The Industrial Internet of Things as the Gateway to the Digital Oil Field

Before the emergence of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) there were already vast amounts of industrial data for operations managers and other oil executives to wade through to determine if their business was operating to optimal performance. Add the growing number of data sources created by millions of connected devices, sensors and systems measuring every conceivable factor about oil and gas pipelines, and you are dealing with an overwhelming volume of data. In fact, it is now estimated that every 30,000 miles of natural gas pipeline generates 17 terabytes of data each day – more than the entire printed collection of the United States Library of Congress!

Compounding these 21^st century business challenges is the fact that a large pipeline of baby boomers are preparing to exit the industry soon through retirement. They will be taking with them invaluable knowledge and expertise that, in many cases, is not documented within the organization or able to be shared with the next generation of employees.

What can an oil and gas business do to master these business challenges while reducing operational costs and increasing uptime?

Instead of presenting an industrial data nightmare, the millions of connected devices and assets that make up IIoT present perhaps the most powerful opportunity for exponential business growth in the years ahead. However, many oil and gas companies are struggling to extract meaningful intelligence from the tremendous volumes of raw data being generated. By cohesively and strategically managing all these data sources, businesses can derive actionable intelligence from once-disparate data streams and gain real-time situational awareness of their operations. This enables better decision making to improve operations and businesses processes.

After achieving consistent success in helping utilities like PG&E and BC Hydro overcome the scale and complexity of industrial data, resulting in the creation of smart grids, Bit Stew Systems is quickly progressing towards being the IIoT solution of choice for oil and gas.

The success of smart grids in the utilities sector lies in the utility’s ability to manage the massive influx of data at scale, and analyze, interpret and proactively provide best practices and automation to lessen the burden placed on an organization.

Recently, Bit Stew Systems has started helping oil and gas companies achieve business benefits similar to those being experienced in the utilities sector with our technology. First we entered into a partnership with RoviSys, a leading oil and gas automation expert to bring the Bit Stew MIx Core™ technology platform to the oil and gas sector, helping midstream and upstream companies demystify big data and unlock the potential of IIoT.

Secondly, we received the backing of two of the world’s leading IIoT technology companies, GE and Cisco, with their participation in a large second round of investment in Bit Stew. The investment validates and expedites our mission to disrupt the manual workflows and inefficient models of the past to instantaneously unify information and derive intelligence from billions of traditionally-siloed data streams.

The opportunity is tremendous for oil and gas companies looking to harness the power of IIoT for growth rather than confusion.

Where Data Meets Oil

Many in the oil and gas sector collect so much data that they may feel like they are drowning in it. This is primarily because most efforts thus far have been focused on data generation (and perhaps data warehousing for future analysis). According to Cisco, the amount of global data is only at the cusp of its true potential. They estimate that 80 things per second are connecting to the Internet today, and by 2020 there will be 50 billion things connected to the Internet of Things. All this, while 46 percent of businesses consider volume of information to be their primary data challenge.

This means that pipelines are converging operations with information technology as data flows from the operational theater and the field into IT infrastructure. In addition to this, companies are dealing with a skills and manpower shortage. In 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers research indicated that the oil industry needs 120,000 new workers in the next decade to cover the retirement of baby boomers. That projected shortfall in available manpower and a skill created by the absence of the “tribal knowledge” of retiring workers means that we must now elevate our expectations for that data.

How Can the IIoT Help Create Tomorrow’s Digital Oil Field?

The true potential of the IIoT is the genesis of Software Defined Operations. This term may sound like something from the next century, but for oil and gas operators focused on winning today, this is a key technology concept they must grasp immediately. Software Defined Operations aggregates disparate and siloed data sets and systems and applies machine intelligence to give greater visibility into real-time conditions in an operation and provide a holistic view, or “single source of truth” for the operator.

The ability to derive actionable intelligence from these data streams and determine the best operational decision or process improvement lies at the very heart of the business innovation needed in the next generation of pipelines. These processes will first be passed to the next generation of pipeline operators and engineers, but eventually the actions can be automated using an algorithmic analysis of billions of data points.

With data-infused intelligence and Software Defined Operations, organizations can ensure continuity and knowledge transfer through changes in staff – whether they are third-party maintenance suppliers or the next shift of workers – and can bridge the knowledge gap that will occur as employees retire. The integration of data streams presents an opportunity for operators and engineers to work smarter than before by having real-time access to asset performance, maintenance, network health and other issues.

The intelligence and situational awareness provided by Bit Stew’s MIx Core platform can minimize the potential for leaks, and provide area analysis and geo-spacial views of affected areas if a disaster occurs. It also helps operators prioritize their actions by seeing a triage view into alarms across all systems. System awareness also can identify the most beneficial time for asset maintenance or replacement – eliminating untimely repairs that can result in downtime and huge capital expenditure. This can be the deciding factor in avoiding disaster or regulatory fines.

The cumulative benefits of the data generated by IIoT and the progression toward Software Defined Operations helps oil and gas companies not only survive the pending baby boomer retirement wave, but actually thrive by improving operations and increasing uptime which equals increased production and growth.