Automation in Oil and Gas: A Starter’s Guide
From drilling to logistics to preventing theft, automation in oil and gas is quickly becoming the standard. Learn how tech helps increase ROI and improves safety in this starter guide. Since the 1990s, businesses have looked at how automation in oil and gas can improve worker safety, improve efficiency, and increase the bottom line. Today, digital tools are being used in every facet of oil and gas cultivation. From improved efficiency when drilling for new oil to real-time weather monitoring and theft prevention, tech tools are quickly becoming the norm for the $2.1 trillion (according to IBISWorld) industry. In this starter guide, you’ll learn how innovation and automation in oil and gas is being used to connect, collect and analyze data, and increase ROI. What Is Automation In Oil and Gas? Oil and gas automation refers to the growing number of digital techniques and processes used to help producers cultivate energy. Automation and agility have found their way into nearly all oil and gas industry divisions, like drilling, logistics, supply chain, and safety. Tools such as rugged wireless radios and AI-powered real-time sensors for remote monitoring allow drilling sites to be run safely and efficiently from afar—protecting employees and increasing revenue simultaneously. Benefits Improved production yield while lowering costs Improved safety for employees in hazardous conditions Real-time insights 24/7 monitoring Theft protection at drill sites and along pipelines Sustainability Predictive technologies can be used for future application Where Does Automation In Oil and Gas Happen? Approximately 94 billion barrels of oil are produced every day worldwide, according to U.S. Energy Information. Here are some specific examples of how automation impacts the production and monitoring of two of the world’s most important resources. Drilling Autonomous drilling control systems (ADCs), such as those implemented in the North Sea (between England and Scotland) in 2020, enable safe and efficient oil drilling. In the past, “automatic” tools used to drill for oil were just manually assisted. Today, though, ADCs are believed to reduce drilling costs by as much as 50 percent. Diagnostics In an industry where downtime can severely disrupt a business and lead to financial downfall, remote diagnostics help predict future issues or pinpoint current ones to prevent delays and disruptions. For example, tools that measure pressure loss, temperature, and mercury levels can help businesses disrupt downtime and minimize costly delays. They also reduce the risk of oil rig disasters, such as the infamous Gulf of Mexico explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that left 41 miles of oil in the ocean. Weather Monitoring Oil and gas production are both contingent on weather patterns. Issues that can affect (or even shut down) drilling sites include: Tropical cyclones (most common) Extreme cold Extreme heat Earthquakes Automation in gas and oil includes the adoption of real-time sensors and monitoring tools, which detect changes in seismic activities and atmospheric levels, giving companies the ability to adjust in real-time to changing weather patterns. Security Theft in oil and gas is a real threat. In fact, a 2021 report said that Nigeria loses an average of 200,000 oil barrels per day (b/d) to theft, primarily from pipeline sabotage. Rugged, wireless radios allow oil and gas professionals to communicate safely without fear of interception or lost connection. Along with real-time monitoring of sites and pipelines, this can create a formidable defense against criminals. Trends in Oil and Gas Automation Oil and gas automation is quickly becoming standard, and with it, innovation in the field is coming. A significant push towards sustainability. Tech tools that help reduce a business’s carbon footprint and improve operating efficiency will be both sought after (and possibly required) in the coming years. Greater use of AI at oil rigs. Businesses are shifting away from manually assisted technologies in favor of artificial intelligence devices that make real-time, autonomous decisions on-site. More tech jobs. As on-site employees are phased out to make for a safer work environment, new jobs, such as coding, system architecture, and cybersecurity, will be created in the oil and gas industry. Contact FreeWave to learn how our technologies can boost your oil and gas business’s ROI today.
