empowered their workforce. However, as we continue to move from an analogue to a digital world, operational data has arguably become a company’s most important asset, as it underpins all strategic initiatives, including operational excellence and digital transformation. Carbon data management The addition of carbon data management as an extension of environmental data management only amplifies this strategic point. The challenges of the past, in hindsight, seem simple compared to those fuel producers now face; they must now balance many stakeholder expectations, including affordable and flexible energy, profitability, and social responsibility. The oil and gas industry has used operational data and associated self- serve, real-time decision support to drive down production costs and deliver business value. Now, environmental directives have added yet another variable to the equation: companies must strive to reduce production costs and their carbon footprints across complex value chains, including a growing and complex ecosystem of stakeholders and business partners. Not all data, however, is equally useful. Not only does a wealth of raw data, devoid of context, structure, or quality rarely pay dividends, but it can also create further difficulties for those tasked with its utilisation. If users are too slow to develop and implement sustainable solutions, significant lost opportunity costs will accrue. When unstructured operational data builds up in data lakes and catchall repositories, traditional IT technologies can create more problems than they solve, as businesses must spend more time wrangling data than using it to deliver business value and meet • Evolve business strategy to include decarbonisation solutions and services Equipment health remote monitoring No matter wh t type of equipment yo ’re working with, o two assets are created equal. So why treat each one the same when it comes to health and maintenance? Operations data management allows your team to see continu lly updated information about equipment health and receive notifications the minute something begins to go astray. Notifications can be delivered directly based on thresholds or key criteria. Example: PetroSA As the n ti nal oil company of South Africa, PetroSA's business s ans the entire petroleum value chain. Althoug PetroSA has utilize the PI Syst m fr m AVEVA as its operations ata management platform for more than 20 years, it recently re-evaluated its role while centralizing nd standardizing a diverse rang of operatio s and business functions. Real-time operations monitoring When something goes wrong on an oil rig or at a production facility, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to wait for critical information about what exactly is happening before you can begin diagnosing the problem. A wrong decision about a problem or solution could result in even greater delays and loss of precious time and money. Operations data management delivers during this critical window by enabling you to see what’s happening in real- time and make decisions based on data co ing from the assets themselves, not assumptions or premonitions. Example: Empresa Nacional del Petróleo Empres Nacional del P tróleo (ENAP), Chile’s NOC, faced three major hallenges related to opera ions data, making pl nt d ta available to corporate leaders in real-time; ensur ng av il bility of d ta from different site a ross the country; and ensuring d ta consistency across the o p rate level and i ividual sites. The PI System operations data man gement pl form helped the company solve those c all nges, and secur ly exchang information with key su pliers outside f Chile. The PI System makes operations data and information available in a private cloud space that everyone in the company can access on any device at any time. This centralized data source also serves as the foundation for a shared service model and facilitates collaboration across the organization. ESG mandates. Often users are either adept at computational data manipulation or subject matter experts (SMEs) within the field to which the data will be applied, but not both. To produce actionable intelligence, data must be structured and accessible to those who can best use it, particularly SMEs who have the knowledge and experience to put data insights into action – a strategy that is all the more vital now that fuel producers must prioritise decarbonisation alongside profits. With self-serve digital tools that are grounded in solid operational and carbon data management with streaming analytics, events, and notifications with AI-infused intelligence at their disposal, as well as a clear digital strategy for decarbonisation, oil and gas companies can manage and address these competing interests much more easily and effectively. For the oil and gas industry, which accounts for roughly 9% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (McKinsey & Co, 2020), the path to decarbonisation may seem like a difficult one, as the challenges fuel producers face are often unpredictable. With a precise plan of action for decarbonisation, however, companies can be prepared to meet these challenges head on. This article will consider how to leverage digital technologies in the common dimensions of decarbonisation that include: • Accelerate traditional energy efficiency efforts • Optimise value chains – both financial carbon, hydrogen, and renewables production • Integrate carbon accounting across their value chain • Strategically electrify assets and upgrade the
www.decarbonisationtechnology.com How operations data management can transform national oil companies
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