Turbine Surveillance ProjectWorking within the Turbine Failure Elimination Team at Shell EPE Emma Stephenson was involved with the implementation of a turbine surveillance checklist offshore and the design and implementation of maintenance training procedures. Her role helped to reduce Operational Expenditure by £1.4 million and improved production uptime has increased production by 400,000 barrels per year. Once rolled out on the remaining offshore installations a further £4.2 million will be saved.
Background
Shell EPE Aberdeen produces Oil and Gas in the competitive offshore North Sea environment. It employs 2,000 staff in Aberdeen and has annual production figures of around 300 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). It relies on turbine uptime offshore to maintain its highly competitive production levels. Project objectives were to reduce maintenance costs, increase uptime of turbines, increase safety by improving technical integrity of turbines for maintenance, and the clarification of roles and responsibilities for operations and maintenance personnel offshore.
Approach
Emma consulted senior Rotating Equipment Engineers, compiled the checklist and then gained feedback on the layout and material it covered. She reorganised the checklist based on feedback received and developed a detailed spreadsheet of the surveillance checklist for the gas turbines which was subsequently made live on EPE's intranet system. During her time with Shell EPE Emma also researched and completed a training profile for maintenance crew so that training is up to date and readily available. From Offshore feedback a training programme was implemented with the benefit amounting to around £0.35 million annually.
Results
The checklist Emma developed has been implemented on six offshore platforms reducing operational costs by £1,400,000. The aim is to implement in the remaining eight platforms during the year and this will reduce operational costs by a further £4,200,000. The list also clarified maintenance procedures, indicated exact roles and responsibilities for the offshore crew and improved safety through raising the technical integrity level of the turbines for maintenance. Having clear roles and responsibilities resulted in less confusion in an already hazardous environment.
"Emma has greatly impressed me, and the people she worked with, for her ability and drive to deliver a very successful project onshore and offshore. Her positive outlook and willingness to take on new tasks has been refreshing. The project she worked on has delivered significant benefits to Shell UK and will also be used as a model for similar projects across Shell's global operations."
Robert Green
Project Engineer
Shell U.K. Limited | 
