Home » Case Studies » Lube Oil Change Interval From 1000 hrs to 3300 Hours Achieved for a Rig CAT Engine
Table of Contents
Case Study
Lube Oil Change Interval From 1000 hrs to 3300 Hours Achieved for a Rig CAT Engine
Table of Contents
Background
Industry
Oil & Gas
Solution
Oil Quality
Management Solution
(OQMS)
Make & Model
Caterpillar Diesel Engines
Asset
Offshore Rig
Objective
To reduce lube oil consumption and increase the oil change interval in a data-backed, reliable manner, without compromising engine health and performance across offshore rigs powered by CAT diesel engines.
Challenge / Problem Context
Frequent oil changes increased operational cost: ~USD 80,000 spent on new oil per rig over 3 years.
Delayed lab reports: 8–10 weeks turnaround time made oil quality data outdated and ineffective for decision-making.
Unscientific extension of oil change interval: Teams manually extended OEM-recommended 1000-hour oil change intervals to 2000 hours without real-time data, leading to recurring oil contamination.
No visibility into real-time oil health: Lack of live insights into parameters like viscosity, oxidation, and contamination posed a serious reliability risk.
Environmental and logistical burden: Regular oil disposal created logistical challenges and environmental concerns.
What Did We Do?
Deployed real-time oil quality monitoring sensors on 20 engines across 4 rigs: Neptunus installed Oil condition monitoring solution in the lube oil line of each Caterpillar engine.
Enabled continuous visibility into critical oil parameters: The sensors tracked 22+ oil quality indicators including viscosity, temperature, oxidation, moisture, particles, and remaining useful life.
Empowered data-backed decisions: The customer confidently extended oil change intervals from 2000 hours to 3300+ hours—over 3x the OEM recommendation—based on live sensor data.
Delivered cloud-based trending and remote monitoring: Our IIoT-enabled dashboard allowed the rig team and Neptunus engineers to remotely track and respond to early signs of oil degradation.
Reduced unnecessary oil changes and waste: By only changing oil when data indicated, the customer avoided premature replacements and the resulting disposal issues.
Results That We Achieved
Cost savings of $108,000+ over 3 years across 4 rigs: Average savings of $1800/engine/year or $9000/rig/year during the first 12 months of deployment.
Benchmark cost savings per engine of $110,000: Against OEM’s oil change interval, customers saved 67% of their lube oil spend per engine (from $160,000 to $50,000).
Extended oil change intervals by 3.3x: Reduced oil consumption and costs without affecting engine performance or uptime.
Prevented oil-related machine failures: Real-time warnings helped mitigate risks—since 54% of engine failures are oil-related (Ref: Noria Corporation).
Promoted sustainability: Decreased oil disposal frequency contributed to the customer’s environmental compliance goals.
