Asset Management Key to Managing Growth of EQT Midstream Operation

To continue to improve service and maintain regulatory compliance, EQT successfully completed an overhaul of its maintenance and work management program involving pipeline assets to gain greater visibility of the work order process.

Instituting a regimented approach to classifying assets, data input and standardizing maintenance processes, the company can leverage accumulated data from new EAM tools in place to maximize workflow efficiency. This new system is helping the company absorb growth by collecting and analyzing data to perform preventive maintenance that’s both timely and cost-effective.

The boom in domestic natural gas production has led to significant expansion of EQT Corporation’s Midstream business segment asset base so that it can efficiently and reliably transport the increased volumes.

Growth for the Pittsburgh-based company is being fueled through new reserves brought online by its Production unit, as well as other production companies, from properties in the Appalachian Basin covering parts of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. EQT Midstream has kept pace with production volume by installing miles of new gathering and transmission lines and new compression facilities. In mid-2010, it started a comprehensive refinement of its maintenance management program to not only adjust for the expanding pipeline infrastructure but make more effective use of maintenance resources.

The gas business, like any asset-intensive industry, needs to manage escalating asset lifecycle costs by maximizing reliability and performance. Other key drivers are tighter regulatory controls calling for greater accountability and more detailed data capture and reporting.

A key focus was the standardization of how work is performed and how that work is recorded. Pumping drips to remove water from pipelines, inspecting valves, checking for leaks or servicing vehicles are all a part of an essential routine. They are just some of more than 20 types of work done in a typical day within EQT’s Midstream operation, stretched out over thousands of miles of pipe and growing.

EQT required a user-friendly method of electronically capturing daily work activities, and tying that work to the asset(s) being worked on. The effective implementation of a thoughtfully selected and designed EAM system could allow the company to more fairly and effectively analyze and report on all completed planned and unplanned work. The system would also allow anyone with access to quickly see a history of work completed in a specified period as well as a preventive maintenance schedule going forward.

Common database Instituting a uniform, structured format for documenting all equipment and work order data could allow EQT to introduce powerful enterprise asset management (EAM) tools to its operations. With all crucial information properly formatted in a common database, it would be possible to quickly generate actionable information for making the most efficient use of resources or create performance metrics as the basis for continuous operational improvement.

EQT called on integration specialists Cohesive Information Solutions of Kennesaw, GA to review business requirements its Midstream operations as well as manage the business process transformation and technology deployment. After a careful evaluation process, it was decided that Maximo would be the EAM engine for these applications.