The Smart Future of Oil and Gas Industry
The emergence of disruptive technologies, like the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, have brought change to the way the world works and the oil and gas industry is a field which is no stranger to the innovations to them. The core focus of the industry has always been on making the extraction and refining process better. However, the technologies pertaining to processes post production have been lacking.
The supply chain industry has traditionally relied on has too many bottlenecks. Fortunately, two emerging technologies, the IoT and Blockchain offer great opportunities to automate many processes across the supply chain. However, both have had very little impact on the oil and gas industry thus far. However, they have done enough to present leaders in the industry enough to gauge its potential in the industry.
Oil and Gas companies have been slow in integrating new technologies that can aid the trading, procurement and supply chain aspect of the industries until recently. For instance, different aspects of blockchain technology have come to light that can benefit the oil and gas industry. Transparency is something blockchain enables through its basic design. Having shared information on a blockchain within joint operational agreements can essentially eliminate the need for third party reconciliation between companies. That will also result in reduced cost of compliance.
Furthermore, blockchain technology can enable better cyber security measures for the IoT that gather information critical for operations. It can allow for the storage of sensitive and critical data in multiple places instead of a singular source which increases the data protection capabilities augmented by the use of encrypted systems. The technology, though still in its nascent stages, holds potential for industries across the board and can provide previously unprecedented efficacy to the oil and gas industry that can help it ride the volatility in fossil fuel prices smoothly.
How Oil and Gas can Leverage Artificial Intelligence
There are a few ways through which the oil and gas sector can become smart by implementing Artificial methods of intelligence.
Planning and Forecasting
Deep machine learning can increase the awareness of trends to drive future investment decisions on a macro scale. Economic patterns in state and other weather predictions can be assessed to determine where the investments should be centered.
Eliminate Costly Drilling Risks
Drilling is a risky and expensive part of the whole process. The application of AI in planning and implementation stages can significantly decrease the risk associated with this activity. Additionally, geoscientists can also evaluate factors such as rate of penetration to find out which drilling tactic would be best for the site. There are many factors that are taken into consideration during this process. Some of these factors include thermal gradients, strata permeability and seismic vibrations. AI can optimize the whole operation by driving decisions related to the speed and direction.
The current wave towards smart methods in the oil and gas sector are aided by investor interest as many investors aim to increase efficiency through the use of smart technology.
