and how to replace the artificial lift.

The oil and gas industry has been at the forefront of developing and deploying Digital Twins to solve industry business challenges across upstream, midstream, and downstream domains. Much progress has been made to date and efforts continue to apply Digital Twins from L1 through L4 in a range of applications across the industry.

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The value of avoiding uncertainty in the ground Oil and gas Technology talks to Tom Willoughby, Strategic Sales and Marketing Manager (UK), Fugro about how its GRMF can help clients meet the current demand for energy and infrastructure projects.

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hen developing new assets or infrastructure, early and thorough preparation is vital to avoid delays and increased costs. The key to effective preparation is to properly deal with uncertainty in the ground, to avoid unwanted outcomes. Fugro’s Geo-Risk Management Framework (GRMF) provides a starting point to tackle this all-critical factor.

What are the current market challenges for ground engineering?

With drivers such as energy security and net zero targets, clients are keen to push forward as quickly as possible with infrastructure delivery, in an innovative way. Construction is facing shortages of labour and equipment, with on-going global supply issues due to post-Covid recovery, the war

in Ukraine, and the on-going impacts of Brexit. We need to identify project critical success factors and deliver on these in a way that challenges norms but delivers the confidence required.

The challenge for the geotechnical sector is how can we carry out the subsurface investigations vital to these major projects with the required quality and in the right timeframe, while bridging the gap in equipment and technically skilled people?

Recognising our extensive global network and comprehensive inhouse capabilities, Fugro is also tackling today’s challenges of programme delivery through our GRMF. One area of the framework reduces time pressures on project schedules by using ground characterisation data from

non-intrusive geophysical techniques as part of a screening solution. Followed by an optimised convention investigation, the resulting integrated site characterisation can lead to less time, less cost, a smaller carbon footprint and reduced exposure to operational risks for field staff.

Why is it important to engage early on the site investigation?

As experts in subsurface risk, we need to sit down at project concept to understand the client’s engineering business objectives (end games) and devise a time/quality/ cost equation to quantify subsurface risk and move the project forward. The major burden of ground risk is at the beginning where it impacts design, so it is imperative to fully understand and quantify it in a site-specific sense.

In the absence of sufficient, robust, qualifying ground data, you could end up over-engineering or under-engineering an asset, and both could cost you more money. Our early phase Geo-data will help inform and evidence competent, costeffective designs.

Explain the importance of nonintrusive techniques to the site investigation In characterising a development site, especially large and complex megaprojects such as nuclear, wind farms, hydro schemes or strategic transport infrastructure, a screening solution, using for example geophysical screening, allows you to understand where your potential ground problems lie before committing to the labour-intensive work

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of drilling rigs and large borehole programmes.

and as a minimum, with no loss of quality.

Fugro not only provides the full suite of site equipment and techniques, but we also consult and advise on the most cost-efficient way to characterise your ground and understand your subsurface risk, along with interpreting the resulting Geo-data.

How does Fugro achieve cost and time savings on a project?

Through our advanced 3D ground modelling, we can pinpoint problem areas for ground risk to confidently target intrusive techniques.

This can potentially reduce geotechnical programmes from 100s to 10s of boreholes.

The proportion of construction budget spent on ground investigations is relatively small. If you invest more in the beginning of the project, you can characterise the subsurface well, thereby reducing uncertainty and better managing ground risk – with benefits to cost and schedule,

Our GRMF takes advantage of Fugro’s advances in remote techniques that are safer and less labour intensive as well as quicker. Our digital innovation, such as Fugro’s cloud data delivery platform, also allows rapid sharing of insights - in near real-time.

We can accelerate the foundation design because we are able to assess the subsurface risk much more quickly and with greater certainty of outcome. We can deliver better Geo-data and quicker, giving the client and developer a much more accurate understanding of design options, cost and what the programme is going to look like. This gives greater cost and programme certainty at a much earlier stage.

Did you know?

Fugro enabled a 75 per cent reduction in boreholes and 50 percent reduction in design inputs on a mega infrastructure project where the client was looking to accelerate the construction programme.

Using a quickly mobilised programme of non-intrusive geophysical investigations, Fugro accurately targeted boreholes in those areas where our 3D Geo-data modelling had pre-screened risk. The reduction in drilling rigs and boreholes saved costs and time while relieving carbon footprint and site safety management, with real time data supporting faster design decisions.

