- Operators could save £15 million per asset by leveraging technology to identify unnecessary maintenance, according to new findings by Lloyd’s Register.
- As much as 40% of maintenance work carried out by Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel operators is unnecessary.
- It reduces unwarranted manhours, operators could save on average almost £600,000 per asset each year, which is equivalent to £15m over an assets’ life.
- By applying a risk-based maintenance approach using its Asset Performance Maintenance software, AllAssets™, LR found that on average, FPSO operators could be spending 500 manhours per specific equipment group.
A recent news article published in Lloyd’s Register reveals the findings have identified room for improvement in the way maintenance is planned, highlighting the need for a consistent strategy across equipment groups, systems and production units.
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) guidelines
They identified that relying purely on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) guidelines meant that operators were unable to qualify whether maintenance activities were essential, demonstrating that OEM guidelines also don’t take into consideration the ever-changing nature of offshore operations.
Victor Borges, Lloyd’s Register’s expert voice on leveraging technology , said:
“In an environment that merges both energy and marine assets, FPSO operations are hugely complex. Balancing OEM maintenance guidelines alongside flag, class and country regulations is exceptionally challenging.”
“That, coupled with the tough market conditions we face today, means operators are under more pressure than ever to manage costs and prioritise maintenance activities that reduce risk. Therefore, operators could reap significant benefits from our findings, which highlight areas for improvement in the way maintenance activities are planned.”
Design and implementation is systematic
LR is a world leader in the design and implementation of systematic, best-in-class maintenance strategies using preconfigured industry standard models.
Through its asset performance management platform, AllAssets™, LR delivers the insights operators need to validate or optimise maintenance strategies, allowing them to tune maintenance intervals with real operating conditions.
This results in the eradication of unnecessary maintenance, reducing costs and improving efficiency across their operations.
As a result of this approach, there is an increased risk of failure as a backlog of maintenance is generated, increasing spend and inappropriately targeting resources.
Findings
LR conducted analysis specifically focusing on FPSO projects. These projects allowed LR to deliver an optimisation of around 40% on maintenance activities.
Across these optimisation projects, we have on average identified yearly savings of £23,000 per asset group.
An asset group is a group of equipment items of the same type such as an electric motor supporting a compressor or a centrifugal pump.
LR has optimised 26 different asset groups made up of common equipment items in FPSOs, and if all the 26 asset groups are optimised, LR can deliver yearly savings of £23,000 per asset, and an overall saving of nearly £600,000 (£598,000) annually.
Over 25 years asset life, this equates to savings of close to £15 million.
The optimisation value depends on a number of factors such as frequency of maintenance activities, duration, cost for the different resources etc.
Therefore, some asset groups will have higher financial impact.
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Source: Lloyd’s Register
