The digital oilfield - How technology is changing the oil and gas industry

The growing technological advancements in the field of oil and gas exploration are often overlooked. While there is much rounds of discussion going over in other industries, there is little talk of the impact of technology in this industry. According to a report by the market research firm, Lux Research, the production of the world's petroleum supplies will increase six-fold by the use of new drilling technologies. This shows how much the oil and gas industry have changed due to the technological advancements in this field.

In the recent times of oil and gas exploration industry, we have seen how the digital oilfields have changed the scenario and made the workflow more effective. This is not a new concept and is more than twenty years old, but it has evolved with the development of technology and now plays a great impact on the process.


What is a digital oilfield?

In brief, digital oilfield is used to describe the various activities referring to hardware or software employed to automate a particular exploration and production task. The modern digital oilfield has evolved into a complex system where the use of advanced software and data analysis techniques enables an organisation to make optimal decisions while working in remote, unconventional and challenging environments.

The concept of the digital oilfield came into being with some of the challenges that oil and gas industry faced. With the decrease in the number of new discoveries, the expense for oil exploration has gone up using the traditional methods. Also, the use of new exploration technologies and techniques require the companies to incorporate the use of a modified workflow and business process into the traditional methods to allow fast, collaborative execution of interrelated tasks among distributed teams. The key to the effective performance of a digital oilfield lies in the extensive real-time data that are nowadays easily available. All digital oilfields have a common way of gathering and exchanging of data to support exploration and production business decisions.

Levels of a digital oilfield

A digital oilfield has basically three different levels in the context of data. These levels show how data is processed and analysed in the different functionalities to facilitate the efficiency in their respective fields.

Data Level - This level refers to the collection of data from the source. Through the use of technology (hardware and software) like sensors and surveillance software, real-time data are collected.
Database Level - With the huge amount of real-time data available, there is a need for data storage. This level refers to the storage of data in a format through which the required data can be easily obtained for use by the different functional areas.
Application Level - This level refers to the analysis and research of the data for the efficient performing of the workflow design and to make any changes as required.
Why digital oilfield?

Digital oilfields have revolutionised the oil and gas industry and has changed the way exploration and production is done. Here are some of the advantages that make digital oilfields a preferred option for most oil and gas companies.

The downtime of oil wells can be reduced with early detection of underperforming wells.
It enables organisations to harness collective expertise from their global workforce to improve efficiency and thus, increase the overall productivity.
With the tracking of real-time data, it helps management to make strategic and operational decisions quickly.
The production of a well can be matched to its full potential.
Quicker response to emergency.

Read more at: http://www.oilvoice.com/n/The-digital-oilfield-How-technology-is-changing-the-oil-and-gas-industry/af735721f05d.aspx

Drones and data could dominate future oil fields

A pump collects data about the oil it is hauling to the surface and re-configures its operations to handle the crude more efficiently. A roughneck tripped up by a repair job logs into a mobile device from the rig and downloads a training video. Drones fly out to remote locations to inspect oil field equipment and scour the best places for new well pads.

This is the digital oilfield, as envisioned by Houston-based oil producer Occidental Petroleum.

As oil companies hunt for new ideas to save money amid a global crude slump that’s dried up revenue and forced a retreat from once-booming shale plays, they are increasingly turning to the tech industry for nontraditional ideas that could help them operate faster and better than their competitors.

“I think there’s a tremendous amount of technology that’s currently in our pockets and in use in the consumer world … that are improving not only the way we live, but could also impact the operational inefficiencies that we have a challenge with in the oil field,” Yanni Charalambous, vice president and chief information officer at Occidental Petroleum. He shared the company’s vision about the future of the oil industry Tuesday with an audience gathered in Houston for an annual innovation expo hosted by software company Landmark, a division of oil field services giant Halliburton.

Falling oil prices may be battering exploration and production companies and forcing industry-wide cutbacks and layoffs, but the downturn hasn’t curtailed the appetite for sophisticated technologies that promise to transform the old school oil patch where reports still get jotted down on paper and workers waste huge amounts of time traveling between corporate offices and remote drill sites.

Oil companies have long struggled to capture and process the vast amounts of information collected from the oil field in part because some of the reporting continues to be done on paper, but also because the industry has been overwhelmed the by the sheer amount of data to crunch, Charalambous said.

