IoT Solution to Transform Oil and Gas Industry

The Internet of Things is changing the oil and gas industry at a rapid speed. The business of removing and transporting oil and gas is filled with various challenges. IoT in oil and Gas market is globally expected to develop to $30.57 billion by 2026.

In fact, IoT applications in this industry are predicted to improve GDP by as much as 0.8 % or $816 billion, over the next decade. For the past few decades, there’s been a large impulse to improve efficiencies and minimize downtime, which has shown the execution of things like predictive analytics and machine learning. Now, analytics data is becoming easier to obtain, thanks to the IoT.

Connectivity technology is enhancing, sensors are reasonable, low power technology is available and batteries can last prolonged. All those developments means oil and gas companies can utilize more sensors in more places to analyze machinery and environmental conditions—especially at that “last mile,” where economical connectivity was not an option previously.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways oil and gas companies are using the IoT to collect data, thereby improving operations:

Internet of Things: Oil & Gas Use Cases

The IoT use cases that are presently generating the most value for the oil and gas industry center around lowering non-productive time (NPT). NPT which can be caused by anything such as a cold weather to equipment failure that has a considerable impact on revenue, accounting for about 10 to 20 % of total drilling costs. The IoT is supporting companies to eliminate NPT by enabling IoT to execute better predictive maintenance, more precisely estimate failures and discover leaks rapidly to realize problems before they occur. 

OFFSHORE OIL & GAS RIG MONITORING

Most offshore oil and gas production is done in comparatively ultimate environments where there are few existing communication networks available, which makes monitoring temperatures, pressures, flow rates and other characteristics difficult and costly. When it comes to offshore in the oil and gas industry, analyzing pipelines was a challenge as most of the equipment is below sea level.

IoT sensors helped in analyzing the malfunctions or deviations. To provide maintenance to machinery and subsea pipelines, operators require to have sufficient understanding of the conditions below sea level. As geolocation came into reality with the rig monitoring system, with the help of IoT sensors one can trace the real-time location of worker and can alert them, for example, do not enter into the specific areas/danger zone.

REFINERY MONITORING

In an oil and gas refinery, the IoT could be used to analyze things like pipe thickness, flow rate, pipe pressure, etc. If these areas are available to human personnel, a lot of measurements are need to be taken by hand. But logging this amount of data by hand is a time-consuming job and costly for the company.

Keep in mind that some areas of a refinery require to be considered in exact real time—for example, a valve that requires to be monitored based on a flow rate. In that case, a change in flow rate would involve almost instant control of the valve.

A specific part of the refinery may not be able to run at the same pressure if more reading points were available. To solve such issue, the IoT could provide greater insight and extra data about the flow, enabling the refinery to run at higher capacity. The IoT network would also conserve the refinery money by limiting the employees required to manually analyze or the amount of equipment that needs wired communications.

PIPELINE MONITORING

One of the prime concerns with oil and gas pipelines is leakage. If methane gas is delivered without being burned it has about 25 times the impact on climate change than carbon dioxide has over a 100 year of period. There’s also a high discharge risk for a gas leak when it’s vulnerable to atmospheric pressure.

Previous to the IoT, satellite internet analyzed key points in the pipeline and collect data to measure total system performance. The IoT can also help analyze pipeline components, like pumps and filters. Also, the sensors help in recognizing dynamic pressure, temperature and pulses, whereas the sensors in engine observe the emissions and hence help in avoiding huge losses.

OIL & GAS CARGO SHIPPING

Oil and gas cargo ship analyzing is similar to the offshore use case in that there’s generally no connectivity in the middle of the ocean other than satellite internet. If you want to gather data from around your ship, your options are restricted. IoT allow you to remotely monitor parts of the ship that personnel are nearly impossible to access. This adds both safety and convenience. While some elements of oil and gas cargo ships have to be wired due to real-time requirements of elements such as a temperature, pressures, flows, etc. Hence, small IoT networks can be great options to wired sensors and gages.

SUPPLY-CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The active nature of the oil and gas industry can create inventory planning and optimization hard. The IoT can assist with procurement planning and scheduling. For instance, refineries could utilize sensors to recognize which types of crude oil or crude oil blends are incoming and/or where each type is reserved. Having this data available would be important for production and operation decisions. It could also be used to calculate crude configuration for inventory purposes.

How IoT technology has distributed value for upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas companies:

Upstream — Preventative Maintenance for Oil and Gas Equipment

A normal large oil and gas company may find itself analyzing more than 50,000 wells and multiple pieces of equipment per well. A single malfunctioning machine can slow down production and result in supervisory non-compliance. By analyzing oil and gas removal practices, we can see how IoT technologies stand to transform equipment maintenance. Extraction sites are filled with complex and costly equipment. Due to their scale and difficulty, even small technological malfunctions can result in minimized efficiencies and remarkable financial losses.

Now, an inexpensive IoT device can be located to remotely analyze equipment, track maintenance schedules and prevent malfunction. If a piece of equipment initiates to malfunction, the IoT device will immediately give an automated alert. Doing so will restrict losses caused by inefficiency and help protect full-scale failures and equipment damage.

Midstream — Environmental Monitoring and Regulatory Compliance

IoT-powered sensors can also enable oil and gas operators to properly analyze environmental conditions and assure compliance with regulations on emissions and waste. Previously, an oil and gas field agent would require to physically examining an extraction or processing site to assure regulatory compliance. Now, an IoT device can be situated in the field to remotely analyze important compliance metrics, such as oil leaks and gas emissions. Not only this functionality minimize the costs related with field monitoring, but it is also more flexible.

Midstream Environmental Monitoring

Downstream — Enabling Distributors with Real-Time Field Data

In 2017, approximately 6 million Americans still utilize home heating oil (HHO) in their home heating system. This oil is normally reserved in giant oil tanks and is repeatedly refilled by licensed oil distributing companies. For consumers, this process of analyzing oil levels, ordering and refilling is not only ineffective but also complex. However, IoT has involved a smart sensor that informs homeowners and delivery companies when fuel levels are low, which reserves both parties’ time and money.

With IoT device cloud, it can give this data to oil distributors. Distributors are also utilizing this data to help estimate consumer consumption in future weeks, months and years. 

Here are various ways IIoT is transforming the Oil and Gas Industry

The main advantage of IoT in Oil and Gas is there real-time data from IoT endpoints makes supervisors and decision makers to monitor and control the whole plant.

IoT sensors located at different locations, makes it possible to ingest data from multiple sources. With IIoT combination, the oil production can be seized in real-time through embedded sensors and allow companies to collect information from assets anywhere and generate informed decisions.The crucial element here is that companies require a well-built IoT platform in order to assist them to convert huge amounts of data into useful information.

Smart oil and gas have been and will continue to be a long-developing processes. By enabling IoT for oil and gas industry to monitor data using IoT Platform to enhance data capture and analysis, companies in this sector can save millions of dollars.