Understanding Asset Integrity Management and its Importance
Asset Integrity Management (AIM) refers to the discipline that aims to ensure industrial assets perform their functions accurately and efficiently throughout their lifecycle, all while maintaining safety and sustainability. In this context, a robust and effective asset integrity management program spans every stage, from asset design to decommissioning, aiming to mitigate risks to the environment, people on the field, and the industrial installation of which they are a part. This blog explores the major challenges of Asset Integrity Management and how the Oil and Gas industry is facing the digitalization of this important discipline. Signs of unoptimized asset [...]
How AI is Enhancing Wind Turbine Integrity
Wind turbines have become the symbol of clean energy production. As global priorities shift toward clean energy sources, the demand for wind power has rapidly increased in the last few years. Still, despite its ecological appeal, wind energy production faces limitations and challenges that require intricate processes and solutions, just like any other energy industry. Fortunately, technology advancements are helping the industry address these pressing issues and operate more sustainably and safely. In this manner, what defines those ‘’pressing issues’’ impacting wind energy operations? The Challenges of Wind Energy Operations As the demand for wind energy grows, so [...]
Condition-Based vs Reliability-Centered Maintenance
Condition-Based Maintenance and Reliability-Centered Maintenance are both popular and often confused concepts in Asset Integrity Management. Indeed, they share some common goals: minimizing downtime, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring the reliability of critical assets. However, understanding the distinctions between these two approaches is crucial for any industry looking to optimize maintenance strategies. Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) Condition-Based Maintenance consists of a predictive maintenance approach that analyzes the historical performance data of machines to forecast when one is likely to fail, limit the time it is out of service, and identify the root cause of the problem. The idea here [...]
Understanding Dropped Object Prevention for Energy Industries
In 2016, dropped objects from Offshore Oil facilities resulted in 255 worker fatalities in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an alarming statistic that made clear the urgency of a curious, but important safety protocol that industries needed to adopt: fighting gravity. However, these incidents are far from inevitable and can be significantly reduced through a robust Dropped Object Prevention program. And, considering the scale and complexity of the energy industry’s operations, these programs became a fundamental piece of Industrial Safety and Risk Management. But what defines a Dropped Object? What is a Dropped Object? [...]
5 Essentials of Hull Damage Prevention for ships and FPSOs
Hull damages such as cracks and discontinuities can lead to oil leaks, implicating direct emergency costs surpassing USD 50,000,000, according to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency. From oil spills to accidents, the consequences of hull damage on oil and gas operations are far-reaching. Besides that, hulls are the exoskeleton of offshore units, requiring regular, accurate, and efficient maintenance procedures to address the excessive wear and tear, cracks, and anomalies that these structures are exposed to. Ensuring adequate maintenance and repairs demands inspection procedures that often require rope access techniques. Even though it is a common practice, it exposes inspectors to complex [...]
The Future Lies in the Past: Embracing Brown Fields for Tomorrow’s Energy
A 2011 study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates reported that approximately two-thirds of global daily average oil production comes from brown fields and that the percentage is increasing over time. Indeed, it’s evident that mature fields have become a fundamental piece of the petroleum exploration sector, but what exactly are mature fields? According to Parshall (2012), brown fields, also known as legacy fields, are defined by years of production and aging infrastructure. Indeed, for a field to be considered brown, it had to produce more than 50% of its established proved plus probable resource estimates or have produced for [...]
Exploring the Depths: Understanding Offshore Oil Drilling
Until 1894, we didn’t know extracting crude oil from subsea environments was possible. This changed when the lure of offshore production enticed Henry L. Williams and his associates to build a pier 90 meters out into the Pacific — and assemble a standard cable-tool rig on it. Since then, oil extraction has evolved in unprecedented ways. In recent years, new technologies have emerged as powerful tools for addressing the inherent challenges of exploring previously unreachable resources. Indeed, subsea drilling still represents a complex operation that requires advanced techniques and skilled teams to achieve optimal efficiency and safety. And, despite the [...]
Vidya showcases AI Innovations for Offshore Energy at OTC 2024
Vidya Technology is attending the Offshore Technology Conference 2024 in Houston, TX. You can find Vidya at the halls of this year’s OTC in Brazil Pavillion at booth 624. The conference will take place between May 6-9 at the NGR Park in Houston, Texas. Beyond that, the event will reunite global industry leaders to share ideas and innovations and discuss the offshore energy sector's most pressing challenges. OTC 2024 will connect 31,000+ offshore energy professionals from more than 100 countries to collaborate and discuss the latest developments needed to accelerate the global energy mix. Whether it's oil and gas, solar, [...]
Why Reality Capture is a must to report anomalies in industrial inspections
Industrial inspections consist of reporting anomalies to later perform maintenance plans. For this purpose, companies display several methods to inspect assets that can be divided into two major categories: the traditional methods and the digitized ones. In this context, these two groups present clear disparities in the benefits they generate to operators. While traditional methods still expose professionals to risky and time-consuming activities, new digitized ways of capturing reality have intuitively fostered safety and uptime for industrial inspections. Indeed, the new optimized methods of visually inspecting assets have accurately illustrated industrial realities to streamline maintenance actions. Thus, reporting anomalies with [...]
AI-driven Hull Inspections: Streamlining Safety and Efficiency
Vessels are crucial parts of different industrial operations. Considering this, the ship's main body: the hull, must be regularly inspected to ensure high asset integrity, safety, and efficiency standards. Hull damages such as cracks can lead to oil leaks, which can implicate direct emergency costs that surpass USD 50,000,000 according to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, which is 100x more expensive than the investment to repair the defects on time (before the accident) not including compensations, fines, and asset depreciation. In this regard, hull inspections are a maintenance procedure that helps energy companies and bulk cargo transporters maintain high safety, compliance, [...]
