Kongsberg Digital signed an agreement to digitalise the Nyhamna facility, a gas processing and export hub for Ormen Lange and other fields connected to the Polarled pipeline. A/S Norske Shell is entering the partnership as operator of Ormen Lange and on behalf of Gassco as the operator of Nyhamna. The value of the contract scope, with a digital twin, is approximately $11mn, with deliverables starting from Q4 2019.
It will utilise the Kognifai® Dynamic Digital Twin to create a virtual representation of the gas plant and its behavior – continuously updated with integrated information reflecting the status of the facility in real time. As the technical service provider at Nyhamna, Shell will be equipped with the ability to simulate scenarios and uncover new options for optimisation of its real-life counterpart.
“We are proud to partner with Shell and support their strategy as a leading international energy company. Our dynamic digital twin technology is cutting edge and will be the foundation for significant transformation within the energy industry in the years to come, through supporting smarter and more efficient ways of designing, engineering and operating assets,” says Geir Håøy, CEO of KONGSBERG, Kongsberg Digital’s parent company.
Business benefits of digital twin technology for the oil & gas industry include a real-time view of a facility, its processes, and production. Physical models and machine learning algorithms provide virtual sensors and insight into the non-instrumented part of a facility and can be leveraged to spin up and manage model instances to perform ‘What-If’ analysis, scenario analysis, and to uncover the best options for optimisation. These capabilities can be used at existing assets to increase production, manage power consumption and reduce carbon footprint; and also, to plan, design and construct new assets or modify existing facilities. Virtual collaboration and common situational awareness across disciplines can drive down maintenance and operating cost and enable remotely operated assets and efficient operations centers.
“With the implementation of the dynamic digital twin we believe Nyhamna will be at the forefront of digitalisation in the oil and gas business, which is exciting to Shell and our partners at Nyhamna. Shell’s digital strategy is value driven, predicated on finding new and better solutions to drive improved business outcomes. With the digital twin we expect new insights that we can leverage to further improve the productivity, reliability and performance of the gas facility,” says Agnete Johnsgaard-Lewis, managing director of A/S Norske Shell.
The partnership between Shell and Kongsberg to develop a dynamic digital twin of the Nyhamna facility will be based on an open and collaborative business model, thus entailing opportunities for future collaboration and deployment of dynamic digital twin technology at other assets.
“The Kognifai Dynamic Digital Twin is an open ecosystem designed to utilise a variety of applications to increase efficiency and optimise production for assets,” says Hege Skryseth, President of Kongsberg Digital. “We are proud to work with Shell on their digital frontrunner Nyhamna. We are looking forward to an exciting collaboration in the coming years.”
Now a hub for gas processing, Nyhamna exports gas to the UK and continental Europe through the Langeled pipeline. Nyhamna is a joint venture between Petoro, Equinor, Cape Omega, A/S Norske Shell, Ineos, Wintershall, OMV, Total, ConocoPhillips and North Sea Infrastructure. Gassco is the operator, and A/S Norske Shell is the technical service provider for Nyhamna.
