Representative Leadership Experience: Large-Scale Digital Asset Integrity Program for Offshore and Onshore Oil Assets
TES Canada’s digital integrity capability is informed by leadership experience from a large-scale offshore program covering 170+ platforms, 3D modelling, inspection records, CML development, advanced NDT, and software-based integrity delivery.
Operational Context
This case study represents prior leadership and project management experience of a current key member of TES Canada's leadership team, gained during an earlier international role. The original project was not executed by TES Canada. Client, country, field names, island names, platform identifiers, and facility details have been fully anonymized. The digital integrity methodology and large-scale program delivery experience now inform TES Canada's digital asset integrity services and IntegriMax platform.
An offshore oil operator was responsible for a large and geographically distributed oil production portfolio — comprising more than 170 offshore platforms and multiple island-based oil processing facilities. Inspection and integrity information across this portfolio was fragmented across drawings, reports, field data, historical documents, and disconnected records systems. Managing the condition of such a large asset base using conventional paper-based inspection workflows created major challenges for traceability, prioritisation, corrosion monitoring, planning, and long-term integrity decision-making.
Engineering & Integrity Challenge
The core challenge was converting a fragmented, paper-based inspection and integrity records environment for more than 170 offshore platforms and multiple oil processing facilities into a centralized, structured, digitally managed integrity system — without disrupting ongoing operations or sacrificing the engineering rigour of the integrity assessment work.
The operator required an integrated approach that could digitally capture and structure asset information, establish accurate 3D representations of platforms and processing facilities, identify and document pressure equipment and piping inspection locations, verify material and chemical data, select and map corrosion monitoring locations, execute advanced inspection at selected locations, connect field inspection results with engineering assessment, and replace fragmented reporting with a centralized software and database platform.
Why the Situation Was Complex
The portfolio scale — more than 170 offshore platforms plus multiple processing facilities — created a data management and logistics challenge that required a structured digital workflow from the outset. Conventional report-based delivery would have produced an unmanageable volume of disconnected documents rather than a usable integrity management system.
The multi-disciplinary nature of the technical scope — 3Dlaser scanning, 3D modelling, offshore inspection engineering, advanced NDT, corrosion engineering, materials verification, piping and pressure equipment integrity, software development, database structuring, and inspection document management — required simultaneous coordination of specialist teams across multiple workstreams with a common digital output requirement.
The final deliverable was not a set of inspection reports. It was an operational software and database platform. This meant that engineering decisions about data structure, CML referencing, model linkage, and inspection record organization had to be made at the program outset — before field work commenced — to ensure that field data collected on offshore platforms could be directly integrated into the software system without rework.
TES Engineering Thinking
The program was structured across two parallel but integrated workstreams — offshore platforms and island-based oil processing facilities — sharing a common digital methodology and converging on a single integrated software/database output.
Asset Capture and Digital Foundation: The program began with structured asset capture. Laser scanning and field data collection were used to support creation of digital asset models and provide an accurate geometric foundation for inspection planning, CML location referencing, and integration with the inspection document management system. The 3D models produced from laser scan data supported asset visualisation, inspection planning, and ongoing integrity management for offshore platform topsides and processing facility structures.
Inspection Document Management System: An inspection document management system was developed to centralise asset information, historical records, inspection documents, drawings, CML references, advanced inspection results, and assessment outputs. The IDMS structure was designed to support searchable, traceable access to inspection history — replacing the previous dispersed document environment with a navigable, structured integrity records system.
Material and Chemical Verification: Material and chemical analysis was conducted for piping and pressure equipment across both workstreams to improve the reliability of damage mechanism assessment, inspection planning, and long-term integrity evaluation. Material verification findings were integrated directly into the database, supporting accurate equipment classification and inspection scope definition.
CML Selection and Mapping: Corrosion monitoring locations were selected and documented for piping systems and pressure equipment. CML information was linked to drawings, 3D models, inspection records, and the database structure — creating a traceable connection between physical inspection locations, historical measurement data, and future inspection planning requirements.
Advanced Inspection and Integrity Assessment: Advanced inspection (PAUT- TOFD- LRUT & PEC) was performed at selected CML and priority locations to support corrosion monitoring, wall thickness evaluation, and integrity assessment. Results were structured for direct integration into the software and database platform. Engineering assessment of inspection findings and asset data provided the integrity basis for piping and pressure equipment condition evaluation and future inspection planning.
Software-Based Delivery: The final program output was an operational software and database platform — not a paper reporting archive. The delivered system consolidated inspection and integrity data into a usable digital format incorporating asset history records, CML and P&ID linkage, advanced inspection records, visual inspection records, 3D model visualization, pressure equipment and piping data, C-scan and inspection result management, integrity assessment modules, searchable inspection documents, and software-based reporting. This platform became part of the operator's ongoing asset integrity workflow.
Technical Approach
Practical Outcome
The program delivered a centralized digital inspection and asset integrity management platform for more than 170 offshore platforms and multiple oil processing facilities — replacing the previous fragmented paper-based environment with a structured, traceable, software-supported integrity management system. The operator gained searchable access to inspection history, CML-linked corrosion monitoring data, 3D asset visualisation, and structured integrity assessment outputs through a single integrated platform.
3D models linked to inspection data and CML references enabled inspection planning to be conducted from the digital asset model rather than from flat drawings alone — improving the accuracy of inspection scope definition and reducing the risk of missed inspection locations. Material verification findings improved the reliability of damage mechanism assessments and inspection scope decisions across the piping and pressure equipment population.
The software-based delivery model created a reusable digital integrity framework that the operator could maintain and update as new inspection data was gathered — rather than accumulating disconnected paper reports that degraded in usefulness over time. For TES Canada, this representative experience directly informs the IntegriMax digital integrity platform, CML-based inspection planning capability, inspection document management workflows, and software-supported integrity decision-making services available to Canadian clients today.
Lessons Learned
Digital integrity programs must define their data architecture before field work begins. Decisions about CML referencing conventions, drawing linkage structure, equipment classification hierarchies, and inspection record formats made at the program outset determine whether field-collected data integrates cleanly into the software platform — or requires costly rework after collection.
3D models are only as valuable as the inspection planning workflows built around them. A 3D model that sits as a visualisation tool adds limited value. A 3D model linked to CML locations, inspection history, and future inspection requirements becomes a practical operational tool that improves planning accuracy and inspection traceability on every subsequent cycle.
Material verification at the program outset is high-leverage work. Discovering mid-program that equipment material classifications were incorrect — or that assumed alloy compositions were not confirmed — creates rework in damage mechanism assessments, inspection scopes, and risk evaluations that far exceeds the cost of verification at the start.
The final output of a digital integrity program must be designed for the operator's ongoing workflow, not for the program team's delivery convenience. Reporting formats, database structures, and software interfaces that are intuitive and maintainable by the operator's own team create lasting value. Systems that require the original program team to interpret or update them have limited residual utility.
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Integrity Challenge?
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