Cargo Oil Storage Tanks – Value Analysis
The Opportunity
Our client oils field is serviced by an FPSO (Floating Production Storage & Offloading) Vessel. The maintenance & repair of the Cargo Oil storage Tanks (COTs) & Slops tanks is critical to the ongoing performance of the vessel.
Maintenance & repair has to be undertaken at sea as it is not cost effective for the FPSO to come off station. Previously the offshore maintenance & repair has been resource consuming, 20 men, time consuming for 24 months & expensive, approx £11m per COT.
Approach Taken
The client allocated resources from suppliers, partners & functions engaged in & impacted by the maintenance & repairs, specifically from those who undertook the activities, to investigate opportunities for reducing this timeline & cost.
This was the first time the execution team had been engaged in the project preparation, the first time they were allowed to challenge the procedure, which was written by those not performing the work.
A practical approach was undertaken, the team did a Value Stream Map for the full maintenance cycle where each activity was explored in detail & opportunities to improve were identified.
The team investigated what their competitors did & learned & implemented best practice on lighting & inspection, investigated & implemented new technology, challenged the delays caused by offloading & put in safety checks to allow them to stop work later & start earlier, engaged independent 3rd party experts for inspection & established a risk based approach to maintenance. They challenged the flow of work streamlining activities reducing duplication & non value adding steps.
Benefits Realised
The team reduced the total time to complete the maintenance from 569 days to 138, that was a reduction in 12,000 man days.
Cost of tank maintenance & repair reduced from £11m to £1.5m, a saving of £9m per COT & £3m per slop tank, an overall saving of £24M (2 off COT & 2 off slop tanks)
The opportunity to replicate across the FPSO & Business with a solid proven safe process.
As the execution team defined the process & changes they implemented them effectively & continued to look for further opportunities for improvement throughout other aspects of other activities they undertook.