Lower oil prices intensify the industry’s scramble to figure out how to unlock the secrets buried in reams of data gathered during exploration, production and drilling to be able to operate faster and better, Landmark’s vice president Nagaraj Srinivasan said in an interview with Fuel Fix.

“If prices stay lower for longer, the only mechanism to keep a sustainable low-cost view is to invest in technology and innovate,” Srinivasan said. “Because at the end of the day, that’s what changes your fixed cost structure.”

Read more at: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/08/25/falling-prices-intensify-oil-companies-push-toward-the-digital-oil-field

Schlumberger, Cameron's $14.8B Tie-Up to Create Oilfield Powerhouse

Schlumberger Ltd. and frequent partner Cameron International Corp. agreed Wednesday to merge in a deal estimated to be worth $14.8 billion, combining complementary technology portfolios that they said would be the industry's first "complete" drilling and production systems.

The transaction between the world's No. 1 oilfield services company, with principal offices in Houston and Paris, and Houston-based Cameron would create a "pore-to-pipeline" products and services company. Cameron, whose portfolio spans upstream to downstream markets, reported $10 billion-plus in revenues for 2014. On a proforma basis, the combined company had 2014 revenues of $59 billion. Schlumberger valued the deal at $14.8 billion, while independent reviews set the value on Wednesday at closer to $12.7 billion.

"This agreement with Cameron opens new and broader opportunities for Schlumberger," Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said. Last summer, before oil prices plummeted, Kibsgaard had highlighted how the exploration and production industry had to transform to deliver increased performance at a time of range-bound prices (see Daily GPI, June 26, 2014). Last month he also said the recovery in North America was months away (see Daily GPI, July 17).

"With oil prices now at lower levels, oilfield services companies that deliver innovative technology and greater integration while improving efficiency, which our customers increasingly demand, will outperform the market."

The world's No. 2 and No. 3 global oilfield operators Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. last year agreed to a $35 billion merger, which is scheduled to be completed later this year (see Daily GPI, July 13; Nov. 17, 2014).

"We believe that the next industry technical breakthrough will be achieved through integration of Schlumberger's reservoir and well technologies with Cameron's leadership in surface, drilling, processing and flow control technologies," Kibsgaard said. "Deep reservoir knowledge further enabled by instrumentation, software and automation, will launch a new era of complete drilling and production system performance."

The combination also would "achieve significant efficiency gains through lowering operating costs, streamlining supply chains and improving manufacturing processes while leveraging the Schlumberger transformation platform."

Read more at: http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/103448-schlumberger-camerons-148b-tie-up-to-create-oilfield-powerhouse

Oilfield Auxiliary Rental Equipment Market is Expected to Reach $35 Billion by 2020

According to a new report by Allied Market Research, titled "GCC Oilfield Auxiliary Rental Equipment Market", the GCC oilfield auxiliary rental equipment market is forecast to reach $35 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 9.4% during the period (2014 - 2020). The market would primarily be driven by an increased demand of energy sources and the need of cost optimization.

Oilfield auxiliary equipment are machines and instruments that are used to supplement the drilling process at oilfields. The equipment used less frequently on the oilfield are availed on rent by various oil extraction companies. The auxiliary equipment consist of sewage systems, mud labs, lighting system, distribution panels, storage tanks, debris junk catchers, transportation system, heat exchanges, flaring systems, drilling instruments and others. The major factors driving the oilfield auxiliary rental equipment market include the rising demand for energy sources, impending need for cost optimization and increasing deep offshore oil production activities. However, some of the restraints associated with the market are the advent of automated systems and lack of skilled workforce. The impact of automated systems is expected to affect the auxiliary rental equipment market in near future.

Request Free Sample of This Report at: http://bit.ly/1JkCS3s

The report analyzes the market in the GCC region. In order to study the regional imperatives, the research is focused on countries such as Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, etc. Weatherford, Schlumberger, The Olayan Group, Key Energy Services and others are some of the key players in the GCC region.  Merger/acquisition and expansions are the prime strategies followed by numerous companies to gain a competitive edge in the market.

