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Photo: A/S Norske Shell

Digital innovation becomes reality at Nyhamna as Norske Shell benefits from Kognitwin® Energy

Digital innovation is already a reality at Nyhamna as Norske Shell benefits from a dynamic digital twin. Increased collaboration, energy consumption optimization, safer operations and a more cost-efficient plant are a few of the results achieved to mention.

“In the first year of using the digital twin the Nyhamna teams, together with our partner Kongsberg Digital, developed use-cases with a full line of sight to reduce our operating cost by about three million US dollars, which actually beats the investment cost. And this is just the start of our digital transformation journey,” says Rolf Einar Sæter, Business Improvement and Technology Manager in Norske Shell.

This story is based on an article published by A/S Norske Shell on 24 January 2021.

Photo: A/S Norske Shell

In October 2019, Norske Shell joined forces with Kongsberg Digital to operationalise an ‘asset of the future’ through a partnership development of the Nyhamna Dynamic Digital Twin.

The twin was developed in less than 100 days, and since January 2020 the Nyhamna Dynamic Digital Twin has been in operation and evolving continuously through monthly product releases, focusing on safe, effective and integrated work processes and optimisation of production and energy use.

  • Nyhamna

    Large gas processing hub in Aukra, Norway. Nyhamna is an extremely advanced facility, running with a state-of-the-art control system. Gassco is the operator and A/S Norske Shell is the technical service provider for Nyhamna.

  • Ormen Lange

    Norway’s second largest gas field - developed with four subsea templates. Located at around 1 000 meters sea depth in the Norwegian Sea. Gas is transported ca 120 kilometres through pipelines to Nyhamna for onshore processing.

Kognitwin® Energy: the dynamic digital twin

A dynamic digital twin is the virtual representation of the physical elements and dynamic behaviour of an asset over its lifecycle. The twin integrates three key elements: data, visualisations and modelling. Beyond being a virtual replica of an industrial facility, Kognitwin Energy, Kongsberg Digital’s dynamic digital twin delivers a rich framework for advanced digitalization and analytics, bringing a new era of visually interacting with data and models at asset, equipment and component level.

Get to know more about Kognitwin Energy and how it works

Transforming the way of working

Besides technology, digitalisation is also about cultural change, people and agile ways of working.

Photo: A/S Norske Shell

Hear the experience from the users

According to Torstein, Shift Supervisor at Nyhamna, by integrating all the systems and data in the one platform, the digital twin empowers them to improve the risk assessment of all activities at Nyhamna. He adds that this represents a big step towards achieving the goal of having Zero incidents or leaks and will also contribute to a more effective workday for Nyhamna staff.

"With the digital twin, the delivery teams can, with just a few keystrokes, explore all as-built 2D documentation by tag-search in a rich 3D-model, and navigate between 2D drawings and 3D model. This provides a more efficient and safer work preparation process, leaner communication across teams and disciplines, reduction of meetings, faster ways to locate equipment in heights, fewer data cross-checks between applications and less logistics and time spent on field inspections. We now both communicate and make decisions on the exact same and unified data foundation.", adds Tommy, SPC and Turnaround Supervisor

"The Dynamic Digital Twin is a dynamic tool for a dynamic plant. The twin allows us to explore the operating envelope of Nyhamna both under stable operation and in transitions between one operations scenario to the next. This provides a completely new way of optimising energy and production, where the ultimate objective is to maximise gas and condensate production and minimise energy consumption, while reducing maintenance need and avoid breakdown. By running ‘what if’ simulations, the Operations Support team together with the Control Room can take faster and more accurate process change decisions. This will enable us to choose optimum plant configuration at all times, directly quantify the effects and thus increase Nyhamna’s competitiveness." says Magnus, Process Engineer and Digital Twin Super User

The Nyhamna digital twin is used by an integrated team spanning all disciplines. During the twin’s first year, the focus has been centered around embedding work process in the digital twin eco-system and developing and implementing machine learning applications used for prediction and optimisation.

According to Alexander, Inspection Engineer at Nyhamna, as the digital twin collects and integrates data from the range of systems and makes it easily available to all disciplines including contractors. It reduces the amount of site visits needed and there is no longer need to spend time pulling drawings from different places to compare, distribute and analyse. This means the team can spend more time on intelligent and value-adding work.

"With the mobile version of the twin, we will at any time and place be able to access the 3D model showing real-time pressure, temperature and flow on the different systems directly on our phones. This is much leaner than depending on colleagues in the control room to provide us with essential data. Being able to access the 3D model on-site also means we can take quicker actions as a result of improved on-site navigation - where we today spend significant time and radio communication on locating specific equipment like valves and detectors.", says Silje, Process Technician

Key features and benefits according to Kognitwin users

  • All systems integrated into one platform

  • Easy access to documentation and drawings

  • Fast location of equipment

  • Lean communication across teams and disciplines

  • Risk assessment

  • Scenarios simulation

  • Support for decision-making

  • Efficient and safe work preparation

  • Improvements in logistics

  • Reduction of site visits

  • Reduced time spent on field inspections

  • Efficiency on execution of activities

Extracting real value from digitalization

In the first year of using Kognitwin Energy, Norske Shell saved about 3 million US dollars in operational costs at Nyhamna facility, beating the investment cost.

Photo: A/S Norske Shell

The initial cost savings enabled by the dynamic digital twin represent work process improvements, reduced IT costs, improved efficiency in execution of activities and optimisation related to energy use.

Kognitwin Energy is a dynamic virtual representation of the gas facility and its behaviour, continuously updated with integrated information reflecting the status of the facility in real-time. The dynamic digital twin is supporting Nyhamna staff to better leverage insights from big data, transform ways of working to unlock value and increase resilience in a changing business environment. The digitalised version of the asset also provides the capability to simulate scenarios to uncover new options for optimisation of its real-life counterpart.

Key results

  • 3 million USD savings

  • Reduced IT costs

  • Increased efficiency in execution of activities

  • Optimization of energy consumption

A SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP

Beyond the customer-vendor relation, Kongsberg Digital believes in long-lasting partnerships where we, together with clients, work closely towards common goals.

According to Wouter de Klein, Asset Manager in Norske Shell, the collaborative approach combining Kongsberg Digital’s digital capabilities with Shell own employees’ operational expertise is proving to be a winning formula. He adds that the Nyhamna dynamic digital twin is empowering the teams to become more effective and collaborate even better, enabling Shell to increase safety, optimise energy use and deliver higher margins to all the Nyhamna partners.

“As the operator, Gassco is very proud of the digital twin achievements at Nyhamna. The digital twin will improve the efficiency and accuracy of the work processes and contribute to a safe, reliable and cost-efficient processing plant. The digital twin will also provide opportunities for process optimisation and energy management improving value creation and ensuring a low climate footprint.”, says Ola Trættenberg, Asset Manager for Nyhamna in Gassco.

“We are proud to see the results achieved and are looking forward to continue creating the asset of the future together with Shell. Working together, we are continuously innovating around ideas and driving improvements to provide value across-teams, making their work more efficient. This enables the users to easily have access to information, simulate scenarios and find optimal asset configuration, resulting in increased performance and competitiveness for the Nyhamna plant.”, says Shane McArdle, Senior Vice President at Kongsberg Digital.

The path forward

With Nyhamna paving the way, the next step for Norske Shell is to scale the dynamic digital twin technology to include the Ormen Lange field, including all offshore infrastructure. The aim is to maximise recovery, optimise production and reduce environmental footprint. Integrating the entire value chain in the twin environment will result in a ‘reservoir to market’ dynamic digital twin.

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