Remote Operations in Oil & Gas

Trend Overview

“Remote Asset Operations” was seen as the highest RoI investment out of all ten use cases described in the 2020 survey by JWN. The Digital Oilfield Report that published these findings goes on to identify “Remote Asset Inspection” and “Remote Asset Monitoring” to be the second and third choice by survey respondents.

Remote operations are key to leveraging digital technology in the oilfeild.

A few years ago, everyone believed the way to achieve remote operations was in an integrated remote operations center, or iROC. All the expensive and hard to get experts would make that their primary workplace and they could apply their expertise across all assets without the need for frequent travel.

The iROC has definitely proven to be useful in a number of ways. Oilman magazine published the following list of ROC acheivements:

• Reduced the likelihood of events that cause non-productive time
• Reduced costs by improving operational efficiency
• Helped operators gain a better understanding of complex well sites
• Utilized advancements in technology to obtain 3D visualization and improved models
• Prevented wellbore collisions
• Increased effectiveness of drilling operations

Over the last few years, we’ve all learned to operate more effectively from a home environment and this has opened a new train of thought for many operators. Can our experts be anywhere? If all of the operating tools can be put in a remote operations center, can they also be accessed from a laptop or mobile device anywhere an expert happens to be?

In many ways, this concept of hybrid work that we’ve all learned about during COVID applies to remote operations as well.

Industry POV

Operators continue to struggle with achieving remote operations in an operations center without even considering wide deployment of the hybrid work scenario from anywhere. The good news is, Cisco has an ecosystem of partners that can collectivey deliver both a remote operation center experience, as well as a full hybrid work experience. Here are a few key elements to consider.

Actionable Data

Remote work depends on accurate data and insights from remote assets. Somehow, this data must be reliably aquired and transported to where AI engines can consume it and provide insights. After that, the insights need to be delivered to decision makers. This data movement is the core of Cisco’s offering.

Cisco’s industrial network portfolio of switches, routers, and wireless access points are capable of aquiring and processing data at the edge as required. In most cases, this data will also be transported back to a central data store for processing. Cisco has a variety of validated designs that meet specific industry specifications, as well as a variety of service level requirements. This ensures the data reaches the intended destination while keeping with business requirements.

Secure Remote Access

Most modern assets are capable of remote management when connections are available. Cisco understands the security requirements of industrial environments, including Oil & Gas sites. Cisco’s validated designs for secure access comply with industry standards and ensure remote experts are able to access assets without compromizing cybersecurity requirements of regulators and corporate security frameworks.

Summary/Conclusion

The Oil & Gas industry has identified remote operations are a key requirement for efficient, safe, and sustainable operation in future. Cisco has a broad ecosystem of products and partners that deliver validated remote access solutions and make data available to the systems and decision makers that need it. And it can be done anywhere they happen to be.

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