Learning from Disaster: Digitally Enabling Safety and Compliance in the Oil and Gas Industry
Above: Michael Fry, founder, preside
Few industrial accidents have witnessed such a tragic scale as the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
It resulted in the loss of 11 lives and nearly five million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf, causing devastating environmental effects to hundreds of miles of coastline and wetlands, as well as the loss of countless marine life. In addition, the Gulf Coast economy suffered a staggering $22 billion loss in tourism revenue, and BP, which leased the oil rig from Transocean, incurred more than $61 billion in legal fees and cleanup expenses as a consequence of the disaster.
As horrific as the tragedy was, it imparted valuable lessons that will help prevent future catastrophes. One of the lessons is the importance of monitoring control systems. Consequently, there's now a mandate that all oil rigs drilling in the Gulf of Mexico must actively monitor the subsea blowout preventer and control system in real time.
New regulations are in place, requiring drilling companies to track, trend and report on equipment failures, abnormalities and the overall health of their systems. Embracing this mandate, Deepwater Subsea LLC has developed the Janus24™ real-time monitoring platform. This platform, in combination with OSIsoft™ (since acquired by AVEVA™) PI System™ and Hexagon solutions, enables oil and gas companies and drilling contractors to operate safely and in compliance with federal regulations.
First, Deepwater Subsea is Born
Though he wasn’t on the platform when it exploded, Michael Fry was a supporting subsea superintendent for Transocean at the time. The tragedy, and realization it could've been prevented with updated operations and compliance measures, inspired him to found Deepwater Subsea LLC, which focuses on real-time monitoring, competency development and training to end preventable errors by leveraging digital transformation and operational excellence.
Specifically, his Texas-based company’s Janus24 real-time monitoring platform combines information previously siloed on paper, spreadsheets, hard drives and other disconnected databases into a central digital solution.
Janus24 Real-time Monitoring Platform
The combination of human operations procedures (j5 Operations Management Solutions), engineering information and schematics (HxGN SDx®) and real-time and historical data (the AVEVA OSIsoft PI System) has enabled the industry’s first digital real-time monitoring platform.
This groundbreaking achievement was developed in a relatively short time frame, particularly for the oil and gas industry.
“To me, it’s completely game-changing to have all this information readily available on one screen,” Fry said. “This is the first time end users can go to one place and get all the operations, maintenance, engineering and process data they need to do their duties.
“By having all this information readily available in a digital twin, I believe this is an industry first for the oil and gas industry, where it has been difficult to monitor remote assets and equipment in dangerous areas.”
To learn more about how Hexagon and AVEVA OSIsoft solutions are enable greater transparency and have heightened Deepwater Subsea LLC’s creditability in the oil and gas industry, read the full case study here.
***Discover how to create an operational digital twin, with solutions from Hexagon and the AVEVA PI System, by watching our on-demand Hexagon and OSIsoft (now AVEVA) webinar series, Essential Elements of an Operations Digital Twin.
***Learn more about the powerful combination of human procedures and processes with real-time data by watching our on-demand video, j5 Operations Management Solutions and OSIsoft (now AVEVA0 PI Event Frames - A Powerful Combination.