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FINAL WORD

Digital Twins in the Oil and Gas Industry

By Kranthi Kumar Buddha, acuvate A digital twin is a virtual copy of the physical on-field asset, such as pumps,

Data simulations and analytics, integrated within digital twins, examine current

compressors, turbines, and pipelines.

workflows, help in pre-deployment planning and workflow analysis, and provide

For the concept of digital twins to work, it is vital to have updated, real-time

workable alternatives to production processes when problems arise.

operational data around assets. While cloud computing, advanced analytics, and AI have brought about significant transformation in the industry, a digital

4. Optimization of production through digital twins

twin is of no use without access to a centralized data repository that contains

Digital twins help optimize oil and gas production by providing data insights

all asset-related information.

across five different stages, namely:

Building a digital twin is an algorithmic process. For starters, a 3D model

Organization and execution of the computerized maintenance management

is created and then tagged with all necessary information, such as layout,

system (CMMS)

geometry, schematics, engineering, and design information that has been

Improvement in asset reliability

collected from disparate sources. This common data set is shared across

Manage information configuration

various departments, including engineering, procurement, and operations.

Optimize operational insights

As the digital asset is updated automatically with all current operational

Lifelong asset maintenance and management (evergreen digital twins)

and maintenance data, an operator can easily search the data tag and bring up the latest work information on asset health and performance. Failures or production outages at this stage are addressed early, thus ensuring preventative rather than reactive maintenance, prolonging asset life, and decreasing maintenance costs in the process.

Intelligent asset management involves getting data from multiple data sources, including SCADA, remote sensing, subsurface surveillance data, etc., thus involving the integration between internal and external systems and back-office operations.

1. Oil field monitoring and predictive maintenance

Physical asset management through digital twins, therefore, not only requires

As discussed above, by identifying issues beforehand, digital twins help in

real-time maintenance but measuring asset performance under various “what-

predictive asset maintenance, thus reducing unplanned downtimes and

if” scenarios. Moreover, it minimizes the cost associated with traveling to and

optimizing the cost of maintenance.

from the field to

Predictive analytics leverages digital twins to monitor on-field equipment

Rockwell partnered with Microsoft’s IoT services to proactively manage its oil

performance and create unique asset signatures that include information such

and gas assets. Rockwell uses the IoT platform to monitor the variable speed

as ambient and operational conditions and past loading.

motors of its pumps from its command center in Ohio. The company can then

Real-time data is then compared to these models to identify any deviations in

proactively identify issues in real-time, saving up to $300,000 of production

patterns and early-warning notifications, preventing major breakdowns and

per day a malfunctioning pump could otherwise cost.

ensuring reliability in operations.

2. Modeling real-life drilling scenarios to determine equipment feasibility

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5. Data integration for intelligent asset management

6. Maintaining tacit enterprise knowledge using digital twins.

The average age of employees in the O&G industry is 56 years, and they will be

Digital twins help model real-life drilling scenarios to determine the feasibility

eligible for retirement in the next decade, thus threatening the industry with a

of equipment. By watching out for potential issues and problems, operators

critical skills shortage.

can enhance equipment efficiency and reduce well construction costs.

By maintaining a centralized repository of asset information, the concept

Digital twins also enhance geothermal drilling activities and reduce overall well

of digital twins helps achieve operational efficiency and reduce the cost of

construction time while augmenting scheduled rig moves, well services, etc.

operations by eliminating the need for hiring costly personnel.

3. Conducting dynamic simulations to arrive at optimal production workflows

7. Increased workplace safety

Digital simulations help enhance “run-the-simulation” processes, helping workflow

tags help monitor workforce activities, track operator location, create awareness of

designers identify where and how things should go before they are physically deployed.

workforce fatigue, and get access to critical information on the plant floor.

Smart wearable IoT devices such as smart watches, biometric vests, and Bluetooth

AWS hosts Treedis at the Future Digital Twin event Tesla room AW 1 17 , nergy Transition Campus, Amsterdam October 17 Treedis.com Task list Find the machine Run a test Discover the problem Solve the issue Start the machine

Ashish Naik

System is operating without issues Last check: 5 min ago

Boaz Goldschmidt

Sr. Specialist ¾– Autonomous Compute

VP of Business Development

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integrates with AWS IoT Twin×aker to transform industrial teams into connected workers through digital twins

Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam Solving the world’s biggest energy challenges through collaboration, technology and innovation in one single campus

Keep informed about the developments in the energy transition:

Members and supporting collaborators:

energytransitioncampus.com