Today’s technology and automation solutions offer abrupt access to significant performance, condition and technical information to operators and technicians in the oil and gas industry.According to energy research firm Rystad energy, the global oil and gas industry can save as much as US$100 billion through automation and digitalization in the 2020s.
Oil and gas companies are increasingly embracing transformative strategies, digitized processes, energy trade and risk management (ETRM), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), document management systems (DMS) and the digitization of legacy systems. To develop software that processes and assess data from multiple sources, companies like American multinational energy corporation Chevron Corp and major oilfield services provider Schlumberger NV teamed with Microsoft.Energy companies often face challenges transitioning to more renewable sources. So, to meet the demand in diverse situations, they need to focus on evolving technologies within their business models where they can embrace innovation to augment efficiency. Process Automation can be helpful here that energy companies can rely on.As per the report, automation can assist lessen drilling costs by 10 to 20 percent, and facility and subsea costs by 10 to 30 percent. However, the savings could vary as not all field developments or drilling operations have the same capacity to reduce costs.Furthermore, tech adoption across the entire value chain of suppliers from national oil companies (NOCs) to majors and smaller E&Ps will also vary.
Head of oilfield services research, Audun Martinsen said, “In addition to cost savings, digitalization initiatives can also increase productivity by increasing uptime, optimizing reservoir depletion strategies, improving the health, safety, and environment of workers and minimizing greenhouse emissions – all of which have significant value creation.”
Furthermore, the painful oil market downturn has given upstream operators and service providers a robust incentive to adapt and become more efficient or be forced to close down shop, the company said.Several key industry players are setting out optimistic goals towards digitalization as they begin building new digital products.
Additionally, streamlining internal processes with automation, along with better access to information about operations and maintenance will also assist the industry to modernize production and distribution and enable for a higher yield.
Since data storage and processing have become significantly cheaper, it is also likely to drive digitalization in the industry. Plus, the increased connectivity through IoT (Internet of Things) has enabled more data to effectively processed, the company noted.