Malaysia IOCs Boost For enginei EFMS Technology

Marine diesel power specialist Royston reports that it is working with a number of international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Malaysia to equip oilfield supply contract vessels (OSVs) with specialist electronic fuel management systems.

In recent months, the installation of nine enginei EFMS systems have been completed on Malaysian OSVs for three different IOCs and this number will continue to rise with the advanced system being included in the vessel contracting requirements for a number of other oilfield majors.

As part of the installations, new bunker delivery reports have been built-in to systems for the Malaysian market and local technical support for the systems is being provided by Time Marine, a Petronas licensed vendor and long standing Royston agent in the country.

As a result, Royston anticipates the enginei fleet operating in Malaysia will grow to between 20 and 40 vessels in the next 6-12 months, with a further 30-plus across South East Asia.

The growing demand for accurate measurement, control and analysis of fuel consumption data reflects the move by many of the IOC’s to make EFMS installations a mandatory technical requirement in offshore support contracts.

Damian McCann, product manager for enginei, explains: “A number of factors have come together to produce a definite trend that has seen IOCs in Malaysia increasingly stipulating the need for fuel monitoring data provision in offshore support contracts.

“These factors include better visibility of operational costs and contract cost reductions, encouraging improved vessel working efficiencies and closer attention to emissions control, as well as fuel security issues.

“We have already seen similar requirements among IOCs operating in other parts of the world over the past couple of years, but this is a comparatively recent feature in Malaysia.

“Nevertheless it is undoubtedly here to stay as the oil companies become ever more conscious of their green credentials.”

At the heart of the enginei system is an expanded on board flowmeter and sensor system. This gives the advanced system the ability to acquire comprehensive real time engine and vessel performance measurements beyond the usual RPM, GPS and fuel inputs to take in a wide range of other engine control unit outputs.

The data is displayed live through a touch screen bridge display. Information is also transmitted remotely to the enginei web dashboard where the state of the art interface enables the rapid production of intuitive online reports and trending graphs, as well as providing alerts and map dashboard tracking with weather overlays, showing a detailed operational profile for a vessel.

The upsurge in interest in enginei EFMS in Malaysia takes the number of vessels using the system to over 300 in more than 10 countries, including OSVs such as anchor handlers, jack ups, PSVs and crew boats, operating in West Africa, the North Sea, Asia, Egypt, Mexico and Brazil.