IADC brings together leading drilling contractors to discuss industry challenges around reliability and asset integrity in the dynamic environment of onshore and offshore drilling.
This week, some of the leading global onshore/offshore drilling organizations and contractors converged in Houston, Texas for the 2016 IADC Asset Integrity & Reliability Conference. Facing a dynamically changing world and an unsure market, the event gave the best and brightest oil executives the opportunity to share visions, discuss challenges and learn how to adapt to change while still coming out on top. Drilling organizations are being challenged to operate differently than they have in the past, maximizing potential of existing assets and practicing lean, agile business methodology.
SPONSORING AGILE DRILLING OPERATIONS
As a leading provider of automated and optimized enterprise asset management (EAM) software for the oil and gas industry, IFS was a proud sponsor of the conference. It provided an opportunity for us to better gauge what is happening real-time in the industry. It also allowed us to understand how dynamic shifts, both internally and externally, drive drilling organizations to make changes to their operations and processes to maximize margin and cut cost without sacrificing safety and compliance. A common feeling throughout was that there is no ‘crystal ball’ as to when the oil downturn will end, so there is a lot of uncertainty in the market still. The question becomes, what is the new normal and how do drilling organizations embrace this and stave off competition? It also gives us the opportunity to share the success stories of drilling customers we have entered into valued partnerships with that have been able to mitigate risk, maximize efficiencies and uptime and manage compliance with our asset management software.
CONFERENCE TAKEAWAYS
One takeaway from the event was very clear: organizations are taking advantage of this time of downturn to evaluate processes and implement systems that will benefit them when things turn back around. They are operating with leaner numbers in their IT group because this is a better time to use their resources to focus on automating processes and increasing operational visibility that will give them the competitive edge for the future. So what areas did IADC say are worth the focus?
LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT OF ASSETS
Real-time visibility, predictive maintenance and forecasting are all helping improve the uptime of assets and are increasing value. Organizations that use joint operational and maintenance planning to take into account mobilization, operation and de-mobilization at the same time as preventative, predictive and compliance regulations have the ability to forecast asset utilization, cost and resource requirements to a higher degree.
IFS’s EAM software provides robust asset lifecycle management (ALM) to ensure reliability of assets, reduce faults and enable a performance driven environment. Our document management captures changing asset specifications and unstructured data, while our project management capabilities manage refits and lifecycle extensions. According to analysts like ARC Advisory, we lead the market in reliability-centered maintenance (RCM).
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT
The complexities surrounding regulatory compliance and risk management are abound in the oil and gas industry. Not only do drilling contractors have to conduct operations under a variety of regulatory demands from environment to health and safety and beyond, but they also must be vigilant to protect their large investments, from employees to assets to product. An organization can only ensure that risk is mitigated, operational costs are down and regulations are being adhered to by connecting the entire value chain to provide a full line of sight. The most crucial elements to success are increased control and real-time information sharing, to enable an organization to accurately forecast and improve decision-making.
IFS offers quality management to control plans, perform analysis and track results. Our unique failure mode and effect analysis delivers structured documentation and calculation of overall risk. And to keep you compliant, the solution provides complete traceability across the supply chain, calculation of the environmental footprint throughout the asset lifecycle and automated document management to manage approval processes, employee safety and more. To learn more about this read our white paper, Promoting Safety Management and Occupational Health and Welfare with IFS Health & Safety.
MEETING UNCERTAINTY WITH A PLAN
Uncertainty has left drilling contractors with a new set of challenges. In many organizations, IT is being prioritized as part of the corporate strategy. Cost reduction and in turn margin maximization are driving issues that are leading drilling contractors to actively search for new software solutions to help them mitigate costs and operate in a more lean and agile manner.
IFS Applications empowers drilling contractors to deliver projects on time while maximizing productivity and efficiency, which directly reduces costs. Our visibility into your entire operation ensures reliability, safety and risk management at a level that many organizations still struggle to achieve. Whether in times of crisis or when oil prices are soaring, our software allows your organization to adjust to the continually changing environment, effortlessly scaling to meet demands. We help see what’s next to help your offshore drilling organization be ahead of the change, every time.
We left the conference with a sense of excitement for what is to come and with an understanding and appreciation that organizations are taking the time to focus on what will help them thrive in the market moving forward. For more information on how we can help guide your focus or transformation, please visit our oil and gas industry pages.
