A few years ago, remote-controlled oilfields may have sounded like a
scene from a sci-fi movie. Today, digital
oilfields make old-fashioned methods of taking a chance to strike oil and
gas a thing of the past. As such, digital
oilfields rely on IT, automation and communication to improve all aspects
of operations of the upstream oil and gas sector, from production and drilling to completion and safety. For
example, oil services firms, such as Schlumberger, are able to seamlessly link
remote drilling operations to command centers of its customers. Real-time
monitoring of onshore and offshore drilling is available to geologists and
engineers in the company’s multiple operation locations in different countries.
According to John
Brantley of IBM, incorporation of
intelligence and automation into energy operations allows the companies to
detect and preempt equipment malfunctions, automatically make changes, and
reduce the risk of equipment failure. The petroleum industry can cut the costs of both
onshore and offshore operations by 10% to 20% and increase the production
of oil by an additional 125 billion barrels of oil, if the potential
of digital oilfields is realized.
Although the oil and gas industry still
resists a shift to digitization, the market share of the digital oilfield
technology is growing, particularly with the increased complexity of petroleum
operations in geologically challenging environments and remote locations. While
digital oilfields are currently most active in Western Europe and North
America, the Middle East anticipates
rapid growth in integrating remote monitoring and control of upstream oil
and gas operations in the next ten years. According the oil and gas division of
the New York-based International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), a
web-based oil and gas information portal, “by 2015 the value
of digital oilfield services is projected to exceed $200 billion, an
increase of more than 405 from the 2012 market size.” At this juncture, there
is no point of return to old, uneconomical and precarious methods of petroleum
exploration and production.
Current
capabilities and best practices in digital oilfields, information and knowledge
sharing, challenges of implementing IT platforms and solutions will be the
fulcrum of IQPC's
upcoming Digital
Oilfields USA Summit in Houston, Texas, on December 10-11, 2013. It is
a unique opportunity to learn from industry practitioners on how to capitalize
on digital oilfield investments, how to leverage IT, and how reduce operating
costs and maximize oil and gas production. Common challenges in implementing IT
platforms and protecting information and operations from cyber threats will be
also covered in the summit. Speakers at the summit represent market leaders in
IT and the oil and gas sector.
