Digital brains in Kristiansand

INTO KONGSBERG IN 2008
Today, the department in Kristiansand comprises 27 people who work on the development, sales and installation of decision support systems for the oil and gas industry. The bulk of the employees are data and civil engineers, but there is also a petroleum engineer and employees who work in finance and IT.

The environment in Kristiansand has formed a part of KONGSBERG since they were acquired in 2008. We find solid companies on the customer list, with Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Equinor, CNOOC and Baker Hughes GE being the largest.

“The oil companies do not want to commit to a single supplier when they invest in drilling and well technology. They follow an open standard that makes it possible for us to deliver our solutions regardless of who has supplied the sensors from which we retrieve data”, explains Ted Abramsen, pointing out a certificate on the wall.

“WITSML is an industry standard for the transfer of data between automation and information systems within the oil and gas sector. We were involved with the development of this standard, and it is a necessity for third-party companies like us to be able to enter the market with our products”, explains Abramsen.

FOREWARNING OF PROBLEMS
SiteCom, Discovery and Well Advisor are tools that are used to optimise different types of drilling operations. One operation that serves as a good example is Casing Running, where the walls of the drill hole are reinforced with a steel casing.

In collaboration with BP, Kongsberg Digital has developed an algorithm that calculates whether the casing is about to get stuck. Since the algorithm was put into use, the customer has seen a considerable reduction in the number of instances of the casing getting jammed in the drill hole.

This has resulted in savings of around 200 million dollars, in terms of the extra work the customer would normally have to expect.

Like the rest of the oil service industry, Kristiansand has experienced a significant drop since 2014 when oil prices began to fall.

“We have experienced difficult times over the last few years, but relatively speaking we have managed better than many others. There has been a definite decline in new projects and investments, and this has also affected us. Now there is a clear improvement in the market, there are several tenders out, but the competition is extremely tough. In particular, the large service companies are showing that they are willing to go extremely low to win market shares, and this makes it so that we also have to be even tougher to stake our claim.”

“What are the prospects for these markets?”

“We take a positive view of the future. The large digitisation wave has hit the industry and brings with it many opportunities, but will also require us to go slightly beyond our core area and be willing to change in pace with customer needs”, says the sales manager.

ON THE WAY OUT OF THE WAVE’S DEPTHS?
K-magazine is visiting Kongsberg Digital on the same day that the department is holding some team building activities and this year’s summer party. Colleagues from Stavanger and Asker are present, and the task is to brainstorm new features and applications for the products.