OE 2017: Siemens highlights life cycle digitalization solution

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK– Siemens is showcasing its Topsides 4.0 digital solution for the oil and gas production industry at Offshore Europe 2017.

Topsides 4.0 begins during the conceptual and design phase of an offshore project and enables digital project management and manufacturing, virtual testing and commissioning, and finally delivers an intelligent digital twin of the topsides facility. The digital twin comprises a virtual replica of the plant, the process and the automation system and how they interact, and assist in reducing life cycle costs through performance analytics and asset optimization in a virtual environment.

“Digitalization is not a passing trend, but rather a foundational value-add technology in the oil and gas industry,” said Judy Marks, CEO of the Dresser-Rand business, part of Siemens Power and Gas, and CEO of Siemens USA. “Companies should not view digitalization as an IT initiative, but rather a business transformation initiative implemented via operational technology and enabled by IT.”

Designed to reduce capital and operating expenses, shorten project development cycles, minimize interfacing risk, and reduce offshore manpower requirements, the Topsides 4.0 business model is strengthened by collaborative customer-supplier partnerships.

“For offshore vessels to reap the full benefits of digitalization, we must combine our customer’s domain expertise with Siemens’ knowledge of products, automation and data analytics,” said Marks. “Getting to the point where oil and gas companies feel comfortable sharing data in a secure but open ecosystem will be critical as we jointly reinvent the oil and gas industry of today and tomorrow.”

The components comprising the Topsides 4.0 digital solution have a strong track record of success, according to Siemens. For example, the company delivered digital performance analytics forAker BP’s Ivar Aasen project offshore Norway that enables it to reduce the platform’s physical manpower and optimize equipment maintenance schedules. The project, delivered on-time and on-budget, was so successful that Aker BP and Siemens created a strategic long-term partnership last spring to continue delivering digital lifecycle automation and performance analytics for future field development projects.09

Siemens is exhibiting at booth #5D30.

09/05/2017