In Uncertain Era, Building Flexibility is Key to LNG’s Future - and Four Tried-and-Tested Digital Technologies Can Help
Published by Kristian Ilasko,
Digital Content Assistant
LNG Industry,
This uncertainty is particularly felt in LNG markets worldwide. At the end of the last decade, it was commonly predicted that LNG demand would peak this decade before decreasing as countries pursued their energy transition and decarbonisation goals.
Today, this air of certainty has faded. ‘Green deals’ in the EU and US seem to have lost traction, while India and China are projected to sustain demand for LNG. In the next five years, the industry should brace for such uncertainty persisting, with fluctuating demand and growth, rapid geographical shifts, and growing regulatory pressures.
As many new projects see the light of day, including a wave of new LNG terminals due to come online before the end of the decade, efficient project and operations management will be central to the fortunes of industry players. Three digital technologies, in particular, will help build flexibility and predictability in production, storage and distribution.
A digital backbone to enable compliance, collaboration, and automation across projects and operations
LNG projects vary widely in nature and scale, but all entail their share of complexity, whether to:
- Track progress.
- Control and manage critical data across project phases – from planning to design, engineering, construction, and commissioning.
- Support collaboration between multiple stakeholders.
- Provide an auditable track record to strong regulatory and safety requirements.
Meeting these demands requires a strong foundation – a digital backbone that can manage critical data and ensure interoperability with design, engineering. and construction software.
The recently launched HxGN SDx2 has been designed with this imperative in mind. This new-generation digital twin platform is tailor-made for organisations operating in asset-intensive industries, like oil and gas and petrochemicals.
One of its defining features is its ability to integrate with a slew of popular platforms and software, including Hexagon solutions for design and engineering (e.g. Smart 3D, Smart P&ID), third-party design systems, such as Navisworks and IFC, and operational systems, such as HxGN EAM, SAP PM, IBM Maximo, and Aveva PI System, to provide real-time data on asset performance. In addition, a robust Web API ensures flexibility in connecting with other data sources.
This broad range of integrations ensures that it can serve as a true backbone and single pane of glass across the complete lifecycle of LNG projects and operations, breaking down silos and accelerating time-to-value.
Cloud a natural fit for LNG projects and operations
HxGN SDx2 is cloud-native, a feature particularly suited for LNG projects.
The cloud offers several clear benefits for LNG. It is particularly suitable for projects and suppliers spread across large geographical areas, connecting workers wherever they are. It is also a natural fit for projects that involve a complex web of stakeholders, approvals, and workflows.
In a recent project, a global energy consortium formed to design, build and operate an LNG export terminal in British Columbia demonstrated the strength of this value proposition.
The project was the lead operator’s first experience with a full-cloud approach. After selecting Hexagon’s specialised design solutions, including Intergraph Smart® 3D, Intergraph Smart Electrical, and Intergraph Smart Instrumentation, underpinned by Intergraph Smart Cloud, the operator experienced a number of key benefits:
- Being able to use its product catalog in its integrated engineering environment and connect it to the other planning tools, thus sharing data for up to 60% of the equipment coming from suppliers.
- Supporting a ‘copy and paste’ approach and the reuse of information from planned plants and partial projects, saving time, effort and resources.
- Avoiding rework through a data-centric approach from the FEED phase onwards, delivering expected 1.5% savings.
The importance of handovers
This project also exemplified a crucial factor in the success of LNG projects and operations: the importance of handovers.
Handovers – from FEED to detailed design and from projects to operations through commissioning, startup and handover – are the ‘moment of truth’ when a data-driven, integrated approach pays off in spades.
Let's start with the FEED phase. In a typical project, it generates vast amounts of data and takes a chunk of the project budget – as much as 2%, according to a Blackridge Research study. By integrating FEED data into the Smart Digital Reality environment, it becomes an integral part of the asset’s digital twin, accessible to all stakeholders, reducing time wasted from miscommunications and data discrepancies down the line. The benefits cannot be overstated: research shows that a well-executed FEED phase can reduce project costs by up to 30%.
Similarly, a top-of-the-line solution for commissioning and handover, such as Intergraph Smart® Completions, can dramatically improve the outcomes of this critical phase – ensuring reuse of best practices and expediting implementations, standardised work planning and execution and turnover processes.
The solution proved all its value in a recent US$25 billion coal seam gas (CSG) pipeline and liquefaction project that incorporated a 530-km gas transmission pipeline from multiple gas processing facilities. It helped drive effective control and management of critical data a significant challenge for a project of this magnitude – and efficiency gains across the board.
For existing assets, digitising operations requires ease-of-use and configurability
For existing assets, flexibility stems from maintaining safe, reliable, and compliant operations. Yet, many LNG facilities still rely on traditional, manual processes for critical tasks, leading to inefficiencies and errors.
This is rarely for lack of trying. Digitising key operational processes such as shift handover, operator rounds, and routine duty is one of the most important parts of the digital transformation of oil and gas sites, but also one where organisations stubbornly stumble. Causes vary, from software complexity and lack of configurability to the inherent complexity of oil and gas sites and their strict regulatory and safety requirements.
So, what is the recipe for success? Singapore LNG Corp.'s (SLNG) recent success in digitising operations at a terminal critical to the country’s energy security can provide guidance.
Faced with demanding deadlines and substantial requirements, SLNG identified that it needed a full-package, easy-to-use solution to meet operations, process safety and compliance requirements. This included secure and rigorous applications to manage operations logbooks, shift handovers, permits to work and ship unloading.
With j5 Operations Management Solutions, SLNG found the perfect way to drive a straightforward and unified digitalisation of its operations. The solution is particularly easy to use, leveraging a spreadsheet-like configuration environment and a distinctive yet familiar low-code/no-code approach without requiring expensive and slow vendor and IT services – an important factor in ensuring that the solution could be delivered in time for the first shipment of LNG and within budget.
Such an example shows some critical factors for LNG players to drive performance and flexibility despite the complexity that is inherent to their projects. Digital solutions need to be tailored to industry challenges, with an emphasis on integration and interoperability across the entire asset lifecycle, compliance and safety. But companies should not overlook the human factor, and the importance for these solutions to be easy and enjoyable to use.
Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/special-reports/03092024/in-uncertain-era-building-flexibility-is-key-to-lngs-future--and-four-tried-and-tested-digital-technologies-can-help/
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