EY BENEFITS 

• The study provides an in-depth analysis of the oilfield auxiliary rental equipment market with current and future trends to elucidate the imminent investment pockets in the market
• Current and future trends are outlined to determine the overall attractiveness and to single out profitable trends in order to gain a stronger foothold in the market
• The report provides information regarding key drivers and challenges with their impact  on the market
• Quantitative analysis of the current market and estimations through 2013-2020 are provided to highlight the ongoing and future trends
• Porters Five Forces model and SWOT analysis of the industry illustrate the potency of the buyers & suppliers participating in the market

Read related News: http://prn.to/1IJTvHB

MARKET SEGMENTATION MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY

• UAE
• Saudi Arabia
• Qatar
• Oman
• Kuwait
• Bahrain

KEY PLAYERS

• Superior Energy Services Inc.
• Schlumberger Limited
• Oil States International Inc.
• Weatherford
• The Olayan Group
• Key Energy Services Inc.

Google can tell if a home should convert to solar energy

Google has a new tool that can determine if your house should convert to solar power.

The search giant’s recently released Project Sunroof wants to map the amount of sunlight a rooftop receives to help decide if it makes financial sense to go solar.

By typing the home’s address into Project Sunroof, users can find out how much space there is for solar panels on the roof, how many hours of rooftop sunlight it would get a year and how much power bills could be cut by.

Project Sunroof comes under the $US2 billion ($2.8 billion) that Google is funding for renewable energy projects.

How it works

Upon typing in the address a Google Earth image of the home appears with the roof a colour ranging from yellow to purple, indicating how much sunlight hits the surface.

To determine this colour rating the program analyses the amount of solar radiation in the area surrounding the roof and 3D modelling of the roof.

It then adjusts for factors such as cloud and temperature patterns and shade from nearby buildings and trees.

Project Sunroof will also recommend the size of solar system that you should install based on your average electricity bill.

The final step in the process is Project Sunroof’s ability to put you in touch with a local solar panel company that will install the system for you.

One Forbes journalist has pointed out that Project Sunroof’s site doesn’t mention that solar companies will pay Google a hefty referral fee to anyone sending business their way.

So far the American cities San Francisco, Fresno and Boston are the only searchable ones.

Read more at: http://www.domain.com.au/news/google-can-tell-if-a-home-should-convert-to-solar-energy-20150826-gj6bur/

Barack Obama accuses pro-fossil fuel businesses of sabotaging solar energy

President Barack Obama has accused businesses profiting from fossil fuels of “standing in the way of the future” by actively trying to restrict customers’ access to solar, wind and renewable sources of energy.
Speaking at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday, the president singled out Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers and major Republican donors, whose company is embedded in the industry that transforms raw fossil fuels into useable goods.
Mr Obama accused the brothers, along with other “fuel interests” and conservative think tanks of pushing for new laws that would sabotage progress in renewable energy in order to protect their own interests.
“That’s not the American way. That's not progress,” he told the audience. “That's not innovation. That’s rent seeking and trying to protect old ways of doing business and standing in the way of the future.”

Read more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11824256/Barack-Obama-accuses-pro-fossil-fuel-businesses-of-sabotaging-solar-energy.html

Oilseed plants being considered for biofuels

A non-food oilseed crop appears to a strong candidate for biofuel production. The crop has not previously been considered as a basis for fuels. New research suggests the crop has potential.

The oilseed in question is Camelina sativa. The crop is a hardy one and it can grow on most farmland and in areas where there is little rainfall. The oilseed can be rotated with wheat, providing farmers with an alternate food crop- biofuel crop regime. The ideal locations in the U.S. are within Kansas and Colorado. By alternating crops and not plundering food resources form the developing world, this type of biofuel goes someway to addressing the ethical dilemmas associated with biofuel crop production.

A biofuel is a type of fuel produced by processing a biological substance (typically a biomass). Most of the processes require the use of microorganisms, as with the production of bioethanol or the creation of hydrocarbons. Biofuels differ from fossil fuels (products of long geological processes.)

In experiments the oilseed has been used to produce the highest levels of modified seed lipids yet seen. These lipids provide the core ingredient for biofuel generation. The resultant food oil has a low viscosity and good cold temperature characteristics.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/oilseed-plants-being-considered-for-biofuels/article/441333#ixzz3jEo5FmUt