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2019’s pre-Covid levels. more platforms being commissioned New technologies available
Growth in demand for oil and gas and greater demand being placed on
may also provide a boost for the existing platforms. today enable flexible, intelligent
increasingly depleted UK North Sea With many gas businesses maintenance operations
basin, with a recent OGUK report managing ageing assets (some may that automatically recognise
stating: “The ongoing demand for gas have been in place for four decades or indicators of failures or defects,
and oil requires continued investment more), operations and maintenance
in exploration and development of (O&M) functions are already critical opening the door to predictive
indigenous resources. to protecting the bottom line and maintenance
“The current market situation should with demand into and throughput
provide an impetus to address this across platforms likely to increase, to the normal operational throughput
decline and offers the opportunity to that pressure is likely to grow over and flow of a plant can have significant
invest and innovate to extend the UK time. Implementing processes to impacts on levels of production, which
resource base and avoid becoming more analyse equipment functioning; pre- inevitably also affect the bottom line.
dependent on imported oil and gas.” empt failure and avoid unplanned Maintenance operations have
While this growth in demand is maintenance or system shutdown will recently had a significant impact on
positive news for the industry, it will therefore be crucial. gas production, for example, In the
also bring challenges to organisations In the UK market, we have already UK, gross gas production was down by
across the sector in that it may lead to seen evidence of how interruptions 11 per cent in July to September 2021

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