It is estimated that the average oil and gas firm, starting today, can expect to remediate LESS than 30% of the overall potential failure points in the production environment.
WORLD OIL - April 1998 Vol. 219 No. 4
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- Methods for analyzing this equipment are only now emerging.
- Compliance info coming from manufacturers has been sketchy & sometimes inaccurate.
- In some cases, the chips are no longer made.
- In others, the controller is manufactured in such a way that entire unit must be replaced.
- Upgraded chips and new controllers also would have to be tested to ensure that their insertion will not impact drilling and production processes negatively.
- Some studies suggest that there may not be enough manufacturing capacity to just replace all affected chips in less than two years.
Few organizations have recognized the full potential for possible failure in embedded systems. Moreover, the supply of talent qualified to identify and correct these problems is being consumed quickly by other year 2000 projects. The longer that production managers wait, the less the likelihood that they will be able to affect the outcome pragmatically.
It is estimated that the average oil and gas firm, starting today, can expect to remediate less than 30% of the overall potential failure points in the production environment. This reality shifts the focus of the solution away from trying to fix the problem, to planning strategies that would minimize potential damage and mitigate potential safety hazards.
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The recognition of issues surrounding EMBEDDED SYSTEMS is a relatively late entrant into the year 2000 discussion. Companies only now are becoming aware that the most likely threat to the revenue stream, environment and safety is more likely to come from an offshore platform or refinery, than from a mainframe accounting system.
WORLD OIL
gulfpub.com
Go to "Feature Articles"
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Royal Dutch/Shell & British Petroleum said they realize they are sitting on a time bomb & are racing against the clock to check millions of microprocessors - They identify REAL problems:
Four Alcoa Steel Plants
* 50% of control systems will fail
North Sea Expro (Shell-Exxon JV)
* Platform, Pipeline and Gas Plants
* 1200 systems identified, 12% failure rate
BP Refinery, Grangemouth, UK
* 94 systems identified
* Couldn't find vendor for 20
* 74 assessed
* 3 will fail, 2 will cause shutdown
Failures: Message 2721623
Timebomb: techstocks.com
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MORE ... supertankers, regineries, etc
Message 3249852 |
