Aker BP and Framo sign smart pump maintenance contract
Aker BP and Framo have entered into a long-term maintenance contract for seawater lift pumps on the Norwegian Continental Shelf where compensation is directly linked to facility uptime.
The six-year contract, with an option for an additional six years, is a continuation of a successful pilot contract signed by exploration and production company Aker BP, pump supplier Framo and industrial AI Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm Cognite in 2018.
The digital pilot project was for predictive maintenance of the seawater lift pumps on the Aker BP-operated Ivar Aasen field. This new maintenance contract covers all of the five field centres where Aker BP is operator.
“A considerable effort has been made on the part of Aker BP and Framo to establish a full-fledged smart contract,” said Kjetel Digre, Aker BP head of operations and field development. “The contract represents a huge step within digitalisation and predictive maintenance. Going forward, algorithms and sensor data will help us to increase uptime and reduce maintenance on our seawater lift pumps.”
Aker BP’s smart contracts are performance-based model agreements, where compensation is determined by the systems’ reliability and performance.
Since the first smart contract was signed in 2018, large volumes of data have been sent back to the Norwegian mainland.
Digital dashboards have been developed based on sensor data from Cognite Data Fusion (CDF) and algorithms from Framo. A dedicated incentive model has been negotiated around these elements.
“Basing contract models on real-time data has been uncharted territory,” said Framo Services managing director Trond Petter Abrahamsen. “With the release of these data flows, Framo has been able to predict the condition of equipment, foresee what will happen with the pumps in the future, and in turn plan effective maintenance. Together with Aker BP, we have altered the traditional approach to maintenance. We are now continuing this cooperation into the future and over to other fields.”
