Oil & gas industry standard inspections of offshore/upstream assets are done manually in most case which is time-consuming and hazardous. It typically takes over ~15 days to inspect assets (e.g. a well conductor of 100m length and 24 inch diameter), analyse the inspection data and deliver a maintenance plan. Personnel also risk their lives to perform inspections in hazardous environments. Manual inspection of assets, without adequate knowledge of their current status, is extremely dangerous. Risk-based approaches have grown out of this industry’s needs, and work well in many instances. However, where the standard approach cannot be adopted due to the harsh environment and access issues, the asset often receives less attention, leading to asset failure. Asset failures are costly and fatal at worst. Europe accounted for 28% of all reported major accident loss of containment in the MARs database from 1980 to 2006, with 11 fatalities, 183 injuries and >€170M economic loss2. Unplanned maintenance is costly but also very risky.
This action will finalise and commercialise an advanced automated inspection system at TRL6 to deliver a unique and innovative product (ASPIRETM to TRL9) for inspecting oil & gas upstream asset integrity and recommending maintenance schedules. ASPIRETM will relevant to assets both above and below sea level, broadening the inspection scope. ASPIRETM addresses 2 out of 3 main objectives of the oil and gas industry detailed in a 2015 magazine published by EY (a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services in Oil and Gas Sector). These 2 objectives include: (1) delivering continuous improvement in health, safety, environmental and quality (HSEQ) performance and (2) driving growth in daily production and proven reserves by optimising existing assets.
Objectives:
1. Complete the combination of the MEC-MPS200+ hardware with TWI’s enhanced analysis and maintenance recommendation software to deliver a system at TRL9.
2. Deliver a full scale end-to-end trial on an offshore installation with successful results.
3. Finalise the demonstrated ASPIRETM product, ready for market launch.
4. Create a validated business plan for launch and sales of ASPIRETM, with route to market established and agreements signed with partners.
5. Produce training manuals in English and Spanish, user guides and training programmes to support the roll-out of ASPIRETM in our priority countries (UK, Norway, Netherlands and Middle East)
6. Launch commercial ASPIRETM system (a software tool to support maintenance and integrity management of offshore structures, particularly conductors & caissons) into market for sale by Innospection.
7. Achieve recommendations as accepted practice in industry regulatory and best practice guidelines.
