How 3D printing can help this industry

While 3D printing / additive manufacturing will never replace traditional manufacturing methods, as far as oil & gas industry is concerned, it would definitely compliment and disrupt the way we do things.  Opportunities are limitless - no matter what direction you go, opportunity is there and chances of success is high: at least for a very simple reason – it has never been done before.  There are a number of areas where 3D printing can be used in the short to medium term and each and every case may be unique. Those may include:

• Prototyping & Simulation - There is always high degree of uncertainty when it comes to subsurface or subsea, and on many occasions, available tools that can help to increase certainty of a desired outcome are limited. If you can simulate a real scenario (be it drilling, well intervention or subsea infrastructure) and produce a 3D model of the task you are trying to undertake and rehearse it, the effect of “been there, done it” increases chances of success. When all the preparation and parameters set correct, prototyping using 3D printing not only low cost and quickest, most importantly this the next best alternative to a real life scenario. This is what the medical industry has been practicing successfully for a while – doing pre-surgical 3D models of the organs, to better understand approach to surgical procedure and avoid unexpected surprises in the middle of a surgery.
• Weight Reduction - When building an offshore platform, there is always a trade-off between weight and structural integrity. Moreover, design life and operating environment add another complex dimension to that trade-off decision. Reducing the weight of top part/topsides of an offshore platform will not only result in lighter foundation structure of that facility, but an overall reduction in costs to build the complete platform or make some design and engineering concepts work where it was impossible before.  Obvious and easy candidates for weight reduction would be areas that do not require to carry structural integrity and / or where metal materials can be substituted. Those may include grating, handrails, stairways, various enclosures. In addition, an area that still carry some sort support structures, such as communication platforms and towers, pipe bridges. Support and foundation structures for processing equipment of the topsides are great candidates as well when topography optimization is applied, i.e. the shape of the part is redesigned to meet (or exceed) the same robustness criteria, but with lighter and cheaper part. This may sound too little, but when every kg counts, the cumulative effect can be substantial.
• Obsolete & Bespoke Parts - When there are so many aging oil & gas facilities in the world with little or no economic incentives to rejuvenate them, managing the challenge of obsolete spare parts is a large opportunity area. Today, if you want to find a critical spare part for a gas turbine that is 10-15 years old, it might be extremely costly and challenging to get it, if you get it at all. Retrofitting those oil & gas facilities with new generation equipment is not always feasible or will cost a fortune. So, reverse engineering, 3D scanning and reproducing those obsolete part on demand, using 3D printers represent great prospects for 3D printing. The issue of “last-order” is gone and you are not at the mercy of original equipment manufacturers anymore. Bespoke parts is a large opportunity area as well, in particular for high-value and low-volume applications or where the impact of not having a part or a breakdown is substantial but rare.  E.g. if there is a part that is very expensive and rarely fails, but the impact of failure is a total shutdown – instead of having it for several years and not using it, 3D printing it on demand might be a much better alternative. This is sort of direction where companies like Woodside energy are looking into.
• Band-Aid - Band-aiding as a temporary solution may work out very effectively as well. Imagine if a pump impeller is damaged and there is no spare? What the temporary solution could be is 3D scan that impeller and 3D print that missing/damaged component, until the replacement becomes available. This concept could be applied to many other areas – just turn on your imagination. 
• Remote Locations Manufacturing - Imagine having a digital file of equipment component or spare part and being able to print it offshore, where supply runs a long and challenging, due to weather conditions?  Stocking up is an option, but it costs money and takes up space. Frequently used consumables, such as pumps ( a typical platform has plenty of them) components are good candidates for this application.  Although not offshore, but Siemens used a fairly similar approach at a nuclear plant in Europe and it works – 3D printed impellers.
• New Materials & New Geometries - There are so many new materials that can be used in 3D printing, which may significantly enhance working life of equipment/parts or allow utilization of components that previously were not possible, due to operating conditions and repetitive forces applied to the same area of that component. In parallel to that, using composite materials and 3D printing is such an immense opportunity for weight reduction that everyone missed so far. New geometries is perhaps the most interesting, yet challenging area. This is where the conventional wisdom must be challenged. 3D printing allows manufacturing of parts with complex geometries which are not possible to produce using conventional manufacturing methods. What this means is a fresh and start-from-empty-canvas design approach is required because the traditional manufacturing methods have imposed limitations originated from the laws of physics, chemistry and alike, that govern how we approach thinking in initial design. GE is famous for it when it produced a fuel nozzle, that became 5x  more durable, 25% lighter and instead of assembling together 20 different parts, it is 1 single piece.

Making all of it work is a challenge, I admit. When doing smth new, overcoming resistance is a normal game to play. Now, when this “new” is revolutionary new, the resistance is much stronger.  While concentrating all your energy on the “NEW” is the way to go, no sports car can drive at full speed without proper tires. So addressing the barriers is as important, as concentrating on the “NEW”. With deeply rooted risk avoidance, lack of awareness and lack of industry-wide standards and certification and grey areas in intellectual property rights, there are much deeper resistance points that is the “why-behind-the-why”.  Although solutions to each of them may be based on the same principles – harnessing resistance and/or applying opposite forces, tailoring those solutions might work better.

• Can only see what makes immediate sense. There are too many people in the industry who are good to see and grasp things that are related to their immediate working environment, hence they cannot see opportunities and developed a very strong tunnel vision. In addition, there is no reason or incentive for most people to do things that are not aligned with what they have been measured on and does not constitute to their KPIs. On top of all, this system rewards people who follow it and it makes them successful, so why should anyone go outside of it or change it? If you approach an engineer and tell about 3D printing of parts and using drones to deliver it - you lost this battle already.
• Desire to achieve long-term goals, with short-term decision-making. Almost all projects in the oil industry are long-term, sometimes reaching 50 years. This implies long-term planning and thinking, and designing projects to accommodate future uncertainty, changes, expansion, and the most efficient run life. Yet, when it comes to decision-making – most of the time decisions are based on short-termism. In general, people want immediate returns because it affects quarterly / yearly numbers – managing balance sheet and cash flow will almost always prevail.

I found it extremely useful and working, when you go in waves and stages, show quick early wins, so people build confidence and enthusiasm, when they see “hmm, it’s working”, after which it goes “viral” and a wider audience starts doing it. Remember, the concept of social proof stipulates – 95% of people are followers and 5% are leaders.

I refuse to accept that no 3D printing can find its room in the oil industry. We all fly on a commercial aircraft, where 3D printed parts are used. Hats off to those organizations and people who actively promote and try to embrace additive manufacturing in the oil & gas industry.