FutureOn launches offshore oilfield digital twin platform

Oilfield software specialist FutureOn has launched a cloud-based platform which enables the digital twin of an offshore field from the first concept to first oil and beyond.

Oslo-based company has said that its digital twin solution – named FieldTwin – can, among other things, lower risk, improve collaboration, integrate IoT sensor data into a visual context dashboard for real-time monitoring of equipment statuses, well flow-rates, production values, vessel locations, and engineer tasks, and reduce installation times.

Furthermore, FutureOn says its FieldTwin solution Connects artificial intelligence and historical data to well-planning, drilling, installation, and operations to improve field layouts and concept selection.

“Forward-thinking companies understand the tremendous opportunity of Big Data analytics to gain a competitive advantage and deliver greater value from their significant investments offshore,” said Paal Roppen, chief executive officer of FutureOn. “FieldTwin visualizes and centralizes data into a single source to increase collaboration, increase transparency, reduce costs, speed timelines and improve operations.”

Roppen says FutureOn’s customers eventually want to de-man their platforms and remotely monitor and maintain their offshore operations and assets.

“FutureOn’s FieldTwin allows all stakeholders to now see more than ever before — the same information, at the same time to make more impact on a project’s outcome and make more efficient decisions that save time, reduce errors and mitigate risk,” Roppen said.

While the digital twin concept – a replica of a physical asset – is relatively new, there have been concrete examples of it being used in the offshore oil and gas industry.

Offshore industry adopting digital twin solutions

Back in February, Norway’s Aker Solutions was appointed by Wintershall to build a complete digital replica of the North Sea Nova field production system to enable data driven engineering, production and maintenance decisions.

Aker in December 2018 signed a strategic collaboration agreement to further develop digital offerings in engineering, operations, and services with Siemens.

Elsewhere in the industry, GE has developed a solution that provides health and performance monitoring of rig equipment via a digital twin—enabling condition-based maintenance. GE has said that its Digital Rig solution tested on a Noble drillship, has produced alerts to inform potential failures up to two months before they would occur.

Offshore vessel builder Sembcorp is also testing the digital twin waters. The company in 2017 entered into a collaboration deal with DNV GL to investigate the digital twin tech “to create a digital replica of an actual ship, and through simulation determine the ship’s specific design and operational requirements for attaining optimal performance.”

Sembcorp said that the Digital Twin imaging could be is useful in the pre-commissioning of ships.

The usual commissioning procedure is for the vessel to be built and then commissioned during sea trial. With the Digital Twin, it is possible to pre-commission the vessel prior to actual construction by integrating vendor data into a single consolidated virtual ship for testing, Sembcorp Marine said.

Maersk Drilling has also tested the “digital twin” model using hi-tech glasses are for interactive cooperation with the company’s clients.

“By developing a virtual model of each drilling rig and connecting it with a feed of live data from the rig, Maersk Drilling can provide clients with a much more detailed overview of the drilling operation,” Maersk Drilling said.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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