Offshore drilling often takes place in technically and physically demanding, high-risk environments. Field development costs are high, as is the cost to procure, install, and service assets for E&P and transportation.

There are five basic drivers for success in offshore E&P operations. The first is safety and environmental protection, which means implementing appropriate risk-reduction solutions. Second is keeping utilization high and minimizing nonproductive time (NPT). Third is controlling operational expenses. Fourth is maintaining asset integrity and reliability. Fifth is asset longevity.

Identifying the problem

Enabling most of the basic drivers are the software of multiple control systems and the successful integration of the systems and associated subsystems. Each piece of equipment is a subsystem with tasks to perform to enable the overall system’s functionality, such as the components or subsystems that control drilling. In essence, every offshore asset is a large system comprising subsystems from different equipment suppliers integrated to enable functionality and operational efficiency. Understanding each subsystem and the overall system’s functionality is challenging as the integration and programming necessitates detailed knowledge of each subsystem’s functionality, the overall functionality, and the integration requirements. Each component receives commands and data from other connected equipment in addition to each component’s tens of thousands of lines of code branches based upon the data and commands received over the network.

Understanding normal functionality is far less complicated than understanding the many startup/shutdown and failure routines that can make up as much as 60% of the total lines of code in a typical control system.

When equipment is not integrated properly, significant problems can arise, increasing risks to safety, the environment, operations, and profitability. The solution to this problem is adherence to specifications. But while this sounds like a simple approach, implementing and maintaining adherence to specifications is not straightforward.

Individual programmers interpret and implement specifications in different ways, which leads to variations within “identical” control systems. Software coding errors and deviations from specifications happen in every step of the software development life cycle.

Deviations and defects are introduced into an asset during commissioning, any time individual subsystem software is updated, and any time new equipment is installed and integrated within existing control system networks. When software defects and deviations from specification arise, the result is lost revenue, higher maintenance fees, higher NPT, and possible safety and environmental impacts.

Offshore assets today carry a large number of components that are controlled by software. With the number of interfaces that are inherent to complex operating systems like a drilling or production unit, it is easy to see how the possibility for failure can grow rapidly and how those failures negatively impact safety and production.

Progress and impediments

Sophisticated automation is installed to improve efficiency. Today there is a growing number of dependent subsystems, which results in higher problematic software-induced failures. Offshore assets built in the recent past – including mobile offshore drilling and production units, offshore pipelaying equipment, and offshore support vessels – are significantly more sophisticated than those of the generations before. Personnel operating offshore equipment rely on software. While the operators of the equipment understand what constitutes “normal” operations, it is uncommon for them to truly understand how the “normal” operations are executed. With so many components in play, when a piece of equipment goes down, it rarely does so without affecting other systems. Against this backdrop, troubleshooting, risk assessment, and overall life-cycle management of control systems are challenging.

There are costs associated with poor software quality. The total cost of fixing software bugs increases exponentially from concept through operation of the asset’s life cycle. In the end, the owner/contractor can suffer software failures with repercussions of lost revenue amounting to US $300,000 to $600,000 per day. Software quality is essential to supporting safe, reliable, and profitable operations. It is far more expensive to fix software bugs or concept errors during production or drilling operations than to address the issues during development.

Resolving software integration issues

Software quality and reliability should be addressed at the outset of a project and should follow a proven software development life-cycle model. ABS has developed a process called Integrated Software Quality Management (ISQM) that third-party specialists with knowledge of the software development process and system operations can use to reduce risks, improve safety, and increase operational efficiency through a standardized software development process and monitoring.

Following a structured process to integrate subsystems into operational systems with known failure routines delivers confidence in reliability and performance. A standardized approach provides transparency of the agreed-upon specifications from the beginning of the project, which reduces costs without affecting the delivery schedule. Suppliers are accountable for conforming to specifications and interface requirements. Using an accepted software development process provides conformity and allows for periodic assessments of programming activities and integration so that activities are planned, executed, and managed according to best practices.

When normal functionality and failure functionality are defined, the subsystems and overall system can be reviewed to reduce safety, environmental, and operational risks. Coordination among suppliers permits better risk assessments of the system, and because of the required functionality description, more extensive testing can be done at the supplier’s site and onboard. When ISQM is applied, more effort can be devoted to specifications, communication, reviews, and factory acceptance testing at the front end of the project. The payoff from this investment is less time and effort spent in commissioning the asset (and possibly delaying initial production) and less time spent troubleshooting and tuning systems.

The ISQM process also supports the owner once the asset is in service, which is the greatest length of time in the life cycle and during which inadvertent deviations from specifications that affect asset safety and functionality are most likely to occur. Documentation from the supplier required by ISQM describes updated functionality and the implication to interfaced connected subsystems. This documentation provides the owner with information that can be used to determine if the software update is right for the asset.

Employing ISQM and a qualified team of specialists improves the software development process, assuring rig readiness and facilitating failure routines and failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis. ISQM supports troubleshooting and root cause analysis and sets guidelines for software support that span the project from development and commissioning through operations and maintenance.

If assets are to move on site and operate as planned, it is critical that software be developed following industry best practices for managing the software life cycle. ISQM makes it possible for people with the specialized skills, years of experience in software quality management, and operational experience to employ a methodology that can help make sure that happens.