Growing awareness of RAM analysis in Japan

Japan is known for being a leading market for advanced technology. This is especially true for the oil and gas industry, where Japanese companies are recognised for being at the vanguard of technologies for operation, design and processes. With that in mind, DNV Software together with System Integrating Laboratory (SIL) have brought the forefront of Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) analysis tools to be introduced to key players in the Japanese oil and gas industry.

Oil and gas developments present a challenging application of RAM analysis. A large number of complex, interrelated parameters must be taken into account when dealing with the complex domain of oil and gas exploration, production and refining. At the Japanese RAM seminar DNV Software took the opportunity to demonstrate how RAM analysis on the production efficiency of oil and gas operations can be greatly enhanced by considering operational factors.

The seminar presented examples of how the operability factors and thorough representation of complex systems are crucial to RAM analysis in oil and gas development. Case studies for the upstream and downstream oil and gas industry were reviewed with attendees.

More than 25 engineers from 15 oil and gas companies attended the event in Tokyo. The main focus of the session was to highlight how advanced RAM analysis can increase production efficiency and reduce the operational cost.

Presentations were carried out by Victor Borges, RAM Product Manager, who introduced the concepts and benefits of RAM analysis along with real-life studies demonstrated with DNV Software’s Advanced RAM tools. The agenda included sessions on:

• Asset management
• What is advanced RAM analysis?
• Introduction to Maros and Taro
• Case studies:
• Oil production system
• Typical refinery
• LNG terminal

Benefits of performing RAM studies for the oil and gas industry are extensive , some of which are:

• Support for your design and operational decisions based on the predicted performance of your assets
• Better understanding of your asset: bottlenecks, critical systems, failure patterns, operational constraints and impact of maintenance strategy
• Optimisation of your asset performance and reduction of downtime due to failures or operational constraints

The feedback received from the participants was positive. After the seminar, some participants had more in-depth discussions with our organisers.

DNV Software plans to host further events in Japan including a user conference and also training sessions on the next generation of DNV Software RAM tools: Maros 9 and Taro 5.