How Cognite Remote powers OMV's asset integrity operations framework

OMV used Industrial DataOps software provided by Cognite, including Cognite Data Fusion® and Cognite Remote, to implement a remote industrial asset integrity management solution. The solution empowers OMV to identify and reduce asset integrity risks before they escalate, facilitating higher operational excellence and more cost-efficient asset life cycles.

The solution will cut planning time by 25% and operating expenses by 50%, and help the company reduce its environmental footprint.

Make operations safer and more sustainable while remaining profitable

Extending the lifetime and reliability of assets is one of the main priorities in the oil and gas industry to make operations safer and more sustainable while remaining profitable. As part of that work, many operators are expanding their remote work capabilities.

OMV, an Austrian integrated oil and gas producer, is developing a new remote asset integrity operations framework. The requirements for the project all indicate a clear need for a more sophisticated, holistic approach to data collection, processing, and visualization to aid remote inspection, collaboration, training, certification, audits, and precommissioning.

This approach to remote asset integrity operations would:

• Reduce the costs of unplanned downtime. As the global cost of downtime rises, the need to maximize uptime has become imperative for OMV to stay resilient in the face of unpredictable market trends.
• Lower the cost of asset condition monitoring, inspection, and maintenance planning. Better visibility of equipment condition, efficiency, and performance enables efficient central planning, scheduling, and dispatching of front-line maintenance operators.
• Cut unnecessary maintenance hours and associated costs. Inadequate and inaccessible information about asset condition necessitates costly manual inspections and more frequent maintenance trips.
• Improve procurement and business planning. Easily accessible information helps operators and procurement managers optimize spare parts management for repair and replacement.
• Ensure compliance with health, safety, security, and environmental (HSSE) regulations. Eliminating unnecessary inspection and maintenance trips offshore also reduces safety hazards.

A new framework for remote asset integrity operations

To provide a complete, actionable understanding of OMV’s physical and digital assets and processes, Cognite connected and contextualized information from various disparate systems, including visual information from engineering diagrams, CAD models, 360-degree images, point cloud data, and photogrammetry models. Together, these different data sources create a dynamic 3D model.

Via AI-driven augmentation techniques, the model was further contextualized with geotags, information about scaffolding requirements and inspection checklists, high-frequency time series from individual sensors, and access to all relevant documentation. 

Viewable in Cognite Remote, the dynamic, high-fidelity 3D digital twin makes information about enterprise-wide assets and processes available anywhere. OMV’s maintenance and inspection planners and operators can collaborate using Remote to streamline maintenance planning activities remotely, with no need to travel offshore.

When conducting inspection, maintenance staff and process engineers receive comprehensive work packs with 3D visualizations and files. Using a tablet or mixed reality devices such as Microsoft HoloLens 2, operators in the field can view virtual elements overlaid on physical assets and work orders for operations or training needs.

Reduced planning time, operating expenses and environmental footprint

With remote asset integrity programs based on Cognite Remote and Cognite Data Fusion®, OMV is well on its way to realizing the vision of managing assets autonomously, backed by an adaptive digital workforce. Cognite’s dynamic 3D digital twin, with inspection workflows, elegant mobile and mixed-reality solutions, and seamless integrations with other architectures via open APIs and SDKs, is key to making it happen.

All of OMV’s asset integrity operations can now be planned remotely, changing the way OMV’s experts work and collaborate:

• Maintenance service staff can reduce the number of trips they take offshore, significantly cutting travel and maintenance costs. When a trip offshore is required, remote, real-time operations with onshore and offshore staff connected for technical support will optimize resource use. 
• Mobile devices help offshore operators access data contained in work packs, while mixed reality devices such as HoloLens2 further improve remote technical assistance and asset vendor support, keeping all stakeholders connected whenever a need for troubleshooting arises. This is of tremendous value for certifications, precommissioning, and audits.

As the digital twin provides a single entry point to all relevant inspection data, there is no need to access disparate data sources and applications. Access to contextualized data is now instantaneous.

Sustainability is reshaping how heavy-asset industries operate. Digitalization and digital twins can contribute to more efficient resource use, giving heavy-asset companies the information and tools they need to reduce their environmental footprint.