Jun 15, 2019 . Read 5 min

Doing More With Less in Production Operations With Exception Based Surveillance

By Subhash Bankey

Knowledge is power, and more so in the digital world. While the world is piling up information in each sector with each passing day, knowledge becomes even more precious. We have recognised that in this era, data is the new oil. Hence, at Cairn, we use existing sensor data to convert it into actionable insights with Exception Based Surveillance (EBS)

EBS raises analytics-driven exceptions on systems that need proactive maintenance so that the issues can be addressed before they occur. When process and operating parameters deviate outside the operating limit, the EBS solution alerts the respective teams for rapid action. At Cairn, we are processing information to arrest and significantly reduce production losses due to equipment failures and trip -ups. Enabling/Driving such specific and local accelerated action is the motivation for EBS.

At Cairn, we use MySmart Alert or Sentinel's intelligent real-time Complex Event Processing engine that maintains a constant watch over plants and field operations, and rapidly accesses and analyses the situation. It triggers alarms and alerts when an incident occurs, allowing less staff to effectively manage larger portfolios and more assets. My Smart Alert monitors entities and tags for compliance with specified thresholds, using a built-in event processing engine and automatically raises events when defined conditions are met. Some of the operational surveillance systems that Cairn has implemented are listed below:

One of the key foundations of EBS is the integration of IT, where we write the rule, with operational technology (OT). Not only this, we are taking EBS a step ahead so that every incident is managed as a case with reviews and pareto analysis of all equipment trips and bad actors. Once the bad actors have been identified, additional monitors are added for specific surveillance.

EBS has reduced downtime in all aspects, increased life of equipment, helped improve standards of safety and reduced costs. No doubt the digital world is changing the E&P industry at such a fast pace and enabling us to do more with less.

We continue to transform ourselves leveraging digitalisation. Stay tuned on LinkedIn as we talk next about the significant transformation in our corporate functions portfolio with SAP HANA.