The oil and gas industry is no stranger to navigating the ups and downs of supply and demand. However, with recent rising costs, and the global economic environment, many companies have a renewed urgency to remain competitive, reduce costs, minimize downtime, and operate more efficiently.
The management of oilfield sites is complex given their remote, often unstaffed locations, harsh operating conditions, and mix of legacy equipment (sometimes retrofitted with sensors and gateways) working alongside newer smart devices.
Oilfields’ future success and efficiency depend primarily on the effective management, integration, and interconnection of these devices and equipment. IoT and edge-driven management solutions that enable digital connection can facilitate operations in a way that allows for streamlined management of sites, simultaneously driving cost, safety, and decision-making benefits.
The way to achieve success for these sites is through adopting and harmonizing digital technologies, specifically through edge orchestration solutions that provide consolidated, simplified deployment, with a margin for ongoing scalability and one that processes data close to where the equipment operates.
Another significant area of focus on oilfield sites is downtime. If these sites were to deploy infrastructure using edge orchestration solutions, they would benefit from 24/7 visibility and monitoring of assets, alleviating the pressures and hefty costs associated with downtime and running inefficiencies. Shutdowns in the oil and gas sector can cost each facility $220,000 per hour – amounting to $84 million per facility each year. In refineries alone, losses to FG500 companies cost an estimated $47 billion from 213,000 downtime hours each year, according to data from Senseye.1
Additionally, edge orchestration solutions provide insight into downstream operations by collecting actionable data from oil rigs, wells, refineries, drilling, and reservoirs. The deployment of a connected architecture means that through connected devices, field experts can remotely oversee and monitor operations, take timely action, adjust extraction techniques, optimize resources, and carry out predictive analysis, reducing downtime and unnecessary reactive maintenance costs.
The thought of overhauling equipment and digital transformation can be overwhelming for some. However, some edge orchestration solutions greatly simplify deployment and operate with an open-source foundation, allowing oilfield managers to run existing and cloud-native applications on a single architecture while providing high-security protection.
Such solutions can deliver impactful business results, including:
- 15% reduction in downtime
- 25% reduction in truck rolls
- 90% reduction in provisioning time
- 40% increase in IT efficiency with improved Edge security.2
Arrow Electronics works closely with system integrators and hardware and software providers, including Intel®, Advantech, and ZEDEDA to deliver improved business results. Our IoT edge orchestration solutions include an advanced portfolio of hardware, software, and SaaS solutions, helping ensure that operations across entire facilities and fleets are connected, visible, efficient, and secure.
Distributed edge orchestration with a robust architectural foundation, zero-touch provisioning, powerful zero-trust security, and scalability is possible with Advantech industrial-grade hardware, powered by Intel® technology, and coupled with ZEDEDA’s IoT edge orchestration software platform.
Explore Edge Orchestration for Connected Oilfields
- Almost $1 trillion: the staggering cost of unplanned downtime to major manufacturers, June 2021
- Report: The True Cost of Downtime, Senseye
