Who is Aker BP?

Aker BP is a company engaged in exploration, field development and production of oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf. In terms of production, the company is one of the largest independent oil companies in Europe.

The company operates six field centres: Alvheim, Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Skarv, Ula and Valhall, and is a partner in the Johan Sverdrup field. 

The challenge

Before 1998, BP Norge (one of the companies that later merged into Aker BP) produced licensing round applications using Word. Several problems were caused by this approach, including time-consuming setbacks when placing diagrams and charts, both key components for optimum readability.

When the documents reached a certain megabyte size, the program crashed, the files were corrupted, frustration set in, and delays threatened deadlines.

One of the biggest challenges for the team was that only one person could work on one document at a time. To work around this problem, the writers divided the Word document into sections. As a result, version control and formatting issues multiplied, resulting in more work serializing the document back together and re-formatting for production and submission.

Aker BP's Office Administrator, Henrik Meinich-Bache, explains:

“Everyone who worked on the licensing round applications spent far too much time formatting and modifying in Word. The licensing round coordinator at the time decided enough was enough after yet another frustrating application was submitted.”

The solution

It was around 2000 when key BP Norge stakeholders teamed up with a few bright minds, and they started developing the first version of XaitPorter. It was launched in 2002 (called 'Publish-As-You-Go').

Over the next few years, BP Norge and Xait collaborated closely to develop XaitPorter into what Meinich-Bache describes as “an amazing collaboration tool that is the standard solution for the Norwegian oil industry today, as well as many other enterprises worldwide”.

In 2016, Det Norske and BP Norge merged. Aker BP ASA became the new name of the company.

How Aker BP uses XaitPorter today

XaitPorter empowers approximately 1,500 users across the company with more than 1,600 projects created, each encompassing multiple documents.

The Drilling & Wells division uses XaitPorter for well reports, and EXPRESS uses it for licensing rounds, APAs, Reservoir Characterization reports, and many other mission-critical documents. Furthermore, XaitPorter is used to create field development plans, or PDOs (plans for development and operation).

Creating PDO documents with XaitPorter

Aker BP uses XaitPorter for all of its PDOs. A PDO document describes the development of a petroleum deposit, or several petroleum deposits, as well as the consequences of the planned development measures (impact assessment).

A U.S. equivalent would be an Initial Exploration Plan, while a UK equivalent would be a Field Development Plan.

The PDO documents range in length from 100 to 200 pages, are extremely detailed, and are rigorously evaluated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE). Therefore, they must be accurate, professional, and error-free.

The Results

By using XaitPorter, Aker BP’s PDO creation process has been simplified and streamlined, says Silje Kartfjord, HSSEQ Manager, Subsea Alliance at Aker BP.

“The solution is very intuitive and easy to use. It has a low barrier to entry, so most people figure it out pretty quickly.”

“The best part about it is that you can cut and paste images, diagrams and text from various sources, and everything gets a uniform look based on your brand identity. As a result, we save a great deal of time during post-production. And with many different contributors writing content in different sections, it’s easy for me to make sure that the terminology and formatting are consistent.”

Towards the end of 2022, and crucial to meet set deadlines, Aker BP submitted 11 PDOs roughly at the same time. Kartfjord notes:

“XaitPorter provided significant benefits as our teams could primarily focus on the content and work simultaneously across the different sections of each PDO.”

“For one of the documents we just wrote, we had 34 different writers and 41 different reviewers. That means 75 different people worked on the document at the same time. It went smoothly from start to finish.”

Why XaitPorter is a essential tool in the oil and gas industry

The oil and gas industry requires real-time access to accurate information as well as compliance with regulatory and safety requirements. Without a strong document collaboration solution, it’s hard to create large and complex documents, such as PDOs, without getting bogged down in formatting issues and wasting hours.

Kartfjord elaborates:

“Developing a PDO document requires expertise in many different areas, including geological evaluation, reservoir evaluation, drilling and completion, and field installation, as well as HSE, organization, and execution.”

A document co-authoring solution enabling such a high-stakes, multi-contributor collaboration is crucial to allow experts and stakeholders across departments to provide input and co-write content that adheres to regulatory requirements and changes.

Kartfjord says it all comes down to ensuring that the documents you submit to authorities reflect your organization’s expertise and professionalism:

“You don't do shoddy work on a document of this magnitude and importance. This applies to more than just PDO documents. We've all seen presentations and documents filled with messy cut-and-paste work. What does that say about the company's quality of service?”

Silje Kartfjord concludes by saying:

“XaitPorter is an excellent tool for companies that create documents requiring as much multifaceted collaboration as PDOs.”

About Xait

Xait is a global technology company founded in 2000 that produces and delivers software for document automation, collaboration and intelligent pricing. Our mission is to help enterprise clients win business by supporting their sales enablement efforts from quote to contract. We are passionate about challenging industry mindsets and developing products that improve the way people work together