FLNG Platform Commissioning Acceleration
Significant reduction in the commissioning phase lead time
- 3 minutes read
Our client is a global oil and gas company listed on the New York Stock Exchange that provides services for the energy industry. The company acts in three distinct segments: subsea, offshore, and surface projects, which include offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction platforms and rigs.
The client was responsible for delivering the cold testing of nine Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanks during the commissioning phase of the Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) platform.
The project was under immense time pressure, and reducing the Cold Tank Testing (CTT) program timeframe had become critical to reducing overall project costs and accelerating the project to achieving production startup.
14%
57%
21%
The approach
The consortium contracted to deliver the project engaged an ORBIZ team of Lean and asset management specialists to facilitate a Breakthrough Event that engaged participants from the four corporate stakeholder organisations.
The event would involve developing an agreed-upon CTT schedule to meet the joint venture customer’s desired timeframe while maintaining the overall project risk profile and health, safety, and environmental objectives.
The five-day event included end-to-end analysis across ten fields of speciality aimed at:
- Map detailed program to ensure a common understanding of the scope and responsibilities.
- Identify activities to be completed in parallel to enable program and lead time compression.
Define resourcing requirements and plan continuous and efficient work for each party.
The solutions
Mapping the end-to-end LNG CTT sequence revealed 271 process steps. Analysis of the process highlighted 15 opportunities for improvement and five critical concerns that required further study.
Two of these areas required immediate attention due to their potential impact on the critical path: the Permit to Work (PTW) and Secondary Barrier Tank Testing (SBTT) processes.
A deep-dive study of the PTW and SBTT processes revealed a combined 89 process steps. Analysis of these processes highlighted 24 opportunities for improvement and 11 critical concerns that would require risk mitigation.
A series of Lean principles were applied to capitalise on 39 improvement opportunities identified. These methodologies included Quick Changeover, Standardise Work, and 8-Wastes.
Key improvements introduced included:
- The removal of non-critical path activities from the overall schedule.
- Assigning multiple workgroups to allow for parallel task completion.
- Standardisation of pipe spool relocation activities.
- Implementation of optimised PTW process.
- The development of contingency plans for all critical path activities.
The event concluded with a presentation to the project sponsors from across the consortium.
The output presented included a clearly defined and agreed schedule of work, detailed resourcing requirements, critical risks and contingency plans, and a detailed register of additional improvement opportunities and actions.
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