Page 8: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Sep/Oct 2020)

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LEADING OFF Digitalization

By Matthew Tremblay ndustries are adapting to an increasingly digitalized land- scape. The Floating Production Storage and Offoading (FPSO) industry is no different. As concerted efforts are

I made to improve project economics Matt Tremblay, ABS

Senior Vice President, Global Offshore, discusses how digitaliza- tion can increase safety, reduce costs, and build robust technical and operational capabilities.

No one could have predicted what a challenging year 2020 would become. Offshore production activity fuctuated dra- matically with changing market economics and a global pan- demic, the fall out of heightened geopolitical tensions, not to mention new IMO regulations introduced at the beginning of this year.

On the horizon, however, is positive news. Markets are beginning to evolve, and an example of this is Brazil, where both Petrobras and international oil companies are again ac- tive. Increased activity is also taking place in the North Sea, and in Australia. New entrants are making strong headway in regions such as Mexico, where Petroleum Reform is opening offshore exploration and production to foreign companies.

EVOLVING FPSOS THROUGH THE

INFLUENCE OF DIGITALIZATION

With these positive developments, the Floating Production

Storage and Offoading (FPSO) markets and the assets them- selves, continue to evolve.

With the largest feet of classed FPSOs, ABS has supported their development in both size and complexity. At its core, an

FPSO is simply a production, storage, and offoading system.

While the basic design concept hasn’t fundamentally changed, what is evolving are the technologies, systems, and tools avail- able for an FPSO to optimize its design and operation.

Infuencing this change are the fundamentals of how asset management can be applied to achieve leaner, cost-effective operations and reliable exploration activities. There is a pri- mary focus on improving maintenance scheduling and per- formance, reducing human factor involvement, and increas- ing the lifetime use of the FPSO asset, safely. The importance 8 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM