So, how can you as a leader outrun these crises? You’ll need experienced consultants, aligned strategy, and highly motivated staff. But the first step is digitalizing your business as much as possible. So, we’ve made a list of the most efficient digital trends in the oil and gas industry you should adopt—the sooner, the better.
Tech trends that are transforming the oil and gas industry in 2022
Modern consumers favor flexibility, quick response time, and the highest service quality. Meanwhile, keeping up with digital trends in the oil and gas industry is as imperative as fulfilling the dynamic market demands. So, start diversifying your IT portfolio to gain a competitive advantage and generate more business value.
#1 Data management as a service (DMaaS)—make your enterprise data-driven
It’s one of the oil and gas digital trends that never gets old. We know from experience that energy companies generate terabytes of data daily—in various forms, types, and locations. Nowadays, processing it all in-house and transforming it into actionable insights is cost-prohibitive and highly time-consuming. Moreover, crises demand data embedded in every plan, activity, and process. You need to decide and act fast but wisely when responding to changes.
That’s why a DMaaS support model has been gaining extensive popularity since the pandemic’s outbreak. It’s a perfect on-demand information management solution that allows you to save your budget and free your employees to focus on more strategic tasks. DMaaS providers empower enterprises with cloud infrastructure, AI-enabled analytics, data science capabilities, and more. Such oil and gas digital solutions eliminate manual routines and support you in being a committed innovator.
#2 Digital twins as a bridge to greener production
The Russia-Ukraine war is adding to carbon pollution, but it’s not all doom and gloom if you can leverage digital oil and gas solutions. Reviewing digital trends in the oil and gas industry in 2021, we mentioned the rise of a “twin culture.” Net-zero commitments and the adoption of low-carbon technologies made digital twin technology a long-term trend that allows reshaping your production for the “greener good”.
Currently, this technology is gaining new popularity for test-driving your sustainability initiatives, uncovering hidden risks, and identifying gaps in your resources. Having a digital replica of your assets is the best way to emulate countless scenarios of how your company will adjust to a decarbonization business model. You can scale new infrastructure up or down, analyze value chains’ efficiency, and identify improvement areas virtually before starting physical deployment.
#3 Mergers and acquisitions software for business continuity from day one
We anticipate that 2022 will boost lots of M&As in the oil and gas sector. Understandably, as it’s a great option to save your business, strengthen resilience, and become a market leader despite disruptions. It’s a way to survive the battle and win the war by gaining additional resources and capabilities. But with M&A come huge volumes of siloed data, legacy systems, financial flows, and technical debts. How do you process it all without compromising business continuity?
The current digital trends in the oil and gas industry suggest that M&A migration software is the answer. Competent IT vendors provide cloud and automation-enabled platforms that ensure:
- Joint portfolio optimization
- Data migration and cleansing
- Compliance and safety alignments
- M&A data validation and audits
- Acquisition architecture mapping
- Digital asset management
- Legacy system integration
- Demand and downtime predictability
- Maintenance schedule automation
- Data-ecosystem infrastructures
#4 VR, AR, MR, and robots—the metaverse of possibilities
O&G systems of the future will indeed look and work differently compared to today as the industry strives to become safer and smarter. Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality tools are probably the most transformative digital oil and gas solutions that will help you achieve these goals. Moreover, mobile intelligent robots like Spot can conduct inspections and detect health risks at your facilities without ever endangering your staff.
A hybrid work model augmented with remote site management tools ensures workers’ safety by reducing the need for physical presence. Overall, reality-based digital solutions for oil and gas empower you to:
- Design and test production and repair scenarios
- Collect real-time visual metrics and indicators
- Build a new infrastructure virtually
- Guide workers with hands-free operational instructions
- Scan pump types and communicate during well testing
- Improve employees’ practical training off-site
- Simulate real-world experiences and ecosystems
- Record live video inspection for future processing
- Increase location maintenance efficiency and predict hazards
- Establish seamless human-machine cooperation
#5 IIoT, drones, and wearables—a digital gate to greener, faster, stronger
In 2022, petroleum companies will focus on improving asset management and organizational sustainability. Executives are under pressure to deal with the urgency and uncertainty of green initiatives. So, IIoT toolkits become a driver for real innovations and better business performance. We believe the Industrial Internet of Things stands out among digital trends in the oil and gas industry. IIoT networks use the latest tech advancements to boost field efficiency and enhance GHG and EHS compliance.
You can now apply IIoT to track your sustainable transformations in real-time, collect response analytics, and predict required capabilities for finalizing enterprise-wide green migration. IIoT and drones provide you with the best means to optimize operations and prevent environmental disasters, thus reducing your carbon footprint.
As vital components of Industry 4.0, IIoT and digital solutions for oil and gas:
- Remotely monitor hazardous assets 24/7, ensuring operators’ safety
- Proactively detect leaks and defects, improving environmental impact
- Prevent equipment damage and downtime with real-time data processing
- Reduce extra manual checks and field visits, enabling cost-effective maintenance
- Track employees’ motion and location data to manage injury risks
- Improve reliability of field development strategy and precision of drilling
#6 Digital workplace— a way to retain your top talents
Most digital trends in the oil and gas industry are driven by business needs. Sure, you need to prove you strive for decarbonization to your customers. But in parallel, your staff expects you to care about their positive work experience, convenience, and safety. So, while you reshape your operating models, provide your oilfield service workers with modern digital workplaces to reduce human exposure.
Benefit from best-in-class intelligent automation tools to improve working conditions and increase staff productivity. Through fully digital workflows, such instruments make collaboration across energy and utility value chains safer. Digital workplaces also boost employee satisfaction by improving onboarding processes, overall corporate culture, and communication effectiveness. Moreover, you can enhance your portfolio with enterprise content management and employee experience systems that offer real-time access.
Uncover new value streams through digital oil and gas solutions
2022 has been a rough year so far and so unstable that there is little we can predict. However, two digital trends in the oil and gas industry remain adamant. Firstly, the war-related sanctions on Russia and Belarus have already accelerated the EU’s energy transition initiatives. So, global petroleum companies will increase their green IT investments to reduce the war’s impact while driving business growth and increasing productivity. Being a digitally mature enterprise is essential for survival.
Aside from the digital technology trends in the oil and gas industry we’ve covered, market leaders continue investing in:
What’s more, you need to align with sustainability and emissions reduction regulations. This means you should become an agile leader and set short-term SMART goals to adapt to the ever-changing market and customer expectations. Use digital technology trends in the oil and gas industry to create new value streams, offer modern products, and secure business resilience amid disruptions.
