{"id":11873,"date":"2018-03-27T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/03\/27\/news-5642\/"},"modified":"2018-03-27T11:00:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:00:08","slug":"news-5642","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/03\/27\/news-5642\/","title":{"rendered":"How Virtual Reality Compresses Operators Learning Curve in Oilfields"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Eddy Lek| Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2018 07:47:24 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oil and Gas producers had laid off experienced staffs and shut down unprofitable wells to reduce their operations costs when the oil prices dipped to a low of $20 two years ago.\u00a0 Today, with the recovering of the oil prices, many companies have started to increase CAPEX investment and revive some of the delayed projects to increase production.\u00a0 The same drilling rigs and processing plants are complex facilities and require experienced operators to operate around the clock at remote locations are facing huge obstacles in regaining lost experienced workers and reskilling new workers following the current downturn. A lot of best practices and knowledge were lost when experienced staffs left the companies during the oil price crisis.\u00a0 Aging and retiring workforce are compounding the staffing problems, exasperating the current shortage of experienced staffs.<\/p>\n

Operator competency is fundamental to achieving project ROI<\/h4>\n
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26% of all accidents were due to Operational Errors in a typical plant operation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Inadequate training of operators is one of the main causes of major hazard incidents at oilfields, causing production stoppages and endangering workers’ safety. Field operators must be adequately trained not only to efficiently operate and maintain the facilities but also handle safety-related operations in proper procedures and on time to minimize unplanned shutdown<\/em><\/strong> which is crucial to achieving the overall project ROI.\u00a0 Training new staffs to reach that level of operational efficiency can take many months before they get familiar with the operations and the facility, often costing the companies millions of dollars in lost production annually due to operator errors.<\/p>\n

According to an EY\u2019s study<\/a>, oil and gas companies can minimize staffing volatility and narrow their future talent pool needs by adopting the technology.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This will help to improve a company\u2019s ability to retain institutional knowledge which can address the rapidly aging workforce in the industry.<\/p>\n

How to shorten operator learning curve<\/h4>\n
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A trainee practices \u201cclosing the valve\u201d in an emergency scenario<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Traditional classroom training is often conducted in a dry and less engaging environment that reduces training effectiveness.\u00a0 Progressing new operators from classroom to on-the-job training at remote sites without preparing them well can be costly in term of lost productivity, higher training costs and higher safety risks.\u00a0 Therefore, compressing the learning curve for scale is imperative for companies to succeed in the fast-changing energy landscape.\u00a0\u00a0 With the recent advancement in Virtual Reality (VR), companies have started to adopt the technology to improve the effectiveness of their training facilities.<\/p>\n

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A What-if \u201csmall explosion\u201d at the site-How should the operator react?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Unlike a traditional classroom environment, the VR immersive training system facilitates interaction between equipment and environment and scenario simulation close to the actual conditions, accelerating the transfer of knowledge and best practices during the process. Operators can practice operating procedures of real experiences until perfection in a safe and controlled classroom environment before they get deployed to the actual sites \u2013 onshore or offshore.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0As a result, trainees get up to speed earlier with better knowledge retention, enabling them to hit the ground running to sustain efficiencies at production sites.<\/p>\n

Combining VR and Process Simulation to create a truly immersive training environment<\/h4>\n

Pairing the 3D virtual plant walkthrough environment with a dynamic simulation of process control<\/a> seamlessly are crucial to providing a fully immersive training environment for the operators.\u00a0 Trainees can acquire real experience of navigating and handling actual equipment on-site that is linked to the backend control room, accurately mimicking the interaction between the equipment and process control at the actual sites.\u00a0 This provides a realistic virtual learning environment, which prepares personnel to act and communicate appropriately in any \u2018What-if\u2019 scenarios, supporting the capture and knowledge-transfer of best practices, increasing efficiency and reducing costly errors or maintenance.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Benefits include:<\/p>\n