Managing a shift change in Alberta’s oil sands

Companies operating in the Alberta oil sands are trying to figure out how to retain the corporate knowledge base that long-time employees carry in their brains. Many of those employees are expected to retire in coming years.

“What you see in the northern Alberta oil sands is a group who are in their late 40s or 50s, and there are a bunch of young guys who are in their 20s,” said Emon Zaman, vice-president of AVEVA NET Solutions, a division of AVEVA Group PLC.

He spoke recently about management of change during the Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technology Conference in Calgary.

“I think that there will be like a cottage industry of small companies that could provide consulting and training and other things to oil companies to help mitigate that [knowledge] gap,” Zaman said. “We’ve seen a little bit of that start already…the competition for skilled resources is going to be that much greater.”

He sees a need for oil sands operators to get more people—especially younger employees--trained to run the daily operations. Meanwhile, companies are extending contracts to temporarily retain the veteran employees and also are granting them more flexible work schedules in order to keep the corporate knowledge base intact.

Zaman says information resides in many different sources for any company. Software can help integrate that knowledge. AVEVA is an engineering information technology software provider. Zaman believes AVEVA NET software can help “close the gap between what is in an individual’s head versus what is out in the field itself.”

He foresees information availability and accessibility as something that is going to get easier. For instance, some innovations are coming from consumer products, such as applications for handheld devices.

Zaman envisions a time when an employee can take a picture of a pump within a plant using a handheld device. The device then tells the employee all the details of the pump, including whether the company has a spare pump in its inventory or where to buy another pump or where to get parts for that pump.

Technology integration is key to offshore safety

Athens Groups reports what it calls a high rate of schedule delays and nonproductive time (NPT) on highly automated offshore rigs. A recent survey of drilling contractors and operators shows drilling control system failures account for 20% of NPT.

Athens Group helps drilling contractors and oil companies prevent software-related equipment failures that can contribute to NPT, schedule delays, and safety incidents.

Don Shafer, a co-founder of Athens Group, outlined his company’s survey findings during a Mar. 24 speech to an environmental and safety conference hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers in San Antonio.

Rig automation is intended to maximize return on investment by reducing NPT, yet automated rigs are experiencing down time and safety incidents. Shafer said everyone involved must integrate hardware and software obtained from multiple venders.

Offshore rigs use complex software-dependent control systems. Shafer said venders cannot ensure that all systems and equipment will work as designed when integrated with other vendors’ new systems and equipment.

Shafer believes drilling companies and operators can reduce NPT by paying more attention to the application of software-engineering processes and equipment standardization interfaces.