SpecTec – new asset management software for oil and

							SpecTec – new asset management software for oil and gas
Feature Articles, Mar 26 2009 (Digital Energy Journal)

- Oil and gas asset management company SpecTec has launched version 9 of its Amos Business
Suite software, for asset management on offshore vessels and platforms, including managing
maintenance and purchasing.

The company’s software is used on around 650 drilling sites, and a number of Floating Storage
and Offloading units (FSOs) and Floating Production Storage and Offloading Units (FPSOs).
SpecTec is also the largest software company for the deep sea maritime industry.

Customers include ENI, which uses the software on 150 sites; Ocean Vanguard; MODEC
International; Frontier Drilling; Jindal Drilling; Saipem and Lukoil. It has software on offshore
vessels in Libya and Kazakhstan. The company estimates that its business in the oil and gas
industry is growing by 20 per cent a year.

The company is opening new offices in Brazil and Argentina to service its oil and gas clients.

The new version 9 of AMOS has a great deal of improved functionality for reliability centered
maintenance, says Giampiero Soncini, CEO.

“We have more statistics, more analysis. We improved our dashboard – to basically cover every
single possible KPI – its completely configurable – so you can do any KPI you want.”

“There’s been a tremendous surge in requests for condition based maintenance ,” he says.

In particular, the system can integrate with sensors monitoring rotating equipment, thermography
(heat sensors) and ultrasound, which is used to verify that seals are watertight.

The new version also has functionality to move equipment from one vessel to another, so if a
company (for example) has moved a piece of drilling apparatus from one rig to another they can
also move the data and import it into the asset management system on the new rig.

Many oil and gas companies instinctively choose SAP or IBM (Maximo) software for
maintenance management on offshore platforms, because they use the same software on shore.

Mr Soncini tries to explain to customers that SpecTec’s software, because it was originally
designed for ships rather than for large corporations, can be more appropriate for running on a
drilling rig or offshore vessel than SAP and Maximo.

“We are much smaller than IBM and SAP. We offer a complete different approach – much more
flexibility, availability all over the world,” he says.

The SpecTec software is no bandwidth hog – it is designed to work well using the 9.8 kbps data
connections which the maritime industry has been forced to work with for many years.
The SpecTec software is designed so it can be installed as easily as possible, without needing
dedicated IT technicians or SAP engineers, which are not normally available on vessels. “It
installs by itself – we do a roll out in less than 1 day – or 5 days is the maximum,” he says.

However SpecTec is not a small company, he stresses, with annual revenues of around $50m and
240 staff members, including 44 people in product development.

The version 9 is the biggest upgrade SpecTec has ever made to its AMOS for Windows software
suite.

The software can integrate with all ERP packages, including SAP, Oracle finance and JD
Edwards. “We interface with anything,” he says.

It has functionality to raise non-conformities if you have a maintenance breakdown. “That is
something even major competitors do not have,” he says.

SpecTec