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Success stories
VWS Westgarth No 1 position in upstream water injection service solutions
How is VWS Westgarth thriving? The company has secured a number one position in upstream water injection service solutions, with proven success in chemical innovation, asset integrity and digital technology, delivering a minimum 10:1 return on investment for oil and gas clients.
The challenge A company solely dedicated to a specific business segment is highly vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of its market. For oil and gas suppliers focusing only on design and construction services, this vulnerability becomes more evident. The last decade has witnessed major changes in the O&G market, mainly attributable to the global recession in oil and gas production and the resulting lack of new projects. A strategy to increase a company’s service offering to clients is therefore essential, particularly in times of industry downturns.
The solution Veolia Water Technologies, a Veolia division of which VWS Westgarth is part of, was fully aware that a focus on oil and gas design and build (D&B) services for the water treatment segment was very niche and that it had to boost its service offering. After all, it was what clients both needed and wanted. The company had been developing the concept of diversification away from solely D&B for many years but really started to craft a service solution strategy just before the 2014 downturn in the oil and gas market. Veolia evaluated the service solutions they could offer, and digitalisation
was one of them. Prompted by an increasing drive towards a reduced number of people on board offshore O&G facilities, the company realised it had to digitalise its services to provide operational support remotely. After assessing the appropriate digital data monitoring solution for their needs, the company quickly developed and deployed its real time data monitoring service. Called ‘Aquavista’, this system is an all-in-one cloud-based set of digital solutions consisting of four complementary components: Aquavista Portal, Aquavista Insight, Aquavista Assist and Aquavista Plant. Together, they provide a complete overview of a facility’s key information, in addition to visualization tools, information sharing and predictive analysis capabilities. A major benefit of Aquavista’s monitoring is related to its ability to track the condition of the water treatment membrane, a key asset which guarantees effectiveness of an operator’s water injection
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capabilities and, consequently, its oil output capacity. Thanks to Aquavista, Veolia secured a key contract with SBM Offshore. The floater specialist awarded the company a contract to provide a bespoke asset integrity service on water injection modules present on 11 FPSOs across the world. Benefiting from Aquavista’s capabilities, SBM is able to increase the operational efficiency of its vessels by 30%, enabling cost savings of US$3-4 million (equivalent to a 10:1 return in investment on the Veolia contract). Another service solutions strategy involved water treatment chemicals optimization. Veolia already has a corporate-level chemical brand called Hydrex, which provides water treatment chemicals for industrial and municipal usages around the globe. The company then took the opportunity to develop a specific chemicals range for offshore water injection applications.
