Pressure has never been higher for the oil and gas business. Not only are companies contending with shortages, but they have a quagmire of supply chain issues to navigate. Many organizations in the energy sector are turning to automation technology to optimize their operations and provide agility during uncertain times.
Tatweer Petroleum have effectively been using process automation for over five years, running over 50 processes in Bizagi, and have seen significant benefits across stages of their oil and gas exploration projects.
Tatweer Petroleum operates the 75 sq. km onshore oil field for the Kingdom of Bahrain, producing approximately 50,000 barrels of oil and over 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The company’s primary goal is to increase the production of oil and the availability of gas to meet the future energy demands of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Here's how they are using process automation to fuel efficiency across the organization:
In April 2018, the Bahraini government announced its biggest oil and gas discovery since the 1930s, according to the International Trade Administration. Tatweer has since continued to explore both its onshore Bahrain field and an offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared with Abu Dhabi.
In order to determine the best location to build a new well, there is a lot of administration to get through, all with strict ESG considerations. In areas like Bahrain’s field where this is an established source of oil, owned by Tatweer, they do not need go through as many research documents or leasing. However, there are still significant geophysical surveys that need to be carried out for the well proposal, and data acquisition and analysis. There are also financial plans and projections to consider.
This information was previously manually gathered and added to spreadsheets, which were shared by email. This was clearly inefficient, so they took a process-driven approach to automate, manage and control these tasks. Using Bizagi’s low-code automation platform as a single point of operational truth helped to connect departments and optimize the site selection process.
At the planning stage, permits need to be properly managed before construction begins. Tatweer had previously used Adobe to manage this process, but as exploration of the oil field increased, it could not deliver the electronic forms and flexibility needed on this scale. There was also a need to enable greater workforce mobility in the field.
A low-code automation platform enables all paperwork to be digitally managed and orchestrated in a central repository. By streamlining all documents through Bizagi, not only is the process more efficient, but automation minimizes human intervention, which decreases the risk of errors and allows employees to focus on higher value tasks. The mobility of the platform also means that employees aren’t tied to their desks and can access any required information while on-site.
Once the wells are up and running, Tatweer needs to ensure ongoing health and safety checks and prove that operations meet compliance and ISO standards. Using a centralized platform with automated processes means that there is a central repository of information, complete with an audit trail within the workflows to prove compliance.
Their automated processes include Near Miss Reporting, Permit to Work Registration (PTW), Plant Process Override Request, Oil Spill & Clamp Reporting Process, Restricted Area Access Request, Well Tracking System, Technical Services & Support Request, among others.
The Near Miss Report shows a 250% increase in the number of identified and rectified safety observations by employees. The number of daily PTWs captured and processed has significantly increased, ensuring a smoother execution and cost-effective allocation of work.
More than 700 people use Bizagi across Tatweer and the results have been impressive. There are fewer ambiguities and errors due to electronic data capture, no bottlenecks, reduced turnaround times, and lower operational costs. Perhaps most importantly, it has created a safer operation for its business.
In an industry as highly regulated as oil and gas, it’s important to have the agility to make continuous amends to processes. Bizagi allowed Tatweer to create processes quickly and make changes fast, touching many of the different systems within the organization from eCommerce and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to industry-specific packages for asset/enterprise management, plant inspection management, and web-based analytics packages.
To ensure that all wells are running as efficiently and safely as possible, Tatweer is using smart technology to monitor the wells, with 500,000 IOT sensors fitted across the oil field. Bizagi acts as an orchestrator to manage the diverse, rapidly changing and high-volume data sets that are collected by these automated sensors, allowing Tatweer to make informed decisions and respond quickly to performance improvements.
Tatweer Petroleum is just one example of how process automation can transform an organization in the energy sector. If you would like to find out more about how a low-code platform can help transform your supply chain, download our free ebook, The Strategic Guide to Supply Chain Automation.
In addition to insight on how to optimize your supply chain, you will also learn:
• 3 steps to building more resilient operations • Best practices to tackle the key issues faced by energy and utility providers • How Bizagi's low-code automation platform has helped leading organizations transform their supply chains
