Inside this issue
"The effective management of critical rotating equipment is a major challenge faced by all oil & gas operators, no matter where their facilities may be."
Allister Langlands
Chief Executive
Maximising asset value
Extending the operational life of ageing assets is what Wood Group GTS does best.
Wood News investigates.
Wood Group GTS employees Dan Kramer, product development manager, and Phil Booth, systems engineering leader, review performance data from a gas turbine test.
Urgency is the order of the day when an item of rotating equipment fails on an oil or gas platform.
"If you're in an oil & gas environment you want things running all the time, because every barrel you pump is more revenue," says Mick Conway, marketing director for GTS.
But fixing a problem can be more difficult than it may appear at first sight. "Critical rotating equipment such as power generators, gas compressors or pumps are complex systems, quite often supplied by several different OEMs. When a problem occurs the operator has to decide which supplier to call."
One solution to that problem is to outsource the handling of such situations to asset management specialists such as Wood Group GTS. This involves the customer contracting for access to a multidisciplinary, dedicated team that can handle the entire responsibility for critical rotating equipment.
It makes life considerably more straightforward for the platform operator: they have just one number to call and can then leave the external asset management team to handle the problem.
Outsourcing can also be a less expensive option than potential customers think: "If you have a new car that develops a problem and you go to a dealer, they probably want to rip out the old part and put in a new one," explains Mick.
Outsourcing asset management of critical rotating equipment helps to ensure equipment availability, minimises losses from downtime and unplanned stoppages, and enables clients' personnel to focus on more production-related aspects of their jobs.
"Similarly with critical rotating equipment, a typical OEM will come in, repair or replace the faulty equipment then go away, probably knowing they'll be back again in six months because they've not fixed the underlying problem.
"To be blunt, an OEM's business drivers are not always the same as the end customer's.
"Our solution is to look at it from a different perspective. We, together with the customer, look at the root causes of failure to ensure that we fully understand the reasons why so that the chances of its recurrence can be minimised. We're not incentivised to keep coming back and repairing the equipment. We absolutely want to sort the problem at the source rather than just continue to treat the symptom."
The type of asset optimisation needed by a client can vary from company to company: "We have customers who want access to our expertise on a call-off basis, others who want our engineers fully embedded within their maintenance teams, through to some who prefer us to assume full responsibility for the asset management of their critical rotating equipment. We offer a full range of options, from light-touch consultancy right through to full responsibility for the delivery of whatever outcomes the customer desires.
"We will help to maintain that machinery and equipment uptime and minimise the customer's losses from downtime and unplanned stoppages," says Mick.
"Reliability and asset optimisation come into play more strongly in mature fields where the age of equipment and changing field conditions can be significant factors.
"For this reason the North Sea has become an important market for GTS's services.
"The North Sea marketplace is changing shape as smaller, independent oil and gas companies acquire assets previously owned by the majors. Frequently, these new entrants do not have large, established maintenance departments and lack support agreements with equipment suppliers.
"We can fill that gap. We work hard with the customer to ensure that we are fully aligned with their objectives and that our team is fully integrated with theirs."
There are other attractions to letting a company like Wood Group GTS get involved in an operator's business. Its contribution can relieve many of the client's staff from being diverted by unplanned maintenance activities so they can concentrate on the more production-focused aspects of their job. GTS can often, within hours, mobilise spares and resources to site to ensure downtime is minimised. Mick explains: "Our access to in-house capability and our established vendor network means that parts, services and resources can be mobilised without delays while contracts are being agreed, for example.
"We're the guys in the anoraks," he admits."We're the experts in this process. We bring expertise, skill, focus and critical mass to bear on the problem."
Outsourcing critical equipment maintenance also has other benefits for a company's bottom line, he adds. "Clients pay only for the services provided, rather than having expensive overheads. Additionally, an asset management company like GTS has a network of key equipment suppliers and OEMs. By using these suppliers on multiple contracts, GTS can negotiate preferred access to spares, parts and manpower services then pass on these benefits to the customer."
In summary, the effective management of critical rotating equipment to ensure reliable production is a major challenge faced by all oil & gas operators. GTS offers an asset management-based approach. This strategy for rotating equipment management centres around a dedicated team of skilled people, supported by a comprehensive network of support services all focused on delivering maintenance solutions that are fully aligned with the customer's business objectives. "It's a win-win situation," adds Mick.