Data management key to oil & gas safety (Comment added)

Aberdeen, UK – In the event of an offshore gas leak, or similar disaster, where internal emergency procedures are launched, easy access to up-to-date critical technical information is of paramount importance.

Oil, gas and engineering companies in particular tend to have large volumes of business-critical technical information which must be well managed to avoid exposure to risk and inefficiencies.

However, many organisations struggle to build a convincing business case for investment in information management (IM), despite it being so critical in the energy industry.

Indeed, IM is often viewed as a non-critical asset, which merely supports the business, so that companies are missing out on efficiency gains and cost savings.

Energy companies need to recognise the value of IM, according to Fionnuala Cousins, information management business analyst at Aberdeen-based technology firm Amor Energy.

“Any form of information in an organisation needs to be managed, just the same way as other assets such as capital, labour and resources,” said Cousins, who is also an associate lecturer at Robert Gordon University (RGU).

“The benefits that can be realised by a department or organisation that effectively manages information are immense. Having a single IM system reduces the time senior management spend comparing the different formats of reports submitted by various areas of the business, by compiling approved information through a reliable process that can ultimately save a medium sized company tens of thousands of pounds.

“Organisations have different strategic views on IM with some merely viewing it as a supporting process that must be managed within a reasonable financial and resource cost, while others see it as a way they can transform everyday tasks by helping to reduce overhead costs, reporting time and increase customer satisfaction.”

Amor Energy, in partnership with RGU, has introduced the UK’s only IM Energy Forum, created as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), to bring together oil and gas professionals in the North-east.

The forum comprises members from some of the biggest players in the Oil and Gas industry, including TOTAL E&P UK, Maersk Oil, Nexen, Taqa and CNR International.

The forum enables IM specialists to meet face-to-face with academics and technology providers to share experiences of managing information, identifying best practice procedures.

It also allows them to define areas of Benchmarking including customer service, IM staff development, IM control and demand in reference to service management and records management.

David Sneddon, information manager at Centrica Energy Upstream, a member of the forum since its inception in 2009, said: “Membership of the IM Energy Forum gives us access to a community facing similar challenges, and opportunities to discuss our options in meeting these challenges.

“We then utilise this for our own service improvement. Platforms like the IM Energy Forum help us avoid reinventing the wheel and speed the development of the domain.”

Skilled staff

While organisations need to recognise the significant value of effective IM, it is essential to have skilled personnel who can deal with the large volumes of information being generated. However, finding those with suitable training and skills in this area can prove difficult, as a career in IM, or document control, is not often recognised as a viable option for students.

“People tend to fall into the role, there is no real defined career path,” admits Amor Energy’s Fionnuala.

RGU hopes to address this through its new Document Control Foundation short course, delivered via online distance learning, providing flexibility to fit around existing work commitments.

The short foundation course, which welcomed its first cohort of students in May this year (2012), has been developed in consultation with industry, for new entrants to the document control function in the oil and gas sector. It aims to enable students to gain an understanding of the value and practice of IM and document control.

Cousins continues: “Having an entry level course is very important for document control as it supports a natural career entry point, particularly in the oil and gas and engineering sectors. Information Management is also something that applies to all businesses and the course will provide students with highly sought after skills.”

“In my view, IM has two ultimate goals” Cousins says. “These are legal and regulatory compliance, and conferring competitive advantage.

“The former is much more meaningful for directors, users and colleagues because it is expressed in terms that immediately bring to mind opportunities, fines, prosecution, revenue, share prices and MPs assuring an angry public that lessons will be learned.

“It speaks to central organisational objectives. People will accept the legal side easily, and we’re now going some way to defining the competitive advantage by making it more comprehensible.

“Business model innovations such as value chain integration and mass customisation - already evident in the auto and finance industries where product elements are customised to meet specific customer - are now being mirrored in the energy industry with customers demanding tailored products due to an increase in service providers, well exploration, decommissioning and renewables.

“However these transformational innovations cannot take place without a strong IM strategy, of which the value to the energy industry can ultimately be measured in hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds.”