Case Study: Intelligent Plant's Hydraulic Intelligence Helps Solve Hydraulic Leak at Subsea Wells

Client: A Major Oil & Gas Operator

Return on Investment
For a typical North Sea Asset, an ROI for Hydraulic Intelligence is approximately £2.6 million, or 5200%.

Overview
In subsea systems, hydraulic fluid usage and valve signatures play a critical role in monitoring valve performance, ensuring safe and reliable operation, and reducing the risk of production failure or environmental damage caused by hydraulic leakages. Intelligent Plant's Hydraulic Intelligence software was instrumental in identifying the root cause of a hydraulic leak at our client's subsea infrastructure, enabling swift resolution and minimising downtime.

Results and Impact
With Hydraulic Intelligence, the client was successful in identifying double pump failure (not normally annunciated), complete loss of fluid, and usage of dirty fluid from incorrect tank usage. Combined, the probability of hydraulic failure was estimated to be 17.04% per year. The operator that implemented Hydraulic Intelligence gained the following benefits:

• Reduced Troubleshooting Time: Hydraulic Intelligence enabled rapid identification of hydraulic leak causes, reducing manual inspection time and facilitating faster issue resolution.
• Deeper Valve Performance Insights: Through valve signature analysis, the client gained a better understanding of their valves' performance characteristics. This newfound knowledge has been integrated into their standard operating procedures, ensuring that valve signatures are regularly reviewed to confirm alignment with ideal profiles.
• Cost Savings: By leveraging data-driven decision making and optimising well operations, the operator achieved significant cost savings through reduced maintenance time and expenses.
  

Challenges
The client had recently expanded their manifold system with new subsea water injection wells, but soon detected a hydraulic leak that resulted in increased hydraulic fluid usage and pump starts.

Challenges included:

• Hydraulic Leaks: Multiple subsea water injection wells were experiencing hydraulic leaks, leading to increased downtime and maintenance costs.
• Inconsistent Valve Performance: The client's valves were not performing consistently, making it difficult to identify the root cause of the leaks.
• Dirty Fluid: The client was able to detect and rectify faults related to dirty hydraulic fluid.

Solution
The client utilised Intelligent Plant’s software – Hydraulic Intelligence which was able to bring benefit in the following ways:

• Smart Detection: Detection of non-filtered fluid is performed automatically.
• Hydraulic Intelligence: Uses machine learning algorithms to analyse valve performance data and identify potential issues.
• Automated Troubleshooting: The automated troubleshooting system is implemented to quickly identify the root cause of any hydraulic leaks and provide recommended solutions.

Whilst monitoring usage is likely to spot large leaks, it remains likely that small leaks will go unnoticed. Therefore, Hydraulic Intelligence offers a more advanced leak detection solution to solve this problem. To achieve this, it monitors the pressures of the headers and well supply lines, raising alarms when significant pressure deviations in the system occur. This will help you to locate and identify the source of the leak.

Conclusion
Intelligent Plant's data-driven solution was used to successfully solve hydraulic leaks at the client's subsea infrastructure, leading to significant improvements in troubleshooting time and maintenance costs. The success of this project demonstrates the value of Intelligent Plant's expertise in industrial optimisation and their ability to deliver tangible results for clients.