The international asset integrity specialists EM&I were invited to speak at the OTC this year, about their innovations in the asset integrity industry.
Houston based drilling expert, Mark Wilson (EM&I's Regional General Manager for North America), spoke at the Technical Session: 'Continuous improvement. More for less' - one of the themes of the OTC this year, was how oil majors will continue to develop their budgets to cope with lower oil prices.
Mark's presentation: 'Cost effective asset integrity in a US$50 barrel world', related to the overall theme of the conference, as he focused on innovative technologies which have emerged from theJIP (Joint Industry Project) called HITS (Hull Inspection Techniques & Strategy), which EM&I have been leading on behalf of the FPSO Research Forum for the last 5 years.
Innovations such as the ODIN diverless UWILD (Under Water Inspection in Lieu of Drydocking), and the NoMan remote camera technologies were discussed in detail. These have already been proved on a number of projects worldwide for UWILDs and tank inspections to be more economic, efficient, and safer than traditional methods, often saving over 50% or more, and reducing the POB (People on Board) requirement by over 70%.
Mark Wilson summed up at the end of his presentation: "This is a major step change for the industry as we move into robotics and digitisation, with the ability to carry out essential inspection and maintenance work while the asset is on-hire, on station, and in operation".