Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas has supercharged its RAM software suite Optimise© in order to help offshore operators and contractors get more out of their assets and develop projects more cost-effectively.

Excelerate Energy's 173,400 cu m, 800 million cubic feet per day FSRU, Experience, was delivered to Petrobras' Guanabara Bay facility in Brazil in May of 2014. Bureau Veritas's Optimise RAM software was used to assess the regasification installation performance and ensure the send out target requirement set by the project was met.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY AND MAINTENANCE (RAM) TOOLS

Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and head of offshore, Bureau Veritas, says, “Low and falling energy prices focus attention onto the Reliability, Availability and Maintenance (RAM) of both existing assets and plant and ongoing developments. A powerful RAM software tool like Optimise© saves time and money for asset owners and contractors by identifying bottlenecks in process and supply lines, by modelling potential failures and their consequences, and with our new Optimise© V3, by underpinning clear operational and strategic decision- making by allowing managers to see what will happen in different scenarios.”

OPTIMISE© V3: POWERFUL SOFTWARE SUITE

Optimise© V3 has a clear and simple user interface for model building and results analysis. Production buffering, boosting and profile modification modes are available. Operational behaviour (ramp-up, restarts, line-pack drawdown rates) can be captured via a powerful conditional logic system. Through life value changes, including equipment phase-in and phase-out are easy to model. There is a wide array of failure and repair distributions. Gas contract analysis and equipment priorities on failure are included. Storage and shipping simulation allow the analysis of the entire product supply chain.

BUREAU VERITAS: SKILLED RAM EXPERTS

Explains De Tugny, “Bureau Veritas has huge experience with RAM studies for FPSOs, subsea installations and process plant types. We have special and unique experience with FLNGs over the last three years. We have committed substantial resources to bringing that all together into one supercharged revision of Optimise© which is easy to use, quick and customizable. We can provide RAM studies using Optimise© but we are also making the software available to license. We can provide training with the license, so that operators, asset owners and contractors can get full value out of this powerful RAM modelling tool. It will show them how to save money and save downtime, the key issues in today’s market.”