IIoT Top News: Oil and Gas Early Adopters
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is not just a means for organizations to harvest and analyze vast amounts of data to drive better business decisions. It is driving innovative ways for companies to keep their employees safe and out of harm’s way. In the latest IIoT Top News, we’ll take a look at some trending stories from the oil and gas industry, a quickly growing user of the Industrial Internet of Things to help power data-driven decisions, business operation optimization, and employee safety. The possibility of an industrial wireless oilfield is now not just a pipe dream, but a reality. Wearable Technology and the IoT Improving Safety for Oil and Gas Workers For many folks, wearable technology is viewed as a simple fad of smart watches and health tracking hardware. In the grand scheme of things, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of wearable tech, with biotechnology, embedded smart tracking hardware, and much more right on the horizon. As noted in this article from the EconoTimes, one of the industries beginning to leverage the power of wearable technology is oil and gas. Looking back at 2014, occupational fatalities nationally were 3 per 100,000 workers. In oil and gas, that number skyrockets to 15. That’s why some organizations in this hazardous industry are turning towards the IIoT and wearable tech to keep their employees safe. From fall risk mitigation, to toxin and fume inhalation prevention and diagnosis, the applications for wearable technology for oil and gas employees in the field are many. One of the current limitations for wearable tech in the field is the ruggedness of the technology, but as new devices are designed that can withstand harsh environments, you can expect to see more adoption of this potentially life-saving tech. The IIoT and Operationalizing Excellence For the oil and gas industry, the advent of the Industrial Internet of Things (sometimes referred to as Industry 4.0) holds massive promise. From reacting to changing global trade conditions in real-time, to instantaneous equipment feedback, there are myriad uses for connected tech. This recent article from IoT Business News cautions us to heed the warnings of the dot.com era and take a strategic approach. The article argues that expecting the IIoT to be a silver bullet for business decisions will only lead to more confusion. It notes that Industry 4.0 is an incredibly powerful tool, one with the ability to fundamentally change the way oil and gas organizations do business, but it is important to go “back to the basics” and understand business needs and objectives before trying to dive into the data. In the Oil Industry, IoT is Booming Oil and gas is not always known for its agility, but when it comes to the Internet of Things, the industry is moving at a decidedly rapid pace. This article from Offshore Engineer asserts that the IoT is not only increasingly becoming part of many organization’s strategies, but is fundamentally becoming embedded in the “oil psyche.” Dave Mackinnon, head of Technology Innovation at Total E&P UK, provides quite a bit of color around this assertion, and he believes that oil and gas is moving towards a “digital supply chain” that was fundamentally revolutionize the sector. Mackinnon also believes that when it comes to the IoT train, it’s either get on, or get left behind. “In an IoT world, many companies will discover that being just a manufacturing company or just an Internet company will no longer be sufficient; they will need to become both – or become subsumed in an ecosystem in which they play a smaller role,” Mackinnon said. Cyberattack Concerns Loom for Oil and Gas While the highest profile cyberattacks have been in the commerce and financial sectors, industrial targets remain at high risk. A recent article from Hydrocarbon Engineering notes that “because of its complex layers of supply chains, processes and industrial controls, makes [the oil and gas industry] a high value target for hackers.” As oil and gas organizations look to leverage the Internet of Things to bring increased value to their companies, it will become more and more important to build extra layers of security into their systems. Enabling the Connected Worker While the IIoT is indeed changing the way oil and gas companies make decisions, it is also changing the way employees perform their jobs. This article from Gas Today notes some of the ways the IoT is changing the roles of workers in the field. From AI planning and scheduling, to predictive maintenance on equipment, the connected worker faces a vastly different workplace landscape than even a few years in the past. Ultimately, oil and gas companies will look to leverage the IoT to help their employees make better decisions, as well as to stay safer and work more efficiently. Final Thoughts The Industrial Internet of Things is growing with rapid adoption across many verticals, but oil and gas is already reaping outstanding benefits from this next phase of industry. Lowering costs, optimizing oil production, and increasing worker safety are just a few of the ways oil and gas is leveraging this technological revolution.
