Foreman and lead operators can only be in so many places at once. That means putting a lot of ownership on field crews to manage valuable assets.
How do you stay on top of the team’s daily activities and catch maintenance problems before they become very expensive to fix? Without clear visibility into team and asset performance – you’re driving blind.
And then add in the additional stress of getting blindsided by an upcoming audit like ABSA or AER. The last thing you need is to spend more time hunting down field data and scrambling to get your documentation in order. You need one report, not 50 – and all the data in one place.
There’s an easier way to take the stress out of running optimal field operations. And it starts with real-time visibility.
What does real-time visibility in the oilfield look like?
Real-time visibility with field management software gives you the ability to watch your entire operations from a 30,000 foot view and drill down into specific areas. You can see what tasks have been completed each day and by which operator, how a particular well is performing over time, and when you actually need a site trip from your chemical vendor (and that its hauling the right amount of chemicals). And you can get field data instantly and from one login.
Compare this to how you’re currently checking in your operations: driving to sites to ensure things were done (and fixing any issues that fell through the cracks) and relying on each operator to inform you of the top issues during shift changes. Especially if you’re managing larger site areas with an understaffed team – managing downtime and cost risk like this will never pay off.
Why real-time visibility is a win for oil and gas operations
EZ Ops field management software can save your operators 2 hours per day – time that’s better spent towards optimizing high value wells and reducing emissions.
Real-time visibility into field operations was built for foreman and lead operators looking to decrease the knee-jerk reactions and stress in operations management.
You’ll get ahead of issues and be able to loop head office in on the response plan before alarm bells go off. And you’ll be able to see which operators’ are busting their butt to get things done right.
That’s because clear visibility into the field can get you:
- Team focused on the right activities that align to corporate goals such as improving production, managing compliance or reducing OPEX.
- Real-time communication without interrupting guys’ work – see the status of things and share with head office. Enter data once.
- Less risk of downtime with setting up automatic alarms to review out of scope operating conditions and real-time access to data over time to spot abnormalities.
- Operators more accountable with user and time stamps to log all field activities.
- More time to improve production since operators go to site prepared to action the top priorities, with zero return trips needed.
- Less chaos during audits with digital documentation of all operational events and activities including auditable records at your fingertips.
- Less compliance risk by ensuring your team understands and is following your compliance plan.
- Improved vendor management by making the best use of their time and holding them accountable when you send them task lists.
It’s not just the field who benefits from real-time visibility
Real-time visibility into what’s actually happening in the field helps get everyone on the same page – from the field up to head office. Depending on your role, you’d just use the data differently.
At head office, they need to track the macro trends and keep an eye on production levels and keep costs across operations in check.
For middle management, you need a bit of both – you need to send the big trends but also be able to drill down into particular areas or assets, even individual worker performance to pinpoint those problem areas.
Real-time visibility starts with centralized data
To run more optimal field operations, operators need simpler ways to capture and store data as they routinely visit wells. From tank readings to water levels to production volumes, the data they’re interacting with each day is incredibly valuable.
But it’s a risk if you’re stashing that data away in dozens of paper files or Excel sheets. You just end up spending more time on paperwork and not enough time analyzing data to stay ahead of unexpected problems in the field.
You need to give field teams the right tools to capture field data and a place to centrally store it. Without the ability to analyze the data from one system, you’re heading straight towards paperwork overload and risking downtime.
Take pigging for example. With real-time visibility, digitizing your pigging records and centralizing this data into one system, you can instantly access:
- What needs to be pigged for compliance
- What lines have been pigged
- Where your pigs are in the field
- All license and lines by users and time stamps
- When to reduce emissions and lower risk by opening pig traps when only necessary
- Calculate venting in your field based on real-time information
The benefit? You can ensure your team understands and is following your compliance plan, and you get all the right pigging records needed for your next AER audit, without the stress.
Get real-time visibility into your field operations with EZ Ops
With EZ Ops software, operations teams have a one-stop information hub that gives real-time visibility of your entire field operations including integrating data from existing systems such as SCADA and PVR.
And everyone sees what’s going on, who’s on what and the next priority. Plus these benefits:
- Frontline operations teams get simple data capture and spend less time on mundane daily tasks and paperwork.
- Foreman & middle management get increased transparency into operator and asset performance to ensure consistency across their teams and operations.
- Head office gets trend analysis and real-time reporting into production, compliance and more.
Save hours for operations teams and improve company performance.
Ready to see EZ Ops in action? Book a demo with our team.
About Patrick Herren, Director of Customer Experience
Pat’s been operating numerous assets around Alberta for the past decade and knows firsthand the demands of the job working in the oil patch as a former production operator.
Pat leads our on-boarding and training team, providing responsive helpful service that has earned EZ Ops a 100% adoption track record in the field.
