]]> Petrofac will control licensing of the data hub tool in the North Sea. Credit: Petrofac Limited.

Oil and gas service provider Petrofac has signed a deal with drilling technology company MODS for exclusive use of a data hub for project planning within the UK continental shelf.

MODS developed its Virtual Manager Experience product as a multi-purpose management hub. In a statement, the company said it has documented productivity increases of 20-70%.

Petrofac will be the only engineering, procurement and construction contractor to have use of it on the UK shelf. A spokesperson said the company would offer the system to all Petrofac clients there.

The VME enables materials tracking using QR codes or radio frequency tags, and can assemble document packs for teams. It incorporates 3D modelling of the integrity of bolt or compression joints, a progress tracker, scheduling manager and a tool for project handovers.

A spokesperson for Petrofac told Offshore Technology: Traditionally the industry manages project processes with paper-based drawings, procedures and reporting.

VME changes the goalposts by providing our teams with a single device where all information can be accessed and reported on in real-time, significantly reducing the administration burden and importantly allowing our supervision teams to spend more time in the field on value-adding activities.

[The system] is by far the most advanced and mature product of its type that has been proven internationally on both brownfield and greenfield projects, and will form the backbone of our offshore projects offering.

The company added onshore operations would improve and the technology would increase its ability to report on project delivery readiness.

Petrofac Engineering and Production Services COO John Pearson said: By thinking differently about service delivery and combining decades of engineering, construction and operations know-how with the latest digital technology, such as VME, were generating cost efficiencies and increased productivity for our clients, across the life-cycle of projects.

MODS CEO Jon Bell said: This exciting new partnership with Petrofac will push boundaries and help the UKCS move into a new era of efficiency and innovation. Virtual Manager Enterprise was first developed in the North Sea, so its great to see it return to the region.

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Petrofac and MODS partner on project management tool - Offshore Technology