IoT in Oil and Gas: Don’t Get Left Behind

The digitalization of oil and gas production facilities has been gaining momentum but requires a somewhat different approach than other industries in order to cost effectively achieve critical business objectives. This is the result of two unique characteristics associated with these environments—first, the extraordinarily large volume of data that can potentially be generated at upstream production sites and, second, the relatively high cost of network transport to remote and widely distributed sites. These challenges can be addressed but rely heavily on edge analytics that are shaped and informed by broader cloud-based analytics covering massive data sets. While oil and gas producers are making strides digitalizing—that is, adding Internet of Things (IoT) to—upstream production facilities, failure to adopt the correct architecture could result in producers being left behind in the race for greater efficiency and lower production costs.

This paper describes a hybrid IoT architecture that addresses the unique challenges faced by upstream oil and gas operators and delivers important and meaningful business benefits.