What is oil and gas IoT?
The oil and gas industry is an early adopter of internet of things (IoT) technology, and for good reason. Energy providers leverage many of the same IoT components used in other industries, including remote sensors, machine learning and the cloud. When connected and combined with business processes such as alerts, IoT in oil and gas systems enables operators to monitor systems and react safely and in real time to production issues as they arise.
What are the business benefits of IoT in oil and gas?
IoT provides multiple business benefits for oil and gas companies. Let’s take a look at the benefits of using IoT in oil and gas:
- Pipeline monitoring and beyond: IoT in oil and gas enables monitoring in real time, resulting in reduced need to check pipelines and increased production in refineries. Remote systems can be configured to send alerts to smartphones or other mobile devices when equipment maintenance may be needed or pipe pressures fall outside the norm. In upstream situations where a single pump failure might cost $100,000 per day in downtime, such investments are easy to justify. Similarly, downstream providers can use IoT to track fleets of ships and delivery trucks in real time, pinpointing each vehicle’s exact location.
- Risk mitigation: Using IoT in oil and gas systems help reduce risk by allowing complex and demanding drilling operations to be monitored and managed efficiently. This not only reduces error and the risk to equipment or resources but also reduces incidence of human injury and death.
- Environmental impact: Using IoT to help protect the environment is yet another important use as all energy providers focus more on environmental concerns and social issues. IoT in oil and gas helps reduce drilling operations’ carbon footprint. Leveraging IoT to track waste and hazardous spills to make quicker business decisions is one example.