Digital twins are revolutionising the oil and gas industry by providing a complete 360-degree replica of physical assets, such as pipelines, gathering systems, heat exchangers, turbines, pumps, compressors or entire plants. In addition, the technology enables the modelling of processes, control, and monitoring of equipment health.
A digital twin is the foundation of a digital transformation that optimises production, detects equipment problems before failures occur, uncovers new opportunities for process improvement, and reduces unplanned downtime.
Why should companies utilise digital twins?
Oil prices have been volatile in recent years, fluctuating between $30/bbl to a high of $100/bbl, causing stress on the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) of the oil and gas value chain. In addition, the negative perception of fossil fuels, rising trade tensions, and geopolitical upheaval are adversely affecting near-term demand and business costs.
As a result, more companies are turning towards “Digital Transformation” to drive effective capacity, not only through CAPEX but also OPEX investments by optimising operations and improving asset availability. These measures are more scalable and have a shorter lead time, enabling companies to respond swiftly to market changes.
While the concept of a digital twin has been around for over a decade, advancements in technology in recent years, such as cloud platforms, analytics, and increased computing power, have accelerated the adoption of digital twins in the industry.
Digital twins provide unprecedented real-time insights into operations, elevating operational excellence to the next level. For example, a 0.1% increase in production due to improved process and operating efficiency can easily yield several millions of dollars in additional revenue. The key to achieving a digital twin is a comprehensive information management system that combines a centralised data repository with enterprise-wide information access and visualisation. This allows users to have complete control of their asset information throughout the entire asset lifecycle.
Building a digital twin
AVEVA, a leading oil and gas industry software company, builds its digital twin using an initial 3D model tagged with all the necessary attributes and engineering documentation. This includes geometry, layout, connectivity of key components and process data, and other business and safety-critical engineering and design information.
Through a robust information gateway, information and data around the asset are extracted from disparate data sources and validated for accuracy against known standards to create viewable renditions of documents and drawings.
This acts as a data validation layer to ensure that all data meet the correct standards throughout the asset lifecycle. Next, this common set of data and information is shared across departments – from engineering to procurement to construction to commission and operations.
As the operational life continues, the digital copy is updated automatically, in real-time, with current data, work records, and engineering information to optimise maintenance and operational activities. Using this information, engineers and operators can easily search the asset tags to access critical up-to-date engineering and work information and find the health of a particular asset. Previously, such tasks would take considerable time and effort, and would often lead to issues being missed, leading to failures or production outages.
With the digital twin, operational and asset problems are flagged and addressed early, and the workflow becomes preventative instead of reactive.
In the industry
To explore the latest trends and best practices in the oil and gas industry, we are organising the Digital Twins for Oil & Gas Conference and Expo, powered by Oil & Gas Middle East. The event, for which AVEVA is a silver sponsor, will take place on May 31, 2023, at the Le Meridien Al Khobar Hotel in Saudi Arabia.
The opening keynote session titled “Digital Twins the Game Changer: Power of Predictive Digital Twins in Oil & Gas for a Sustainable Future” will kick off the event, showcasing the potential of digital twins in the industry.
The conference aims to provide insights into the potential of digital twins in the industry, with topics ranging from accelerating the hydrogen economy using digital twins to evaluating the need for a technology-enabled workforce to deliver projects successfully and the role of digital twins in clean energy.
The event will bring together leading industry professionals, experts, and decision-makers worldwide to share their knowledge and insights. In addition, attendees will have an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest trends and developments in the industry, network with industry leaders and peers, and explore opportunities for collaboration and growth.
Please visit the conference website for more details to register for the event.
In summary, using digital twins in the oil and gas industry has revolutionised how companies operate, reducing costs and improving efficiency. With the right information management system in place, digital twins can provide unprecedented real-time insights into operations, leading to improved asset availability, improve uptime, and increased production yield.
The technology is a game-changer, and companies that adopt digital twin strategies will undoubtedly be at the forefront of the industry.
For more information about the event, visit the event microsite here.
The above article is based on a whitepaper authored by AVEVA.
