The application of automation technologies has greatly benefited the industrial sectors, notably the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. Oil and gas have been the driving factors behind global economic growth since the commencement of the industrial revolution. As the price of oil and gas rises, the price of a range of other products goes up in response.
New technologies like turbomachinery control systems, data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence have come a long way in the past few years.
The following are some of the significant ways in which automation has had a significant influence on the oil and gas business, which has, in turn, helped petroleum corporations become more lucrative.
Table of Contents
Providing Preventative Maintenance
With the vast number of infrastructure assets that must be maintained, how can oil and gas corporations make well-informed decisions about where to focus their resources? The answer is to employ technology for preventive maintenance. Businesses, in particular, are using analytics and network-connected sensors to enhance the efficacy of their maintenance plans.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a reality thanks to the efforts of major technology firms like IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco. Some Cisco Internet of Things solutions go beyond the benefits of simplicity and maintenance to improve security.
Enhancing Safety
When it comes to oil and gas, automating any part of the process, whether it’s upstream or downstream, gives workers the chance to be freed from tasks that could be bad for their health and are also repetitive. This increases efficiency while also offering superior quality that is consistent throughout. It also can improve the quality of work done during installation or maintenance.
Reducing Costs
Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies provide cost savings by eliminating some of the requirements for human labor while increasing the security and accuracy of tasks previously handled by people. By automating laborious components of the drilling process, such as pipe handling, potential hazards may be reduced. Automation in the oil and gas business saves time, allows for more efficient scaling of operations, and minimizes the risk of injury and fatalities on the job.
Boosting Enterprise Connectivity
Companies who work upstream in more remote areas may benefit from automation by using tools like drones and submersibles to help them keep an eye on inspections. The use of automation may improve pressure readings and flow rates of oil and gas, which benefits all three phases of the production process (upstream, midstream, and downstream). Interconnected and automated systems allow data to be readily disseminated, enabling a corporation to run more effectively as a whole.
Easing Auditing
If your company does not have an automated workflow mechanism in place and you are faced with an audit, it may take you days or weeks to gather all of the information you need to submit three years of data regarding a single well.
You’ll be able to speed data collection and give auditors everything they need, including reports, accounts payable bills, deck updates and set-ups, approvals, and any other paperwork the audit team wants if you have a solid workflow tool in place.
If more files are needed, they might be found online instead of looking through paper binders and making copies for the auditors.
When you save this much time and work more efficiently, the audit will be done much faster and your staff will be able to get back to their regular jobs much sooner.
Enhancing Productivity and Efficiency
Due to the modernization and automation of internal IT processes, oil and gas companies have been able to increase their yields by making production processes easier than ever before.
It has also helped drilling companies reduce their carbon footprints, which is good for the long-term health of the earth.
The good thing about all of these phases is that they increase potential revenues as a result of the increased efficiency achieved by the process of streamlining operations.
Conclusion
The oil and gas business has reached a tipping point, and automation provides significant prospects for value creation that has yet to be completely realized in the industry. Moreover, automation liberates operations from reliance on human intervention and acts as a stepping stone toward the facilitation of remote operations for a digital workforce. Automation will make early adopters a formidable competitor in the coming years, especially since it brings savings and cost-competitiveness to a sector that is grappling with pricing pressures. The next several years will be critical in identifying who will be the leaders.
