The Data Management Business Case

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Transforming the Numbers With Data Management

Increasingly complicated data sets, like the influx of production data for oil and gas, can require more robust data management strategies than we’re accustomed to. Excel or other small ad-hoc databases just aren’t up to the job of complex data warehousing. In addition, these more primitive solutions don’t provide the visibility or dashboards that are required by most decision makers.

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SharePoint Consulting for Oil and Gas: Integrating GIS Maps

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SharePoint Consulting Streamlines GIS Mapping

In our SharePoint consulting work, we see opportunities every day for oil and gas companies to streamline their operations and make information easier to find. For upstream companies, the insight that can be gained from geographic information systems (GIS) is well worth the effort of implementation.

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Custom Software Application Provides South American Producer with Improved Inventory Tracking

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Preventing Inventory Loss with Custom Software

Entrance has long partnered with Midstream service company TG Mercer to develop a custom software application, called SpreadBoss, that provides cradle to grave pipeline tracking. This past year, TG Mercer started working with one client in South America to provide better tracking of their inventory.

As they looked further into the project, TG Mercer realized that adding modules on to SpreadBoss would be the best way to provide the visibility this producer needed.

The first of these additions is the ability to divide large yards into zones, with a catalog of corresponding inventory in each zone. In addition, as employees check inventory into a given zone, they have the option to define a new item in the database, which was previously not possible.

See the picture to the right for an example of zoning in the application.

Quality Control Capabilities

An inventory reconciliation module takes this process a step further. On a quarterly basis, the customer can validate the complete inventory in a given zone. Employees scan every item, and when this is complete, SpreadBoss compares the expected inventory with actual inventory. Items that are lost or in the wrong zone can then be logged for action.

This quality control process will help TG Mercer’s clients to achieve better control of high value inventory. Particularly as the size of oil and gas facilities increase, this level of visibility will help prevent assets from hiding in plain sight.

For more on the benefits of custom web applications, check out this page. Read more about our partnership with TG Mercer here!

Data Management and the IT Service Model for Oil & Gas

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Data Management and the Digital Oilfield

As we’ve covered in a previous post, when it comes to data management, more data isn’t always better. But more complete, real-time data can be a key differentiator if it is tied to notifications and actionable business intelligence.

I ran across an article in Venture Beat from last year discussing five trends in oil and gas technology. The first trend discussed a McKinsey report that described the digital oil field: ““instruments constantly read data on wellhead conditions, pipelines, and mechanical systems.

That information is analyzed by clusters of computers, which feed their results to real-time operations centers that adjust oil flows to optimize production and minimize downtimes.”

Proving Out Investments in IT

The article went on to say that while “total upstream energy IT support spending is about 25 cents per barrel of oil,” some analysts “believe digital oilfield technologies could increase the net present value of oil and gas assets by 25%.”

Even as the energy industry makes these investments in higher quality data from the field, returns of 25% or more are very dependent on management of data once it reaches the front office.

The Harvard Business Journal recently published a blog along these lines called, ‘Don’t Just Serve – Enable: A new Model for IT Organizations.’ As the author, Bill Franks highlighted, “Business users need increasingly fast, broad, and flexible access to data.”

Changing the IT Data Service Model

One hold-up to this access can be the IT process, which because it has to serve everyone’s needs can often seem to fill no one’s. Particularly for oil and gas, “IT must shift focus to enabling access to the range of raw data elements that go into” traditional views and reports so that users can “mix and match data as required for their specific problems.”

As Upstream companies work to get the most value from their investment in each and every well, better data management may be the key to increasing production without a matching investment in new wells.

Since traditional reports often don’t enable users to dig as deeply as they need to, Franks suggests creating discovery environments.

“Within a discovery environment, users can query a broad range of data, create output data (which is not typically allowed in such systems), and even load new data.”

Discovery Moves the Needle on Data Management

These discovery environments, says Franks, have been a big success factor for many large companies. The big reason for this is that it’s easier to experiment “since they are already working within the scalable systems that will be used to deploy their findings, it is much easier and faster to move from prototype to final product.”

For an E&P company, this could mean iterating and making improvements to the process of drilling after only five wells instead of ten. Over time, these efficiencies could make a huge difference in production.

It can be difficult to challenge long-standing methods of looking at data. Oil and gas companies can’t afford to do anything less if they are to keep up in such a competitive industry. As Franks remarks, “Why wouldn’t you want people empowered to freely search for the next great business-changing analysis?”

For more strategies on making data a benefit, not a burden, for oil and gas, check out this post…

Custom Software: Tracking Pipeline Damage for Oil and Gas

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Releases (or leaks) are very important to pipeline companies. Common causes for these leaks are equipment damage, both internal and external corrosion, manufacturing failures, and natural hazards like shifting land. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is responsible for releasing reports regarding pipeline releases or leaks. As a result, the ability to track damage that could cause pipe failure and report on it is important.

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Custom Energy Software: Following Pipelines from Cradle to Grave

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We recently posted a news item about improvements to a custom software application that we developed for a client involved in the midstream service industry. They manage joints of pipe from cradle to the grave, and we recently released two new modules that has extended their tracking ability even further.

Milling: Getting in from the beginning

Custom Software: MillingThe first module allows the client to barcode joints of pipe as they are being milled. In addition, they capture the run number, coil number, and other data that helps identify that specific piece of pipe. After all of this has been completed, they commit the joint to the system.

Welding: the second step in the process

The second module follows the joint of pipe to welding. This part of the process is very important for quality control, as welds are a common point of failure in a pipeline. One employee stands on the X-End of the pipes to be welded, while another stands on the O-End. Both of their computers are connected to the same session in the system, and updates made on one end are reflected on the other.

Each worker scans the pipe to verify that the joint number is correct, and then the double jointed (DJ) weld is completed.

Custom Software: Welding ModuleAfterwards, the pipe is x-ray tested from the X-End to ensure that the weld is sound. Coming additions to the module will allow the client to track this test and then follow the pipe on to coating.

Each incremental step in the process of adding to the application allows our client to provide customers with a more and more complete view of what is happening to their property.

For more on solving business problems with custom software, check out this post. Or read about how codifying your business logic in custom software can help set your company apart…

 

Entrance Enhances SpreadBoss Towards Cradle-to-Grave Pipe Tracking

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Last year, we announced the completion of SpreadBoss, a custom software logistics support tool that allows thousands of joints of pipe to be tracked, providing customized inventory reports and creating a pipeline status history database. Entrance and TG Mercer have pushed the ability to track joints of pipe from cradle to grave that much further with the recent release of new modules for milling and welding.

Previously, TG Mercer would take custody of joints of pipe, assuming that they had been correctly milled and coated. They can now can insert their own employees at the very beginning of the process, allowing joints of pipe and their whereabouts to be entered into the system that much earlier. After this point, TG Mercer employees follow the pipe to the welder, where further quality control can be performed on-site.

This improved tracking ability has helped TG Mercer make more strides towards preventing inventory loss, in addition to giving customers better visibility into where project hold-ups are coming from at the very beginning.

For more on how this custom software solution works, check out our blog post, with screenshots.

To find out about the engineering intelligence behind the partnership with TG Mercer, read this article…

 

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