The oil and gas industry is rapidly getting revolutionized by the Internet of Things. By adopting IoT applications in this industry, it will become possible for them to multiply their profits all the while concentrating on improving safety measures.
As per the experts, it is possible to boost the profit numbers as well as get rid of any unplanned outages by choosing to go with IoT implementation. It is said that by 2019 the global IoT market is said to reach the worth of $1.7 trillion.
Some of the ways in which IoT is said to revolutionize the oil and gas industry are:
Revenue
Every business is based on the idea of generating revenue and when we are looking at things from the perspective of the oil and gas industry, they are said to have a huge impact on the global GDP. As per the study of Oxford Economics carried out in 2015, in the time of few years, the adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) at the industry level will increase the global GDP and it is expected to reach around $816 billion in a decade.
With oil prices staying low, it now becomes impossible for the oil companies to make huge profits and so, it is time for them to grab the new opportunity by investing in innovative technologies. Spending some money on such technologies would be better than working on cost-cutting ideas. As the industry will start becoming more competitive the saved time and financial benefits received will turn out to be very invaluable.
Enhanced operational efficiency
Today the majority of the workforce in the oil and gas industry is occupied by the Baby Boomer- aged people. This means it will not take much time for them to retire and soon their place will be left vacant. By using remote visibility and big data analysis together, it will become possible for the companies to properly manage their assets as well as optimize productions by learning from their findings. It is possible to bring down the time needed for troubleshooting from days to a few minutes, simply by opting for IoT. This will help the business to put their time into the operational areas.
Safety risk reduced
One of the main concerns in the oil and gas industry is safety. Now this means both externally and internally. IIoT can help the industry to know and point out different potential issues before they become capable enough to be safety hazards or real problems. Efficient and constant regulation of oil rigs becomes possible with remote troubleshooting. When you have proper IoT implementation in this area, you can be sure of lesser potential dangers in terms of work and less traveling for the employees.
Real-time data
For the oil and gas industry, data plays a very crucial role and big data is not a new thing here. When we compare it with other industries, accuracy and efficiency are very much valued here.
It is possible to see the evident economic difference by increasing efficiency through smaller improvements. Accurate and quick data is what helps with gaining profits in the oil and gas industry. With proper Industrial IoT integration in oil and gas industry, it is possible to monitor oil production in real-time by making use of sensors embedded in thereand it becomes possible for the companies to gather information by applying right automation within data communication systems. This helps them to make informed decisions after properly assessing their assets.
The basic idea here is that by building an effective IIoT environment, the companies will be able to collect useful information from the massive amount of accumulated data. When we talk in terms of IoT, the pumpoff controllers that are present inoil and gas companies are said to play a key role in IoT implementation and this helps the industry to enjoy the benefitsof web services.
End-to-end connected pipeline
This industry needs to have a proper pipeline system to transport huge amounts of oil and natural gas. The cost-effective and safest way to achieve this is by embedding IoT sensors to the central controlling system of the pipeline. By 2025, it is expected that there will be 64 billion devices which will be responsible for sending and collecting data. The IoT sensors used in those pipeline systems monitor different parameters like pressure, temperature, flow, etc. Such information helps in real-time controlling of the moving resources. In order to smoothly control the flow within the pipelines from remote locations, IoT smart valves are installed at different points on the pipeline.
Reduced environmental impact
We can say that right from reducing traveling to bringing down safety risk, IoT implementation in this industry is said to cause a decreased impact on the environment. Some of the benefits of IoT implementation should be the focus in the oil and gas industry are the less emission of carbon, avoiding oil spills, using less energy and avoiding any expected accidents. With IIoT implementation, it is possible to control and monitor resource and energy usage.
Preventive maintenance
A small amount of data which are captured by the legacy systems from the equipment are used up by the oil and gas industry. This data is analyzed for better insights. Now, by using a large number of data points over multiple devices, it will become possible to collect data simultaneously and then combine them together to know about any potential failure in the machines and equipment. By properly using IoT in this industry, it is possible to predict productivity, increase efficiency as well as prevent equipment failures.
Wrapping it up
If we look at the supply chain in the oil and gas industry, proper integration and implementation of IoT in here is said to influence and affect everything right from operations to customer engagement. This industry is here for a long time now and IoT has the power to change it very rapidly towards growth and profits in the right manner all the while making it self-sufficient to catch up with the strong competition.
