The audit was conducted on 26 and 27 May 2020.
Objective
The objective of the audit was to verify how the company follows up the management of risk associated with the integration between industrial ICT systems and digitalisation solutions. The aim was to verify the processes and systems the operator uses to secure the interface between them. We also wanted to verify if there is a correlation between overarching procedures and operational follow-up.
Result
Wintershall Dea has two fields that have been developed using subsea facilities that produce to facilities operated by other operators. In collaboration with the supplier of the subsea control system, all information from these facilities is made available to relevant personnel in Wintershall Dea. This solution is not based on external cloud services or similar, but appears to be an appropriate digitalisation solution for monitoring the company’s subsea facilities.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with communication over the mobile network (4G/5G) is often portrayed as a technology that will also be important for the petroleum industry. Wintershall Dea has the necessary infrastructure for this at Brage in partnership with Telia and has initiated a trial project collecting environmental data from IIoT sensors. This is an independent system with no connections to the industrial ICT systems at Brage.
At the time of the audit, Wintershall Dea had a vacancy for the post responsible for digitalisation. After the audit was completed, Cognite announced that it had signed a contract with Wintershall Dea for the delivery of digitalisation solutions for four years.
The observations in this audit report are exempt from public disclosure, with reference to the Freedom of Information Act section 24, paragraph 3.
What happens next?
We have sent the audit report to Wintershall Dea and requested feedback on our observations by 28 August 2020.