Statoil (Oil & Gas, Norway)

Begin by Navigation through a Difficult Market
In the turbulent North Sea, Statoil planned to erect a fixed platform that would extract 60K barrels of oil per day from the Norwegian continental shelf. Global market conditions at the time tightly squeezed the margins of oil and gas operations and significantly constrained costs. To succeed, the project would need to include contributions from multiple international teams and hardware components from several remote manufacturing locations.
Though Statoil recognized that execution complexity would be high and project changes numerous, they also knew production had to start as soon as safely possible. Project changes must be completed accurately. And the evolving project must meet deadlines.

Lay Solid Solution Groundwork
To ensure profitability in the tough market, goals included project efficiency as well as long-term operational and maintenance savings. Statoil turned to Emerson for a fully remote, integrated DeltaV™ distributed control system (DCS) and DeltaV safety instrumented system (SIS). Attractive also was the potential for maintenance and operational savings with 200 wireless Rosemount pressure and temperature devices as well as AMS vibration monitoring capabilities.
To create efficient communication among global groups — accelerating design, testing, and commissioning — Statoil chose Emerson’s Remote Virtual Office (RVO). With RVO, the team could access project resources and expertise regardless of location and could reduce travel time.

Preventing Unplanned Changes from Risking Strategic Successes
Even with everything in place and high-quality vendors working around the globe, the project team experienced interruptions that could have risked derailing automation success.
For instance, control I/O hardware was required before design was final. Without DeltaV Electronic Marshalling with CHARMs technology, that condition might have caused delays. Instead, the project team created and delivered I/O hardware in standardized junction boxes without finalized software.
In addition, because Statoil had chosen wireless devices, any placement changes could be made quickly, and the plan reduced wiring by 9200 meters.
To make up time from delays outside the automation area, the project team used AMS Device Manager bulk transfer for commissioning. In fact, commissioning multiple devices at once saved about two hours per device.
Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) was performed safely, confidently, and virtually; running all the normal tests without any control or I/O hardware. Emerson’s virtual FAT mobilized resources around the world and was complete in only two days with no hardware shipping or rigging.
Statoil and Emerson personnel stationed around the world built a streamlined team to align purposes, overcome cultural differences, and apply technology to succeed through difficult conditions.