Aveva systems empower decision makers in all of the top oil and gas firms, and its technology can be found in every aspect of the energy sector

Aveva , a global leader in industrial software, says it’s driving digital transformation and sustainability in the oil and gas industry by empowering companies through its systems.
And it’s not only the provision of the systems, but rather pushing for a right skill set to optimise them and gain maximum value from the data extracted. Eventually, it’s the right use of data that has saved companies, using Aveva systems, nearly a $1 billion in some instances.
Aveva says its systems are always oriented around sustainability to help its customers achieve their net-zero targets.
In fact, Aveva systems allow customers to take net-zero targets into account right from the plant’s conception, as Nayef Bou Chaaya, Vice President - Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Aveva, explains in an interview with Abdulaziz Khattak of OGN energy maga-zine.

How does Aveva target sustainability and savings through its software solutions?
Aveva’s portfolio offering covers the engineering business all the way down to operations and maintenance, and this covers the whole asset lifecycle.
Through our systems we support sustainability and net-zero goals. For example, Aveva’s Predictive Emissions Monitoring Systems (PEMS), currently used on multiple sites at leading oil and gas companies in the region monitors COx, SOx and NOx emissions. This allows companies to take necessary action to reduce those emissions that might otherwise go against their sustainability and net-zero goals.
PEMS has saved companies in the industry $1 million in a year’s time per installation. In total, these savings can run into the mul-timillion figure for affiliates with multiple assets.
Another example is Aveva’s renowned Panorama digital command centre at Adnoc. This centralised system saves an estimated $60 to 100 million per cycle (which is run monthly or quarterly). Last year, Adnoc announced it had generated $1.1 billion in business value since Panorama’s inception in 2017.
Panorama’s task is to aggregate information from 14 affiliates and have an enterprise visualisation to allow the corporate to under-stand how it can optimise the processes and operations.
It is part of what we call a Unified Operations Centre (UOC), an agnostic technology that can connect to any other system, extract data, cleanse it, contextualise it and bring value to the data by translating it into information. This is done without any human inter-vention.
To understand the complexity of the UOC’s task, Adnoc’s 14 affiliates generate between 300,000 and 400,000 data points. If you can’t translate this huge amount of information into something the operator or management can use, then it will just be pointless data.
Similarly, our Aveva Operations Control (AOC) empowers customers with unlimited access to actionable information, which is es-sential to drive growth through increased operational efficiency, agility, and reliability. AOC can be installed as a hybrid, cloud-based or on-premises system.

Do Aveva systems serve to empower users?
The technology is there to empower users in decision making by giving them the right information.
You will find our technology in every aspect of the energy sector. Some customers will have the complete portfolio, some will have the engineering or operations parts of it, while others will mix and match a set of systems.
But overall our technology is being used in all of the 20 top oil and gas firms.
At the end of the day when we position our technology, we talk about both people and processes.

How do you define digital transformation?
Digital transformation is not only about technology; it’s very much about the people as well.
You can acquire the best technology and yet will not achieve much if you don't have the right skill set behind it.
Therefore, the software, skill sets, and the business processes are the three pillars of digital transformation.
And while we provide the software, we do also advise our clients of the skill sets needed and what business processes our tech-nology can help them optimise, so they move from the As-is To-be business process using Aveva technology.
Aveva also trains customers on its technology albeit only on the operations part. We train them how to perhaps model some of their operations or processes and how to maintain the technology.

How do you address design efficiency in oil and gas?
For design, Aveva’s portfolio for engineering and simulation is used by EPC contractors during the pre-feed, feed, design, and construction phases and later on during commissioning.
These offerings help design the process in the concept phase. So sustainability and net-zero is explored and optimised in the de-sign phase and much before the plant starts operation.

How do you acquire data from assets especially when these are not connected to the system?
Usually, equipment (at client sites) will have IIoT sensors for us to collect data from without human intervention.
However, some equipment is not censored. In this case, we use our mobility solutions, where we provide the operator with handheld devices to get readings from equipment by walking around the plant. These are then populated into our systems and then processed.

How important is collaboration for Aveva?
There is no company that can do everything and that’s why we strongly believe in collaborations and partnerships. We collaborate with global partners like Microsoft and Amazon, for example, to use their cloud platforms to run our products. We also have other partners, whom we refer to as ecosystem partners. Aveva has around 4,000 to 5,000 system integrators and partners.

How is Aveva driving sustainability within its own facilities?
We are taking this very seriously and there is no better proof to a commitment than when your do it yourself internally.
Aveva is the first company in its domain and amongst 50 globally that has set its own sustainability goals, which have been verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
We have a commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90 per cent by 2030, and Scope 3 by 2050
Aveva also participated in COP27 in Egypt as a sponsor of the Climate Innovation Zone. We were there to show our commitment to sustainability. Our aim is to partner with leaders in sustainability in order to really drive toward a net-zero world.