A top ten Oil & Gas company in the USA relies on the Ekho Industry 4.0 digital solution for Performance Management in Operations, Maintenance, Safety and Security

This Pipeline Company uses Ekho to monitor and control the operations of 1000’s of miles of pipelines, transfer stations and shipping terminals within the United States, for the handling of crude oil, refined petroleum products, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas and chemicals. Over one million barrels of crude, refined products, natural gas and chemicals are transported through the network on a daily basis.

When your mission is so demanding, operational performance and safety are of the utmost importance. You need to have as much meaningful information on hand as possible, in order to monitor operations in real time, and to react quickly to events impacting operations – events such as leak detection, pressure loss, pipeline breaks, abnormal operating conditions, and equipment failures. More importantly, is the ability to have the information available to be proactive to counter the impact of unplanned events – events such as human errors, equipment failures, encroachment of marine traffic, or natural events such as earthquakes and forest fires.

The Ekho software is interfaced to real time data collection systems throughout the pipeline network, pulling data from sensors, gauges, and control systems, and capturing images from a broad array of cameras covering the network. The software is also interfaced with the national system for tracking earthquake activity (USGS), and with satellite systems for capturing information about forest fires, marine traffic and oil sheen.

The Need

This customer turned to Ekhosoft for a digital solution that could :

• Facilitate user transformation from a forms-based system to a mobile digital solution
• Improve accuracy of record keeping of events in Operations and Maintenance
• Provide early warning of events potentially impacting safe and secure operations
• Ensuring more effective and timely control over Operations
• Providing easy to understand status views for Operations and Management personnel
• Avoiding revenue impacting delays in Operations and Maintenance
• Provide analytical tools for review of network performance and identification of bottlenecks
• Provide advanced technology for identifying risks associated with Operations

Prior to implementing Ekho, the company was using handwritten sheets maintained in logbooks. While this system was easy to use, it was prone to errors – errors of omission – errors made because there was no way to validate an entry – no way to search for information for a particular event on a given piece of equipment – no way to search for similar events on similar units. It was virtually impossible to develop a history of events for a particular piece of equipment. It was a time consuming and cumbersome process to create backup copies of the logs – and audits by government agencies were painful to say the least. More importantly the information was usually recorded at the end of the shift, and other than by going and looking into the various control systems, there was no real time information available about the status of operations, and there was no system for Alarms and Notifications to alert Operators or Management to actual, or developing events which could seriously impact Operations.

The Solution

Ekhosoft’s answer was to deploy its off-the-shelf Operational Performance Management modules for Electronic Logs – Tracking Operating Events – Monitoring Equipment Status, Performance and Downtime – Managing Safety Procedures – Risk & Disaster Avoidance – Alarms & Notifications – along with the Ekho Intelligent Data Warehouse for analysis and reporting, and creating Dashboards and KPI’s. The solution was configured to meet the customer requirements
– not the other way around.

“ The opportunities for application of this configurable, scalable and extensible software solution are limited only by your imagination”. Senior Operations Engineer, Pipeline Company

DIGITALIZATION

All of the event data for Operations and Maintenance is now captured electronically either through interfaces to related systems or through the use of electronic forms. All incoming data can be verified for accuracy and curated prior to entry into the data base. Once the data is in the system it can be used to perform all of the required functions in Operations and Maintenance, including Risk Avoidance.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

In addition to providing the digitalization at the Operations level, Ekho also provides an Intelligent Data Warehouse for storing a complete history of all of the event related data. This data is used to perform basic functions like creating daily reports, or equipment history summaries, and also to produce audit reports for government agencies. The Data Warehouse is also used to do performance analysis using dashboards and KPI’s, and can be used for advanced functions like Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics.

INTEGRATION

Ekho delivers ultimate flexibility in integration with related business systems and industrial processes. Data interfaces with gauges, sensors, PLC’s, SCADA Systems are typically fed through a data historian such as the PI System from OSIsoft, or collected using OPC connectivity. Interfaces with common business systems such as those for Maintenance, Quality or ERP are handled with standard API’s.

OUTCOMES

“Our operators are more engaged in using electronic forms and the Ekho applications. I am confident this will lead to improved data accuracy, better ownership of responsibilities, and improved performance in Operations and Maintenance” said the Senior Operations Engineer.

“We have already had one experience where we avoided a major calamity in the Gulf of Mexico. Our control room operators noticed a ship was slowly moving towards an area of one of our underwater pipelines. Using the ship information in the Ekho system – making contact with the Coast Guard and them in turn making contact with the ship – it was determined that the ship was supposedly at anchor, but was drifting and dragging the anchor. With the information in the Ekho system we were able to identify the problem, make contact the ship, and avoid a possible disaster”.

“Another area where we have seen an amazing benefit is in reduced travel into the field for Operations personnel. Previously, when we were aware of a situation, we had to dispatch personnel into the field for a firsthand look at the problem. Now, with the advanced monitoring and analysis in the Ekho system and the use of cameras to pick up real time images from the site, we can do most of our analysis remotely and send resources in only when necessary This applies to abnormal operating conditions on the network, as well natural events like earthquakes and forest fires”.

About Ekhosoft 

Ekhosoft is a leading provider of operations management and operational intelligence software solutions for the industrial sector. Our mission is to provide industrial companies with flexible, scalable software solutions that can be used to drive improved operational performance – leveraging data to streamline workflows and optimize operations. Ekhosoft has been generating value for our industrial clients around the world for over 20 years. Ekhosoft is part of Power Factors, a 275-person organization serving global markets with solutions for renewable energy and industrial applications through offices throughout North America, Europe, and the Philippines. Learn more at ekhosoft.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.