The proposed paper will examine the potential of remote working technology to overcome operational challenges, reduce mobilisation costs and enable collaborative working in real-time by bringing expertise located anywhere in the world to local sites through digital technology. The potential benefits associated with the technology are compared to traditional techniques using recent case study examples.

Following the ‘technology readiness levels’ approach used by NASA and other organisations, Wood took a methodical but expeditious approach to developing and testing remote working technology. Supply chain expertise was leveraged to identify suitable technologies (hardware and software) that met the stringent requirements of deploying such technology to oil and gas facilities. Once these technologies had been selected, initial office-based tests were completed, followed by deployment onshore and offshore for piloting. Valuable lessons were learned from piloting, and the technology refined. The so-called ‘eXpert’ system is now internationally deployed to onshore and offshore facilities and successfully embedded in day-to-day business.

The paper will detail comparative case study examples where this technology has been successfully applied. Key learnings are summarised as follows:

  • The technology has the potential to better connect the workforce with data, processes and systems necessary for safe, efficient and more effective execution. It improves collaboration between colleagues located at different sites, facilities or offices and reduces disconnects and misunderstandings that can occur in distributed organisations. The hardware and software package is easy to use, requiring minimal user training and leading to swift adoption.

  • The remote working technology reduces execution times for specific work scopes by 60%-90%, and significantly reduced mobilisation costs. By reducing the need for personnel mobilisation by helicopter once the technology is deployed to site, travel emissions can also be minimised.

  • The ability to involve experts from anywhere in the world, in real-time, allows faster issue resolution, reduction of risk to personnel safety and avoidance of mobilisation costs.

Remote sites present some of the greatest operational challenges in the energy industry. Effective communication between offices and worksites is crucial to identify issues, diagnose problems and develop solutions. Frequently, teams of engineering specialists and decision makers are required to reach a conclusion, however getting these experts to site can prove difficult in terms of logistics and cost. This technology brings the knowledge and expertise of colleagues to site in a direct, meaningful and efficient manner.

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