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NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion

Technology Ready Now: Get ready for the ‘new normal’

14 December 2020
Written by Myrtle Dawes

In April this year, OGTC launched its Technology in Play campaign aimed at highlighting those technologies that help our industry to fix today, maximise our potential and transform for the future. 

Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive health and economic shocks with far reaching repercussions, likely to fundamentally change how we work for decades.


Watch the video above to learn more about how these technologies, ready now, can help you to increase efficiency, reduce cost, reduce emissions and optimise your activities.

In a matter of months, we have proven that as a society and global community we are very capable of ‘pivoting’, adopting digital technologies to enable new ways of working, not to mention the gargantuan efforts to collaborate across sectors and fast track immunisation technologies to find effective vaccines.  Necessity is indeed, the mother of invention.

Today the UK Government has published its long-awaited Energy White Paper calling for the adoption of ‘innovative technologies’ to achieve a net zero 2050.  The target of net zero by 2050 is just as challenging and urgent as finding a vaccine, the difference is the timescale involved.  We have proven that we can pivot, collaborate, adopt new technologies, we know that technology and innovation can drive great change.  Now we must change our mindset and behaviours to move at pace to reach the net zero target.

Technologies ready to adopt today have never been more important.  Innovations such as predictive modelling and maintenance, robotics for offshore inspection and wearable technologies to minimise manning levels must now become common place, the new normal, the way we work as a matter of course.

At OGTC we have been working with partners to develop and trial ‘new normal’ technologies such as:

The world’s first autonomous offshore robot. Capable of reading dials, gauges, and valve positions, while navigating pathways and stairs, it has the potential to transform offshore inspection. Technologies like these will also help us to increase efficiency and reduce cost.

Marine logistics optimisation – An innovative, AI based solution that uses proven optimisation algorithms and software tools to streamline offshore oil and gas marine logistics, increase vessel utilisation and reduce emissions by creating an online digital operational twin. The solution also directly transfers to vessel optimisation for renewable operations such as offshore wind.

Real-time simulation – the Real-time Simulator at the National Decommissioning Centre creates that opportunity.  Managed by OGTC’s partners at the University of Aberdeen, the simulator suite is an immersive environment where we’ll develop our smart basin concept and explore how we’ll integrate energy infrastructure, optimise activity and reduce emissions.  We’ll simulate future scenarios including asset reuse, decommissioning in a net zero world and virtually prototyping new tools and techniques – viewing outputs in almost real time.

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