Guest Post: Keep the Data Flowing in Oil and Gas
By Joyce Deuley, Sr. Analyst and Director of Content at James Brehm & Associates LLC State of the Industry This year has proved challenging for oil and gas companies: falling prices, crackdowns from environmental regulations, growing concern about the destabilization of land due to fracking, as well as an increasing gap between jobs and skilled engineers to name a few issues. Royal Dutch Shell, for instance, recently terminated its plans to drill off the Arctic coast of Alaska for the “foreseeable future”—this is after $7 billion dollars and more than five years spent on exploratory drilling (with disappointing results) and the purchase of costly leases and permits for the privilege to do so (Daily Mail). The Arctic Circle has been viewed by many as a “holy grail” in terms of rich oil and gas reserves—the largely untapped Great White North, if you will. Initiatives in the Baltic have also come under discussion lately, as Russia negotiates the political quagmire it has found itself in concerning territorial disputes. Still, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Our reliance on oil and gas for manufacturing, shipping, transportation, energy, and more hasn’t dissipated—rather, it will continue to increase with the rising population and result in rapidly expanding urbanization. More food will need to be shipped globally, more cars will be driven, more homes will be heated, more materials will need to be made, etc., providing rich opportunities for oil and gas companies to invest in scalable solutions, as well as to firmly root themselves as valued players in the market. Investors, and other interested parties, are paying close attention to the oil and gas markets to better determine how best to mitigate depleted reserves and improve overall productivity and efficiency: keeping their bottom lines low and profit margins high. To pull back from an environmental and global perspective on the state of the industry, let’s instead bring it into a sharp focus with its current business challenges. Problems with efficiency include legacy pipeline and refinery infrastructure that hasn’t been updated or modernized in decades, a shortage of skilled labor as qualified engineers approach retirement, the need for increased monitoring and control across remote areas, and the mission-critical need for the aggregation, interpretation and management of unprecedented amounts of data. But, effectively managing that data can present major challenges for oil and gas providers: with so many devices at the edge, they are practically drowning in the seemingly endless flood of information that is collected. The need to find reliable data management platforms that help remove complexities associated with data visualization is critical for these companies’ ability to identify and enact valuable business decisions. What to Do About It It is no secret that the Internet of Things (IoT) has proven to be disruptive across a myriad of markets. While the technologies and principles of the IoT have been around for decades, predominantly within the manufacturing and processing industries, its relatively nascent presence within the consumer electronics and wearables markets has helped rebrand the IoT with a level of “sexiness” it previously lacked. But at the heart of the IoT is a near-obsessive desire to decrease operational and deployment costs, meet compliance regulations and to dramatically increase productivity and efficiencies. The oil and gas industry happens to be one of the largest growing areas for IoT deployments and has found many ways to benefit from connected solutions, such as pipeline and wellhead monitoring. Oil and gas pipelines can span across hundreds of miles of rugged terrain. The ability to monitor such a territory can be challenging, as harsh winters and debilitating droughts, forest fires and or heavy rains can put stress on the integrity of a pipeline, plus the remote nature of its location can prevent technicians from being able to regularly service it. Another challenge is knowing when and specifically where a problem occurs. For instance, if there is a malfunction that results in a leak along one of the more remote sections of a pipeline and there is no sensor to alert someone, we could be looking at a nightmare of a situation: environmental damages, not to mention untold amounts of costly clean up, repairs and definitive losses to the oil and gas company at large. By utilizing connected sensors along the lengths of their pipelines, oil and gas companies can overcome these challenges and monitor flow, pressure, integrity of the pipeline and more. Empowered by the IoT, oil and gas providers can receive near real-time information about their entire operation, enabling decision makers to better manage their technicians, as well as improve overall production and reduce maintenance and operational costs. As oil and gas companies wait for the stock market to pivot from $50 a barrel, they need to look seriously at implementing business solutions that are going to help them weather this lull. The IoT provides many opportunities for oil and gas providers to tighten their belts by increasing efficiencies and production, ultimately reflecting in a more cushioned bottom line. Pipeline monitoring and control applications can help reduce non-productive times by up to 30%, which is just one small example of how dynamic transformations could be made by the IoT. About Joyce Deuley As Sr. Analyst and Director of Content, Joyce researches and interprets market trends, locates opportunities for growth, and researches the current happenings in the M2M and IoT space, providing our clients with up-to-date and actionable information. Joyce specializes in technical communication, translating complex data into layperson-accessible presentations, articles, and white papers. Additionally, Joyce manages, contributes, edits, and designs our newsletter, The Connected Conversation. She currently offices out of, and is a founding member of Geekdom, a tech accelerator-like co-working space in San Antonio, TX. Previously, Joyce worked as a Secondary Researcher at Compass Intelligence, learning the M2M markets alongside James Brehm. While at Compass Intelligence, she gained experience in market research, competitive analysis, content strategy, as well as qualitative research. Joyce graduated with a B.A. in English, focusing on Professional and Technical Communication, from the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San Antonio. She