Why apply IoT in the oil and gas industry?

Date: Oct 25, 2022

Related Tags：1. AliwareMQ for IoT
2. IoT Platform

Abstract: Today, the Internet of Things has entered every industry: automotive, agriculture, green energy. One of the areas that IoT will also conquer is oil and gas. In these special industry environments, companies hire professionals to predict when machines need maintenance and upkeep. Monitoring through IoT to ensure employee safety in the work environment and improve production.

Today, the Internet of Things has entered every industry: automotive, agriculture, green energy. One of the areas that IoT will also conquer is oil and gas. In these special industry environments, companies hire professionals to predict when machines need maintenance and upkeep. Monitor through IoT to ensure employee safety in the work environment and improve production.

According to Global Institute research, IoT has the potential to attract $11.1T in funding by 2025.

Mining, oil and gas companies could have an economic impact of $930 billion over the next 10 years. Therefore, it is no surprise that the oil and gas industry is showing a strong interest in the Internet of Things.

Why use IoT in the oil and gas industry?

In the oil and gas industry, the advantage of IoT applications is to create value through integrated deployment. IoT will be able to optimize and digitize, automate previously unconnected processes in the industry to save time, money and improve safety.

IoT is a technology that allows devices, machinery and other devices to communicate with each other. It lets oil and gas companies manage and store data, create remote applications, and set up security protocols.

Preventive Maintenance

Traditionally, companies employ plant managers, machine operators, to predict when machines need maintenance. With IoT, you can accurately predict when maintenance is required, increasing production while keeping your employees safe.

For oil and gas companies, IoT-running software tells managers when to service machines and alerts them when a breakdown might occur. In the oil and gas industry, protecting all equipment is critical - including monitoring for any leaks and tiny breaks. IoT can handle all alerts.

Remote Services

Oil and gas are often located in remote, inaccessible areas of the planet. Complex terrain makes equipment difficult to maintain, and any need for additional personnel increases risk. IoT can help:

*Meet the security needs of employees and equipment.
* Reduce expensive equipment maintenance costs.
* Save high expenses for workers.
* Fewer human errors.

What's more, IoT allows oil and gas companies to remotely manage everything in their plants at any time. IoT can provide alerts for problems ranging from minor leaks to system failures. Companies can set up monitoring devices on their machines to take control.

The biggest threat to all industries

The biggest threat to all industries is non-productive time (NPT), which costs businesses billions of dollars each year.

It saves a lot of time and money when workers and employees don't need to be on-site to observe equipment and monitor problems. This is what IoT is doing for the oil and gas industry.

Safe

Oil and gas often pose a threat to worker health and safety. Another high-cost service area is the water industry. Some reservoirs are as deep as 3,000 meters, and many are far offshore. The water industry and the oil and gas industry are among the more dangerous industries.

In these areas, especially in remote areas, the use of IoT can avoid health problems, prevent injuries, and even save lives.

Case Study: IoT in Oil, Gas and Water

The digitization of the IoT in the oil, gas and water industries has saved workers and employees in remote areas a lot of money and provided them with greater protection from being left alone.

Before IoT, there were only desktop applications

Of course, desktop applications are still inseparable, but less so for remote maintenance. Desktop desktop solutions can meet internal needs, where security is important, especially when it comes to end-to-end tasks.

In the industrial field, the RFScada data acquisition and supervisory control system is very useful. The RFScada system includes desktop applications and mobile applications, and the development of the entire system took more than 16 years. These devices are used to track and collect data.

Desktop applications are rich in functionality, detailed and complex. The computer where the application is installed is always connected to the monitoring gateway, thus connecting to many machines online.

However, to see the data and keep track of if anything goes beyond expectations, one has to watch the screen at all times. This process is not very convenient. Just like in remote locations, at night, and when monitoring moving goods - these are difficult problems to solve.

IoT turns the entire system into a network platform, bringing powerful communication and connectivity capabilities to oil, gas, water, and other industries.

Turn disadvantage into advantage

From a commercial point of view, RFSCADA is a good system for enterprises, but it has encountered a big bottleneck in the development process. Later, the solution took some workarounds, but ultimately opted for a mix of IoT products.

* Design a scalable and easy-to-maintain architecture for the platform.

* Simplify processes for different user roles while maintaining security within the company and within the system.
* Developed a friendly user interface to update firmware.
*Wrote a compatible script in Lua that generates configuration updates for firmware based on changes made by the user.
* Process the data through a secure gateway and forward the data to the desired device.
*The RFScada gateway system can also handle cellular traffic.
* Ability to analyze what is needed and cut out all unnecessary data.
*Data is sorted by priority for ease of use by the user.

IoT network platform for remote monitoring and management of factories

Adhering to the minimalist design concept, one of the advantages of using IoT in oil, gas or any other industry is to provide the user with the most convenient and easy to use. In this system, you configure it once and you're done - you'll be notified when you need it, and most configuration updates are automated, simple and time-saving.

New digital IoT systems include:

*Registered users have individual access rights
*The person in charge has the ability to monitor within a certain range as required.
*Ordinary workers have the ability to track the situation in their factories.
*Configure sensors for each unit.
* Realize the data conversion of specific parameters (including hierarchy, measurement frequency and data type) into general measurement units.
* SMS and alarm reminders.
*Users will receive timely alerts as soon as there is a spike in the sensor. Shut down the system when the user acknowledges the warning.
* Log all data and events and corresponding configurations.

For each sensor, the user can configure a certain risk/danger range, and can also set what is tracked. These can be flexibly configured through the user interface.

Conclusion

IoT can be applied to many everyday scenarios. We love using it to simplify work and life - freeing up more time to pursue a creative life.