Retrofitting New Technologies Costs Less in the Shipyard
April 4th, 2019
EM&I have had the following article published in Oilfield Technology Magazine:
EM&I: Retrofitting new technologies costs less in the shipyard
When it comes to benefiting from the latest robotic technologies such as EM&I’s ODIN®diverless inspection and repair, NoMan® remote tank inspections, and diverless HullGuard®ICCP systems, it makes sense to engineer and install whatever is needed to do so at the construction stage, rather than during operations.
Case histories have shown that the costs can be 50% lower if, for example, ODIN or HullGuard ports are engineered and installed while the asset is under construction.
The challenge is to plan these systems before the design is frozen and develop a business case that shows that the safety and operational efficiency life cycle benefits of each innovation makes sense to the operator.
Leaving it late generally makes it difficult to gain these benefits without disrupting the project delivery timeline which then leads to having to retrofit the systems while the asset is operational.
While the retrofit approach is designed in to all EM&I innovations it is often more costly and uses up valuable bedspace.
EM&I has developed a programme available to operators of new assets at no cost which includes a study of the asset’s life cycle requirements and delivers a report with recommendations and business cases of which asset integrity systems will deliver the optimum benefits for the project.
These studies focus on diverless solutions, remote tank and pressure vessel solutions, non-intrusive Ex equipment inspections and digitised pressure system RBI (Risk Based Inspection) programmes.
Studies of how to optimise baselines are also included in the studies because these new methods can change the scope and methodology of traditional baselines.
“FPSOs should be as complete as possible before they leave the shipyard” said Danny Constantinis (Executive Chairman) of the EM&I Group – the international asset integrity specialists – “These new technologies are already producing huge savings – often over 50% of OPEX costs and 70% of POB (Persons on Board), so preparing assets for a robotic and digitised future during construction make them even more economic” he concluded.
