Does this sound familiar? Each day as an operator, you’re combing through tons of data: production trends, weather conditions, chemical rates, trucking and pump maintenance prices – all while fielding head office calls and emails – trying to decide what inspections, compliance, or pigging events need to take place.
You then scramble to prioritize the hundreds of events together to see what really needs to get done. With so much information to sort through and limited time, there’s some (sometimes a lot) of guesswork. How can you be sure that you’re prioritizing the right work across your field team today?
As operators with Reliance, we knew there must be a better way to run field operations especially when we looked at how technology was improving other well monitoring and production accounting processes. All we needed to do was take all the logic we thought through in running a field, code it in, and filter daily data to create software to boil up the right actions for the day.
Four ways oil and gas software helps the field ‘operate by exception’
For head office, operating by exception means reducing costs, optimizing production and hitting ESG compliance goals. But for field teams, operating by exception means less chaos, taking less time to sort the priorities so there’s more time to resolve issues and keep things humming at the well.
Here are four ways where exception-based oil and gas production software adds value:
1. Use centralized field operations data to create daily priorities.
Field teams gain a one-stop information hub for field operations management that synthesizes all your operational data and goals, and from that, creates a daily set of ranked priorities. This includes unscheduled items driven by unexpected operational events and one-off work orders that might be required. Your field teams save time sorting what to do, and don’t waste time working on $20 problems versus $2000 ones.
The software also gives people at head office a clear sense of what’s going on in the field and what’s getting done. It saves ops teams time and stress looping others in.
This approach makes life simpler and easier for your field teams:
- Communication takes less time, and is clearer
- Work gets identified and done faster
- Less time is wasted on the wrong things
- Everybody’s working in sync, from field operations to third-party vendors and inspectors
2. Effectively manage maintenance, inspections, pigging and compliance.
Maintenance, inspections, compliance and pigging all require communication across field teams and with third-party inspectors. With software for field management, scheduling maintenance and communicating what everyone needs to do, and when, gets easier.
The software detects issues for fix before there’s downtime. It takes less administration time on routine small tasks that the software can schedule and alert people on. You’ll save time by eliminating duplicate data entry. Plus, you’ll save hours when coordinating and tracking actions across teams and vendors.
3. Make production more efficient and profitable.
The right oil and gas production software will also help you pump by exception. Maximize production efficiency by tracking production and consumption – and communicate the needs of the field for fluids management. It will also track and review field level production and calculate production volumes to smooth the accounting process.
4. Streamline compliance management.
To keep up with changing ESG compliance goals, compliance activities are more critical than ever for field teams. The right software will help your field teams proactively manage your compliance activities, including automating tracking and reporting to ensure the right HSE data is tracked. This allows field teams to prevent issues while keeping an eagle eye on emissions.
Not all oil and gas software is created equal – two key things to look for
To operate by exception without a large operations team, you need a tech tool to calculate what activities will create the most value and which stuff won’t. If you’re ready to operate by exception, the question becomes, how do you select the right software? Here are two final questions as you consider your choices:
1. Is the software built by people who get your frustrations? This is a big question. If your field teams won’t use the software, it’s useless. EZ Ops’ software has a 100% adoption rate because we’re operators ourselves. Our team is made up of former and current operators who know how to make your life easier and your work more productive.
2. Does the software give you everything you need not just for today but next year? EZ Ops’ software is completely customizable. You can start with a few modules to try it out or adopt the full system for maximum efficiency. All behind one single-login.
Ready to consider technology to operate by exception?
Maybe it’s the right time for you to adopt operations technology, or maybe it isn’t. You’ll only know if you take a look.
Simply answer a few questions and give us an hour to see a demo, and you’ll have some very useful information.
EZ Ops’ software for field operations management provides clear guidance on the top priority activities for field operation teams to most efficiently achieve production and compliance goals, every time. We’ve earned 100% adoption in the field with service that supports you onsite from a pilot through to full ramp up in just weeks.
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.
