Case Study: Inertia

‘Self-Service’ digital inspection solution for the drilling industry.

 

The Client

Inertia is a French company delivering engineering, project management and procurement services to the oil and gas industry across Europe and the Middle East.

Focused on engineering services and asset integrity, Inertia’s services include: site surveys and inspection of drilling, well servicing structures and hoisting equipment, structural engineering reviews, rating studies, assessment of legacy assets, product and systems design, and project services for rig upgrades, refurbishments and new builds.

The Challenge

Inertia was seeking to transform its service model and had a vision for a self-service model of inspection that site or in-house teams could undertake with remote support and collaboration. By integrating engineering excellence with cloud and mobile technologies, effectively transitioning to a digital inspection environment, Inertia could identify cost reductions and deliver a more efficient and connected inspection environment.

• Such a model would remove conventional, paper based inspection challenges including:
• Reliance on a limited supply of experienced and expensive inspection resources
• Forced scheduling of 3rd party inspection teams between shutdowns or rig moves
• Incomplete, inconsistent or poor quality data
• Long lead times for client reporting
• Inability for global teams to collaborate and react quickly to critical issues
• Logistically challenging, expensive and safety risks for inspections with difficult access

The Inspectivity Solution

The initial scope of works included the development of customised reporting packages to support inspections associated with:

• API RP 4G Drilling Structures
• API RP 8B Hoisting Equipment
• Lifting Pad Eyes Registers
• DROPs
• Hose Management

Inspectivity provisioned a dedicated instance of The Inspectivity Platform for Inertia. The platform provides:

• The ability for Inertia to map and template their unique workflows such as drilling structure inspection through the standardisation of inspection templates
• Ability for inspection results to be sent via the cloud from the field for immediate desktop review
• An integrated PDF reporting package aligned with Inertia’s digital framework to issue real-time PDF inspection certification on completion of fieldwork
• On-call support for Inertia’s engineering and operations teams globally, allowing teams to work well regardless of geographical location

The Outcome

Data quality and integrity

• New digital inspection templates have removed subjectivity from the inspection process resulting in more consistent metrics and reduction in human error.
• Pre-mapped fields established by the engineering authority, not the individual inspection resource, has assured compliance with quality and compliance standards of the drilling sector.
• Standardisation of defect classifications set by engineering authority has created a forced level of discipline, ensuring uniformity of data.

Faster response, greater teaming

• Greater collaboration through The Inspectivity Platform has enabled greater communication between Inertia’s engineers and field inspectors – assessing condition data in real time, improving speed of decision making and overall response to critical issues.
• Rapid inspection certification is now available following completion of a review by the client’s engineering teams located in France.

Improved asset management

• Improved visibility of asset condition has enabled full traceability of the defect lifecycle, from discovery through to engineering assessment and closeout.
• Greater transparency has enabled Inertia the opportunity to improve end of life expectations for drilling assets.

Smarter ways of working

• Through implementation of a digital environment for inspection, Inertia can now offer a guided ‘self-service’ inspection model, allowing field work to be completed by a drilling asset’s own site team.
• Where remote sites or high-risk environments are involved, the ability for on-site teams to conduct digital inspection has identified significant cost savings and removed logistical barriers.

Inertia’s investment in digital inspection has uncovered opportunities for cost savings, process automation and efficient resource allocation, both internally and for their customers. Inspectivity continues to work with Inertia to improve inspection and asset management for the global onshore and offshore drilling industry.