Digital project execution

Aker BP is transforming development and operation of assets through digital technology. The company is digitising project execution in the development of the NOAKA area. Data is collected digitally and made available to everyone involved in the project – increasing efficiency and reducing engineering hours.

In 2027, first production is expected from the large NOAKA area in the North Sea. Aker BP is operator of the southern part of the area – NOA Fulla. Together with strategic partners Aker Solutions, Aize and Cognite, Aker BP is transforming project execution with digital solutions.

The project team creates a digital representation of NOA Fulla and all the data is made available to the end-user in the Aize workspace.

“I can visualise, navigate, collaborate and work on a digital representation of the NOA Fulla field”.

Vidar Otnes
Commissioning Manager, NOA Fulla project

All data in a single workspace

“Through the Aize workspace, I can already now visualise how the NOA platform will look in the future. I can familiarise myself with the installations and check that the design meets my needs. If not, I can give feedback on the design,” explains Vidar Otnes, Commissioning Manager in the NOA Fulla project.

Otnes is responsible for ensuring that everything is tested before the systems and platforms are handed over to operations and first oil in 2027.

“In the past, I had to search in several different systems to collect siloed and scattered data. Through Aize I have access to all this data digitally, in one single workspace,” Otnes says. .”

Vidar Otnes

Better visualisation of construction method

“Visual construction planning” is one of the modules within Aize.

Anders Tore Børtveit is Construction Method Lead for the NOA topsides in Aker Solutions. He is involved in developing the module for visual construction planning.

The NOAKA development is currently being matured towards a final investment decision and submission of Plan for Development and Operation before the end of 2022. Pending approval by the Norwegian authorities, the plan is to cut the first steel for the NOA topsides at the Aker Solutions yard at Stord in 2023.

“I will be responsible for the construction method. High efficiency and quality in project execution are essential to make large capital projects valuable in an increasingly demanding market,” says Børtveit.

“3.7 million construction hours are estimated for the NOA project at the Stord yard. When the NOA topsides sails from our yard in 2026, I am confident that our new digital tools will have helped us do the work right the first time.”

Anders Tore Børtveit
Construction Method Lead, NOA topsides – Aker Solutions

Collaboration with vendors

Hundreds of vendors will contribute to the NOA Fulla project. What makes Aize unique, is that it is open to these vendors. Everyone can share data and collaborate together in a joint workspace.

“We review and collaborate in the same workspace. We will benefit both in efficiency and quality,” says Commissioning Manager Vidar Otnes.

“The truly great value created from this digital project execution model lies in efficient collaboration. Aize represents a single source of truth for everyone involved in the development project. And what we are developing here, is not just transforming the way we work with this project. It is scalable to any other project or industry –exactly in line with Aker BP’s strategy”.

Vidar Otnes
Commissioning Manager, NOA Fulla project

Digital project execution

Aker BP and Aker Solutions provide source data to Cognite Data Fusion (CDF), an industrial DataOps platform. It contextualises operational asset data at scale in real-time. Aize builds applications on top of the CDF to make sense of the data and make it available for the end user.