Oilfield and gas companies require a boost in productivity and safety, especially in light of the recent world events. Luckily, various forms of technology help oilfield companies survive and become more productive. In this article, we list the main technologies that help oilfield companies in different aspects of their business. Read on!
Drilling Optimization and Automation
The use of digital field software and advanced analytics can increase the productivity of drilling operations. It also reduces unproductive time by enhancing the drilling speed. At the same time, this drives down costs and reduces emissions tied to drilling.
As oilfield companies achieve enhanced connectivity, automatic or semi-automatic drilling becomes possible. Automation drastically decreases the number of people required to man the rig. More importantly, this means hazardous operations — such as pipe assembly — can be done with minimal risks. This technology also minimizes human errors that may cause incidents in oilfields.
Big Data and Analytics
Oilfield companies make decisions based on solid data. Drilling projects require huge capital and heavy machinery, so errors can prove extremely costly. These days, oilfield-focused entities have research and development projects looking into the usage of Big Data in the oil industry.
Through those research, they discover ways of collecting more and more data and running analytics to know how they can move forward. Research projects have covered applications in exploration, drilling, and production engineering.
Smart Maintenance
When it comes to maintenance, better sensors deliver high volumes of data in real time. This allows oilfield companies to check equipment status and anomalies. As a result, organizations can better predict equipment failures and take remedial actions fast.
As the technology for this use case improves, maintenance will be based on equipment status — this is opposed to today’s practice of scheduling maintenance at regular intervals or after incidents.
This is great for companies because maintenance often accounts for 10% to 15% of total production costs. Implementing smart maintenance technologies can reduce such costs by around 10%. On top of that, organizations will benefit from fewer production shutdowns and unscheduled maintenance.
Better Logistics
With better connectivity and data processing capabilities, oilfield companies can transform their end-to-end logistics and supply chain. They can also improve demand management, make material tracking more transparent, and improve logistics operations.
Companies that have efficient logistics management could decrease the cost of delivery services and material delivery. This also lowers the companies’ staffing needs. Technologies that allow users to track materials as they move along the supply chain.
The Internet of Things’ Role
The Internet of things (IoT) refers to the interconnectivity of physical devices and everyday objects. Think of a house that has smart locks, switches, and sensors that the homeowner controls using just his or her phone. Oilfield companies can take advantage of IoT to obtain significant real-time data on their machinery, pipes, logistics, and employee statuses and safety.
All of the benefits mentioned above have something to do with IoT — its application centers on safety and efficiency. This technology makes real-time material tracking possible. Employees can track the integrity of their offshore equipment. Big Data and analytics are also easier to execute when combined with the power of IoT.
Drone Technology
Drones allow oilfield companies to monitor and inspect inaccessible or dangerous facilities. Moreover, drone inspections can determine genuine issues and problems. Facilitators can then direct their teams to deal with such issues immediately and with more accurate information. On top of that, drone technology can also capture clearer images that can be combined with other technologies such as laser scanning and mobile mapping. They can then transform these images with realistic 3D models, which are extremely helpful in data crunching and visualization.