Here are some specific failure points that we have experienced in the life cycle of digitalization, O&G E&P projects:
- Poor Preparation in the FEED process ignores the software and system aspects of large asset development projects. This results in incomplete, and incorrect, requirement sets that are useless for ultimately validating and verifying, let alone commissioning, equipment sets.
- Inadequate Documentation and Tracking as evidenced by no system models or standard equipment definitions against which to build a library of FAT, commissioning and regression test scenarios. This makes integration impossible with multiple, preventable, single points of failure in the software and network subsystems.
- Bad Leadership is demonstrated over and over again by never developing and accepting a baseline for comprehensive make versus buy decisions and the next system’s contract. This is exacerbated by leadership’s failure to demand a life cycle model for system upgrade or work-over as an initial FEED deliverable.
- Failure to Define Parameters and Enforce Them is evidenced by a lack of enforced standards to which all purchased components, including embedded Programmable Logic Computers, must comply. During integration this becomes painfully evident as components cannot communicate through existing, incompatible, although defined, interfaces.
- Inexperienced Project Managers cannot produce early estimates of the software development timeline and ultimate impacts on commissioning.
- Inaccurate Cost Estimations result in 100+% cost over runs and grossly missed delivery dates. Early estimation of the network data throughputs and maximum loading scenarios is either lacking or inadequate causing further schedule delays and budget over runs.
- Little Communication at Every Level of Management results in late identification of overly complex control system designs that lead to impossible to test operational domains.
- Culture or Ethical Misalignment result in owners, operators, drilling contractors and equipment manufacturers failure to produce cycle exact, system or equipment models against which to rationally conduct software and network FMEAs. Later in the life cycle, this results in failed commissioning and preventable safety issues.
- Competing Priorities result from many vendors, multiple networks, no systems/software engineering. The previous failure points all contribute to this lack of clarity in project priorities.
- Disregarding Project Warning Signs is the death knell of a digitalization project; e.g. network topologies and protocols are incompatible, FATs are scheduled without the software present, no design HAZID/HAZOPs conducted on the project, and any of the examples from the previous nine failure points.
Why do you care?
Incompletely tested software, resulting from any of the above digitalization failure points, can result in a potentially life-threatening incident:
A driller was performing a test with a riser joint suspended 70 feet (21 meters) above the drill floor. Prior to leaving the drill cabin for a Job Risk Analysis meeting with the roughnecks, the driller selected “standby” mode on the drilling chair. While doing so, he inadvertently pressed the keypad button that activates Pipe Handling mode. In this mode, the drill control system sends a pressure monitoring command to the pipe elevator every 3 minutes. The driller stepped out onto the drill floor and three minutes later the pressure monitoring command was sent to the riser handling equipment which mistook it for an unlock command. The riser tool released the joint which fell through the well center and into the ocean. The joint fell perfectly through the slips and luckily, neither personal injury nor collateral equipment damage was experienced.
All of the engineering, science and math disciplines are involved in successfully defining, designing and completing a digitalization project. We in the O&G industry, especially in E&P, must bring together all the disciplines necessary for a successful project. Let’s begin to understand our domains and the knowledge gaps we need to address. If not, E&P digitalization initiatives will continue to lag.
What can you do about it?
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