The importance of predictive maintenance has increased in oil and gas operations against the backdrop of ageing infrastructure and volatile crude pricing, according to GlobalData.
The company’s latest thematic report: ‘Predictive Maintenance’ reveals that the adoption of predictive maintenance technologies is helping companies cut back on operational expenditure by optimising maintenance scheduling and driving productivity.
Ravindra Puranik, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “The insights gained from predictive maintenance programme enables decision makers to schedule maintenance activities without disrupting routine production operations. These insights can also be used to evaluate if any machinery or infrastructure requires a major overhaul on priority, and accordingly decide whether to use the available capital expenditure for new projects and expansion plans or divert it for the upgrading of existing facilities.”
Predictive maintenance is a fairly mature concept and has been widely deployed in the oil and gas industry over the last 20 years. Predictive maintenance tools evaluate the condition of operational equipment and predict maintenance requirements in order to achieve optimum performance and prevent malfunction.
Predictive maintenance utilises automated condition monitoring and advanced data analytics to gather vital equipment statistics – such as vibration, temperature, sound, and electric current – and compare them with historical records of similar equipment to detect signs of deterioration.
Puranik concludes: “Recent advancements in cloud-based data analytics and the rise of the digital twin in oil and gas operations are extending the boundaries of predictive maintenance technologies, making it a reliable tool for monitoring asset integrity.”
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/24052019/predictive-maintenance-growing-in-importance/
