CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Avoiding equipment failure with AI-infused AVEVA Predictive

Analytics in the cloud: PETRONAS saves $17.4M and delivers
14x ROI
PETRONAS - www.petronas.com
Industry - Oil & Gas

Goals Results
y Improve reliability of the rotating equipment in plants y Saved $17.4M (RM73.1M) in the first year as a result
of reduced unplanned downtime, from 51 warnings,
y Reduce downtime at both onshore and offshore of which 12 were considered high-risk
facilities
y Delivered 14x ROI within the first year
y Boost operational efficiencies and output
y Increased uptime as a result of the 51 avoided lost-

Challenges time incidents

y Safer working environment

y Refineries were at risk of critical equipment failure
y Increased asset utilization, via the identification
y Lack of information to warn of impending problems
of underperforming assets and pre-emptive
improvement actions
AVEVA solution y System expansion using cloud across 10 new sites
y AVEVA Predictive Analytics, PI System ™ with more planned
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) is Malaysia’s
fully integrated oil and gas multinational company,
“Digital transformation is the innovative way
producing 2.4M barrels of oil equivalent per day. With
information is combined with technology
the commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions
by 2050, PETRONAS recognized the importance of to raise human and machine performance.
plant stability to achieve its sustainability goals. Its Ultimately, we want digital to be entrenched
engineering division, which was keen to optimize in the way we work, intuitively using the tools
equipment performance to improve plant reliability just as we do in our personal lives.”
and reduce downtime, turned to AVEVA’s asset -
performance management (APM) solutions. Wan Shamilah Saidi,
Chief Digital Officer, PETRONAS (2020)

Risk of equipment failure and unscheduled

downtime Early detection of equipment problems
All industrial organizations that operate machinery Following a successful POC to evaluate AI-infused
naturally need to factor in maintenance strategies AVEVA Predictive Analytics, PETRONAS implemented
and activities to ensure all equipment operates a pilot project in their corporate cloud, running on
smoothly in order to avoid unplanned downtime, Microsoft Azure, at four upstream platforms and two
which can result in entire plant shutdowns and downstream plants.
lead to catastrophic consequences. As a leading
energy producer, PETRONAS recognized that having
forewarning of impending equipment failure via an
APM solution would enable the plant operators to
proactively respond to issues and fix the equipment
before bigger problems ensued.

02 Avoiding equipment failure with AI-infused AVEVA Predictive Analytics

in the cloud: PETRONAS saves $17.4M and delivers 14x ROI
 AVEVA Predictive Analytics is an asset performance management solution that provides early
warning notification and diagnosis of equipment issues days, weeks, or even months before
failure. This helps asset-intensive organizations, such as PETRONAS, to reduce equipment
downtime, increase reliability, improve performance and safety, and reduce operational and
maintenance expenditure. At PETRONAS, the solution works in conjunction with the PI System
from OSIsoft, now part of AVEVA, which gathers data from critical assets in the plant. The PI
System collects and structures this data for historization and analysis. The data is used by AI-
based AVEVA Predictive Analytics models to highlight any anomalies, trends, potential incidents
or failures, and enable the teams to undertake improvements as needed.

Data collected by the sensors in the instrumentation and equipment pinpoint the tiniest
deviations in what the AI has trained the software to consider as ‘known good behavior.’ This
is more effective than setting high and low thresholds that trigger an alarm when reached,
because, by then, operations have already spun out of control. PETRONAS’ AVEVA Predictive
Analytics solution spots the problem as it grows away from ‘known good behavior’ before it
leads to a catastrophic failure.

AVEVA Predictive Analytics comes with out-of-the-

box purpose-built AI that has been customized for
“We’ve been using the PI System as our
each industry, meaning that no coding is required. This
standardized data historian platform for
enabled TSE to follow a templated approach that
many years. We were looking to add further ensured the solution could be scaled quickly, deployed
value to the data gathered to optimize plant efficiently, and deliver the high time to value that
operations throughout our business. We chose PETRONAS sought.
cloud-based AVEVA Predictive Analytics
not only because of its ability to accurately
predict equipment failures in advance, but also “Our digital transformation strategy at
because it easily integrates with the PI System PETRONAS is to add value quickly, as this
and because of its intuitive look and feel which has a faster impact on our sustainability goals
helped our teams get up to speed quickly.” and on profitability. We do this by identifying
-
discrete projects with tangible deliverables and
Salim Sumormo,
Custodian (Rotating Equipment), PETRONAS then cascade the same approach elsewhere,
having learned valuable lessons along the way.
Rapid time to value AVEVA Predictive Analytics allowed our teams
PETRONAS hired Trisystem Engineering Sdn Bhd (TSE), to adopt a templated approach that enabled
a systems integrator, to deliver the project. TSE worked us to quickly deploy the solution in other sites,
closely with the team at PETRONAS to deploy the ensuring high time to value and fast ROI.”
solution across various sites. In each case, the solution -
was up and running, delivering value within two months. Mohd Nazrin Zaini,
Custodian (Rotating Equipment), PETRONAS

