The ABB Ability Process Performance Dashboard connects oil and gas firms with ABB’s vast pool of operations experts and advanced data analysis technology.
It enables operators to use the ever-increasing amount of data they are generating to rapidly identify and fix performance weaknesses. The cloud-based service measures the performance of oil & gas facilities against various carefully designed indicators, including start-up time and operator interventions.
This data is then analysed by the 150-strong team of experts at the ABB Ability Collaborative Operations Centre; a recently expanded facility in Oslo, Norway, which provides insights on performance in the oil, gas and chemicals sectors.
Results are fed back via the dashboard, quickly exposing areas of improvement and highlighting services that could address them.
In an environment where previous years’ of low oil prices have embedded an industry culture of thrift, the dashboard’s launch comes as operators continue to look to improve efficiencies, cash flow and the performance of existing assets.
ABB data shows that a well-managed approach to process performance improvement can boost production by around five per cent. On a 50,000-barrel-a-day platform (at US$50 per barrel), this amounts to approximately US$35m in additional annual income.
Espen Storkaas, ABB’s Industry Sector Digital Lead for Oil and Gas explains the real benefit to customers: “The current climate is still challenging for operators so it is really important that they can maximise value from every dollar spent. Even small changes to improve performance can have a huge impact on margins.
“The new dashboard accelerates the rate of this ongoing improvement by providing access to the latest digital and data-driven innovations supported by world class expertise. It is also fully scalable which means companies can respond quickly to new challenges and opportunities as they arise.”
Digital collaboration – a rising trend in the oil and gas sector – underpins ABB’s new offering. Tighter margins and the pressure to adjust to digitalisation have seen companies working more closely together in recent years; sharing both the burden of costs and the benefits of new insights.
Services provided via the dashboard support collaboration between the ABB Collaborative Operations Centre, the customers’ various assets and their operational headquarters.
The ABB Ability Process Performance Dashboard is available now, having been extensively trialed, including by a large oil and gas firm in the North Sea. The company was able to break the world class uptime of 95 per cent across its facilities, on the back of the dashboard and its associated services.
The dashboard will be officially launched at the 2018 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, which runs from 30 April to 3 May. ABB will be represented at Stand #3514.
