BP and GE Launch new Digital Technology
BP and GE have announced the start-up of Plant Operations Advisor (POA), a new digital solution designed to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of BP’s oil and gas production operations. Plant Operations Advisor is already helping BP manage the performance of one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and, subject to a successful pilot, it will be deployed next year to other BP facilities around the world. The tool was created as part of a development partnership the two companies announced in January.
Plant Operations Advisor will help prevent unplanned downtime and improve facility reliability by helping engineering teams respond quickly to issues as they occur in real-time. POA rapidly integrates operational data from producing oil and gas facilities to deliver notifications and analytical reports to engineers so they can identify operational performance issues before they become significant.
The system provides simplified access to a variety of live data feeds and includes visualisation capabilities including a real-time facility threat display. It also incorporates an extensive case management capability to support learnings from prior operational issues. GE intends to offer this technology, which combines big data, cloud hosting, and analytics on both individual pieces of equipment as well as the entire production system, as an APM solution that will be available to the industry.