Oil and gas producers operate in a never-ending market cycle – and it’s not just fluctuating oil prices. From talent shortages, the shift to a low carbon economy and increasing competition from renewables – the new energy landscape requires companies to be adaptable and cost-efficient to survive, and satisfy shareholders.
While producers have always relied on well run, lean operations for performance, the current market puts added pressure on companies to be low-cost operators including in the field.
One gas producer, respected for its cost efficiency, saw an opportunity to at least investigate how software for field operations management might help them work smarter and cleaner. It was hard to be certain of what more efficient field operations would yield but it felt worth at least a pilot given the inefficiencies their operators struggled against.
Obstacles to efficient frontline operations
On any given day, the gas producers’ operations teams had to try and absorb production, maintenance and compliance information from different systems, incoming phone calls and emails plus paper tracking sheets to identify top priorities for action in the field. So much information was coming at managers, the producer realized it was near impossible to be certain that daily actions taken were the right ones. Duplicate data entry and manual compliance monitoring was also consuming time, distracting operations teams from problem solving to boost production. On top, fragmented data was leading to inaccurate, manual compliance reporting.
The producer had a sense the lost worker productivity and missed overspending on OPEX could be costing them millions each year. So they evaluated technology to streamline field operations and chose to trial EZ Ops because of their 100% adoption track record with operations teams.
Case Study: How a leading producer reduced their OPEX by 18% by streamlining field operations management
Using EZ Ops software the company was able to operate-by-exception to manage their field operations of 100 wells and 2 gas processing operating facilities.
EZ Ops consolidated all of the gas producer’s operations information including field datalog and priority management, field scheduling and maintenance, production management and compliance management.
It provided a central hub where their operations team could see a prioritized list of field activities, work in sync to complete them, and easily communicate updates in real-time to multiple team members, vendors and management.
The impact: 18% reduction in OPEX, 80% less road time and 100% environmental compliance
Once EZ Ops was deployed, it revealed optimization opportunities in a number of areas:
- Precise chemical management optimized production
- Predictive scheduling and maintenance reduced road time and costs
- Effective compliance activities reduced methane intensity
- One-stop, real-time communications empowered field teams to do their best work
Within just 12 months of using EZ Ops, the gas company substantially reduced operating costs, cut emissions and drive time, including:
- 18% OPEX reduction – Operations efficiencies through EZ Ops equipped the company to reduce OPEX by over 18%.
- 100% environmental compliance – Proactive emissions monitoring and management ensured ESG activities were tracked and compliant.
- 80% less road time – Optimized work scheduling with EZ Ops reduced operator driving time from 391,745 km/year to 91,014 km/year and large truck traffic decreased from 90,450 km/year to 11,318 km/year.
80/20 clarity on key activities reduced field management from 11 to 6 members and resulted in less stressful, shorter days for the field operations team.
Today, EZ Ops is deeply embedded in the gas company’s operation both for its impact on the bottom line and its appeal to the field teams
“One entry in EZ Ops and all our schedules are calculated and prioritized for us. EZ Ops has allowed us to streamline operations including preventative maintenance and reduced our time to track down and organize services. The reductions we experienced were only possible by pulling all the fragmented systems and data into one place, then having operators compile this information to make the most optimized decisions. ” – VP Production
Get the full case study for full details on how the gas producer streamlined maintenance, optimized trucking and 3rd party logistics, eliminated redundant communications, and saved time and reduced costs across its operations. Learn more about EZ Ops at ezops.ca.
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