The oil and gas industry is one of the most capital intensive sectors of the global economy, and any downtime caused by equipment failure or simple routine maintenance comes with a very high price tag – $7 per second. This high cost requires that the right equipment is on hand at the right time. There are certainly safety and regulatory concerns which must be satisfied, but the commercial cost of making a mistake can quickly run into the millions of dollars.

Maintaining control over asset management is a huge challenge which requires a 24/7 approach to ensure that rigs, generators, pumps, tankers, tugs, supply vessels, heavy equipment, vehicles and shore-based equipment are all in the right place at the right time and deliver high availability performance.

Asset tracking using traditional management techniques is laborious and inefficient, with many management reports little more than intelligent guesswork. Knowing where vital equipment and supplies are is only part of the equation, with compliance and regulatory needs also placing demands on equipment availability. How can oilfield managers really know that the equipment they are looking to utilize has passed all safety inspections and is fit for the purpose they intend to put it?

GPS & RFID Solutions Merge with the Web

GPS and RFFID have made some penetration into the oil & gas asset management field, however these solutions tend to tell you where or what a single asset is; there is no unified reporting which allows you to control your assets in a holistic fashion.

Enter the ubiquitous World Wide Web and the internet.

By merging GPS/RFID tracking technology with a web-based interface which actively tracks and provides scheduling information as well as tracking compliance, safety and maintenance information, managers are finally able to see up-to-date information on the state of asset availability.

Companies can now manage their asset availability and deployment with a few clicks of a mouse. They can ensure that essential equipment is maintained properly and safely, while also ensuring asset security. As an example, it is now possible to arrange for flags to be set to warn of impending safety and maintenance inspections, with emails being sent to managers and operators to first act as reminders and then as warnings.

Many readers will be familiar with the use of wireless networks for use with their laptop, Blackberry or PDA; however the same wireless technology can be applied to monitor and report on pump seals, generators, pipeline data and much more.

Compliance and safety is important and the fines and implications for not being able to demonstrate compliance are well-known, especially by those who have ever fallen foul of the regulations. By using the web, it is also possible to instantaneously view the documentation and see the audit trail which goes into being able to certify assets have passed inspection and compliance standards are being observed. Being able to document compliance is practically as important as being compliant, and the ability to view logs, safety and maintenance records and any other documentation such as licenses and historical records is a powerful management tool.

Author Bio: Lawrence Reaves works with Colfax Corporation, a leading provider of industrial pumps such as pumps for diesel engines and commercial marine pumps. Colfax Corporation can be found online at: ColfaxCorp.com .

Category: Business
Keywords: industrial pumps, commercial marine pumps, pumps for diesel engines, GPS, RFID