Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022 - GP-11

INDUSTRY FOCUS
GP: What are some key considerations companies
need to know when supporting their ETRM system?
What might be some key IT enablers?
TK: ETRM systems require 24-hr support and monitoring.
Resources must be assigned to respond to process failures to keep
the system healthy. Most implementations are chugging through
data or processes around the clock, so downtime means that there
is now a backlog of processing, and it can be difficult to recover.
Active notifications of failures should be implemented, when
possible, instead of relying on monitoring to discover issues.
BY: Supporting an ETRM system should not just be about
keeping it running, it should also be constantly considering enhancements.
A support group should keep a prioritized list of
enhancements requested by the business. Ideally, IT should facilitate
brainstorming sessions with user groups as to how they
can improve efficiencies. Involvement by the business with the
vendor, if that is a possibility, is also a big plus. ION has user
groups by domain, but many organizations have IT as the point
of contact and the business is not connected. To make this relationship
more effective, the schedulers, accountants and risk
analysts should be attending the meetings conducted by the vendor,
not just IT. Getting the business more involved in IT decisions
helps the business buy-in and results in a better outcome.
Keeping the reference data correct is also important when it
comes to supporting an ETRM system. The best results come
from well-defined processes around any kind of reference data.
GP: What do you think the ideal ETRM system
of the future will-or needs-to look like for
companies to transform their business operations,
enhance efficiencies, differentiate themselves from
the competition and uncover new monetization
opportunities? In other words, does the ideal ETRM
system of the future require Internet of Things (IoT),
cloud, automation, etc. capabilities, any one of them,
or a combination of all of them? Why or why not?
TK: As previously mentioned, I can imagine an ETRM solution
that involves a combination of the technologies listed and
starts with IoT solutions to provide standard and readily available
operational data from the pipeline, truck and rail operations
that are shared across subscribers to an SaaS solution that
communicates and confirms cross-subscriber activity, including
physical transactions and billing.
With these technological advances, we could eliminate much
of the cost associated with ETRM implementation, including
custom interfaces, large software/hardware support teams and
the processing required to communicate with counterparties.
Companies could transform their business by analyzing readily
available accurate operational data and concentrate on the core
of their business profitability model instead of logging the operations
in the supporting software.
BY: It is an interesting statement about the systems differentiating
the companies from their competition. In past years, some
companies believed their system was their differentiation, but as
more companies have gone to package software and certain segments
use the same system, that does not seem to be the case.
I believe it is not the system but how well a company uses the
system. The ETRM system is at the core of business operations,
but many companies have add-on systems of some sort that help
them to better utilize package software. I believe there are some
big opportunities to use some web-based portals to communicate
with customers. These allow the business partners to access
information and keep the company's employees from spending
all their time answering questions or sending out statements.
When the cloud was first introduced to ETRM, it did not work
very well. However, it seems to be working much better now, and
the concept of extra processing capacity when needed is great.
The IoT could have more connectivity to gather quicker information
such as meter readings and inventory levels. As ETRM
technology gets more affordable, the ideal situation would be for
data to flow from the field much more quickly than today. GP
TERESA KROH is a Director of Opportune's Process and
Technology practice. She has spent more than 30 yr in the oil
and gas industry in various roles, including project management,
software implementation, IT management, process analysis,
software design and development. She has more than 20 yr of
experience in all aspects of ION RightAngle, with an emphasis on
trading and risk management.
BRAD YORK is a Director of Opportune's Process and
Technology practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has 19 yr of
experience in the energy industry, with 23 yr of experience in
RightAngle. Before Opportune, Mr. York was a Business
Services Director/Senior Business Services Director at
OpenLink/ION where he executed upgrade assessments
evaluating clients' needs, worked closely with product
management to define the direction of the software and managed eight
consultants in the scheduling domain, among other duties. He earned a BS
degree in accounting from The University of Tulsa.
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Gas Processing & LNG | MARCH/APRIL 2022 11
Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022
