Digitising Russian downstream projects - part two
Published by Callum O'Reilly,
Senior Editor
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
Technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cognitive computing, remote sensing, data combination, etc are developing in global upstream, midstream, and downstream segments.
In the second part of this three part article, Gazprom Neft's attempts to implement and support Industry 4.0 innovations will be examined.
Gazprom Neft
Gazprom Neft has introduced a range of successful digitalisation projects including the implementation of blockchain technologies, AI systems, predictive analysis systems, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IioT). The creation of digital twins for wells, drilling sites, and refining facilities has also proved highly effective.
The company has set digitalisation as one of its priorities by establishing a new Digital Transformation Directorate in April 2018. The main goal of the department is to develop a system covering the company’s digital strategy aimed at improvement of the operational efficiency of all business processes. As well as the development of the company’s own IT platforms for creation of new information flows and databases, and its own predictive analysis tools. The Digital Transformation Directorate is responsible for correlating the data on the company’s progress in the introduction of cutting-edge technologies to work out a strategy for further development.
Earlier, Gazprom Neft had established several company units responsible for the downstream digital technologies. One of them is the Digital Innovation Center focused on developing a technological platform for Gazprom Neft’s business in terms of logistics, processing, and sales. It is aimed at the integration of all elements of the value chain into a united digital space in order to provide more flexible and efficient process management through predictive analysis and real-time data usage. The Center is focused on developing and applying Big Data, blockchain technology, predictive management, digital twin technology, the IoT, and AI-based self-learning tools.
To automate the supervision of efficiency and automation systems performance at the refineries, the company introduced the Monitoring and Diagnostics Center, which delivers the automation systems’ intelligence. It provides a steadily efficient performance and solving of problems concerning equipment operational readiness improvement, a breakdown rate decrease and reduction in repairs, and maintenance costs optimisation. The department was first established in 2015 at the Omsk Refinery and later in 2017 at the Moscow Refinery.
Gazprom Neft uses its Performance Management Center in Saint Petersburg to collect the data from the sensors at all of the company’s refineries in real-time and supervise the efficiency during the whole value chain. Now the Center is continuously processing the data from 250 000 resources. By 2020 this number will increase up to 1 million, allowing it to observe 98% of production characteristics (statistics from rbc.ru).
Written by Kristina Sabirova, Managing Partner of BGS Group and Project Director of PRC Russia & CIS 2018.
This is the second part of a three part article. Part one looked at Tatneft's developments in Industry 4.0, while part three will look at how SIBUR Holdings has embraced digitisation.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/special-reports/21112018/digitising-russian-downstream-projects--part-two/
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