While the world is prepping for an oil and gas industry where completely unmanned platforms are operated, inspected and maintained by teams of autonomous robots, Nigeria is not done fiddling with the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a legal and regulatory framework which seeks to change the organizational structure and fiscal terms governing the industry.
Though automation is not really new in the oil and gas industry, the future is autonomous robotisation. The industry now stands on the verge of fully unmanned platforms as exciting advances continue to be made with more agile and intelligent robots are taking on increasingly complex roles.
French oil major, Total through ARGOS (Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites), came up with ANYmal, a robot weighing 30kg which can operate with a high degree of autonomy, using lasers and cameras to navigate. Its flexible joints allow it to get flat to the ground and inspect areas other robots may find difficult to reach, as well as crawl upstairs with an incline of up to 45 degrees. Also, Chevron has been testing a snake-arm robots for inside vessel inspection in the North Sea.
But the launching of Oseberg Vestflanken H platform by Equinor on October 2018 ushered in a new high in the drive for innovation and artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry. The platform became the first fully automated oil and gas platform entirely unmanned and requiring only one or two maintenance visits in a year.
The platform, located 8km north-west of the Oseberg field, was built in just a few years, without the need to construct many common aspects of an offshore platform.
“Oseberg H is the first platform of its kind with no facilities, like living quarters, drilling plant, or a helideck, not even a toilet,” Anders Opedal, Equinor’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling, said.
The platform has a predicted volume capacity of 110 million barrels of oil equivalent, which lies some 110m below sea level and is accessed via 11 wells. It is managed via a control centre in the middle of the oil field, and will rarely have any personnel aboard.
Oseberg Vestflanken H platform was delivered 20 percent less than expected and this will ensure that its production over the next 22 years is more economical, predicted to be below $20 per barrel.
So as the rest of the world move on with artificial intelligence and innovation, Nigeria cannot get it hands off the PIB after over 16 years after the bill was initiated. The 8th National Assembly finally ended without delivering the long awaited PIB. Also, the Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB) passed by both chambers of the assembly did not receive the president’s assent.
Hon. Fred Agbedi, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Natural Gas suggested that all stakeholders in the industry need to work together to make PIB a reality in the unfolding 9th national assembly.
“We need to identify returning legislators who can work on the PIB in a caucus from the onset of the 9th assembly so we do not miss the target again”, Agbedi said on the sideline of 2019 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, US.
FRANK UZUEGBUNAM
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