03 Avoiding equipment failure with AI-infused AVEVA Predictive Analytics

in the cloud: PETRONAS saves $17.4M and delivers 14x ROI
New ways of working For example, an instrumentation fault was identified
leading to a catch in a liquid separator that saved
The maintenance and reliability engineers at PETRONAS
PETRONAS $222K (RM934K) in potential asset failure
use AVEVA Predictive Analytics for their day-to-day
and wasted material. A potential motor failure was also
tasks, to monitor assets across the sites. All levels
caught when AVEVA Predictive Analytics identified
have visibility of the systems, from technicians to plant
increases in the motors lube oil temperature, the winding
managers as well as management teams. With these
temperature, and the hot air temperature, saving
capabilities in the cloud, PETRONAS can remove silos
$82K (RM344K) in equipment replacement. In another
and build new and more collaborative ways of working.
situation, a mechanical fault was identified allowing
In elevating digital fluency to its people, PETRONAS
maintenance engineers to pinpoint a water supply
expects these successful pilot programs to spread the
temperature out of specification along with an increase
word in their digitalization journey. The approach is not
in bearing temperature. Catching this issue before it
about convincing employees, but rather immersing them
cascaded into a major equipment failure saved Petronas
in new ways of working through digital solutions.
$48K (RM 202K).

Predictive analytics drives business value,

Reduced maintenance costs, a safer plant,
saving $17.4M (RM73.1M)
and improved equipment utilization
The pilot implementation accurately predicted failures
Part of value creation at PETRONAS comes from cutting
in advance that enabled PETRONAS’ team to fix issues
maintenance costs. Using the AVEVA APM solution on
ahead of actual failures. In 2020 (the first year of
their Azure cloud platform enabled the team to streamline
deployment) with 200 models deployed, the solution
day-to-day operations and regular maintenance cycles.
accurately identified 51 major early warnings, creating
They can analyze the problems in detail and take further
a value of RM73.1M, equivalent to savings of US$17.4M,
proactive action to reduce the chance of reoccurrence,
and 14x ROI. Out of the 51 warnings, 12 were identified
which further contributes to reduced maintenance
as high-impact warnings. Resolving these ahead of
costs. Avoidance of equipment failures and unplanned
actual failure has reduced unscheduled downtime and
shutdowns has also contributed to better safety records
saved PETRONAS millions of dollars.
and a safer working environment.
Many of the catches helped to reduce critical rotating
equipment failure and downtime and have led to
improved reliability through proactive asset monitoring
and maintenance.

04 Avoiding equipment failure with AI-infused AVEVA Predictive Analytics

in the cloud: PETRONAS saves $17.4M and delivers 14x ROI
Improved asset utilization and faster decision- What’s next for PETRONAS?
making drive efficiencies Following the successful pilot across four plants,
AVEVA Predictive Analytics uses AI to highlight the PETRONAS has deployed AVEVA Predictive Analytics
slightest deviation from normal operational profiles. at an additional 10 plants with a total of 150 equipment
Through detailed analysis, the team has been able to trains. PETRONAS aims to continue rolling out the APM
identify underperforming assets and take remedial solution in the cloud to all its assets to enjoy similar
action to improve equipment efficiency. results across the business. PETRONAS also uses
cloud-based AVEVA Unified Supply Chain to optimize
its entire supply and distribution network, cutting crude
evaluation time and reducing margins.
“Not only does our AVEVA solution deliver
early detection of anomalies and failure, it
also enables us to institutionalize our years of
“The PETRONAS Machinery Monitoring and
machine operation experience into a digital
Prescriptive Diagnostics system – based on
platform. We’ve integrated the PETRONAS
AVEVA’s advanced analytic tools that utilize
failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
machine learning and artificial intelligence – will
methodology into AVEVA Predictive Analytics,
be scaled up across our business. We therefore
and the solution prescribes the corrective
expect the value delivered to PETRONAS from
actions each time anomalies are triggered. This
our AVEVA solution to increase accordingly, as
eliminates the need for manual time-consuming
we continue to collaborate with our technology
investigations and decisions can be made
partners to support our Moving Forward
quickly, which in turn, boosts productivity.”
- Together strategy.”
Azizol Kamaruddin, -
Principal (Rotating Equipment), PETRONAS Azlan Ayub,
P-MMPD Lead, PETRONAS

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