Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman. It delivers the majority of the country’s crude oil production and natural gas supply, but above all, it focuses on delivering excellence, growth and sustainable value creation within and well beyond the industry. The Company is owned by the Government of Oman (60% interest), the Shell Group (34% interest), Total (4% interest) and PTTEP (2% interest). Gas fields and processing plants are operated by PDO exclusively on behalf of the Government.
Identifying goals
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the leading oil and gas exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman. Its operations include 205 producing oil fields, 64 gas fields, 29 production stations, more than 8,400 active wells, more than 33,000 kilometers of pipelines and flowlines and 231 operating units in its well engineering fleet, including 49 rigs and 39 hoists.
PDO’s five keys to improving business operations:
Improve the capacity and capability of the Omani people and businesses to secure commercial and sustainable benefits for their country
Reduce operational costs
Increase operational efficiency
Avoid unnecessary asset integrity process safety incidents
Enhance cybersecurity to protect operational assets
How PDO used Octave solutions
The ISA/IEC standard in alarm management was first released in 2009. Around the same time, official reports on several industrial incidents noted the lack of alarm management as a contributing factor for the incidents. The industry was gaining a greater appreciation of the necessity of alarm management solutions. With this emerging awareness and its own alarm situation in mind, PDO began its alarm management journey with Tempo Control System Effectiveness1 in 2010.
In the early 2010s, each console operator within PDO was being inundated with alarm events (up to 4,000 alarms per hour). This is far too high for anyone to effectively manage or respond to. So, PDO started to search for a solution provider who could not only provide the technology it needed but also expertise and experience in implementing the best practices with the PDO team.
The Octave team helped PDO host alarm rationalization workshops to implement alarm management best practices and decide which alarms should go to the operators and which should go the operations journals.
Thanks to this work, the alarm rate presented to console operators went down to an average of three alarms per hour with peaks limited to twenty alarms per hour. This performance put PDO in line with the targets of the ISA/ IEC standards. Within one year of collaboration, all the facilities achieved the targets that were set for alarms per facility and shift.
Realizing results
Fast-forward nearly 10 years later, and PDO was searching for a partner to help with operational cybersecurity and execute a full asset inventory by the end of 2021. In 2019, PDO signed a five-year partnership agreement with Octave. The agreement allowed for full collaboration and a close partnership between PDO and Octave, and within this framework, the Octave team helped PDO create a realistic project schedule and roadmap for what was needed for a full Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity module to be implemented. First, the Octave team reviewed the existing PDO infrastructure, and a plan was developed after a thorough review to upgrade PDO’s existing infrastructure to support the software implementation.
The Octave team worked collaboratively and seamlessly with the PDO team to identify and resolve issues proactively and quickly. This collaborative approach increased the efficiency of the deployment activities and delivered the software ahead of an already aggressive timeline.
The secret of the solution
What made Octave and the Cyber Integrity solution stand out from the competition:
The increased software interoperability capabilities
An easy to implement functional infrastructure
Their staff expertise and the successful PDO and Octave partnership
The flexibility of the software
Moving forward
The next phase of the five-year contract is implementing the Octave Tempo Control Loop Performance (formerly PAS ControlWizard) and Octave Tempo Safety System Performance (formerly PAS IPL Assurance)™ modules. PDO’s process optimization team is using Tempo Control Loop Performance to review and analyze the performance of control loops plantwide. IPL Assurance is being used by the control discipline team for the management of Safety Integrity Functions (SIF) and Independent Protection Layers (IPLs) to ensure that these mission-critical safety systems are designed and functioning properly. These technologies and associated processes are leading to continued success and improvement in PDO’s quest for operational excellence. As Balushi said, “PDO is looking forward to the upcoming implementations and continuing the cooperation with Octave.”
