Leading Oil and Gas analyst at GlobalData, Ravindra Puranik, has revealed that more International Oil Companies (IOCs) are deepening their investments in technology and mainly robotics to deliver services in hostile environments dangerous to humans in exploration operations.
In his argument, he said “Recent technological advancements are enabling operators to deploy robots in terrestrial, aerial and underwater configurations to carry out tasks that may be too risky to be undertaken by field personnel. Moreover, ageing infrastructure is necessitating regular inspection of these assets, and autonomous drones are being used due to their sheer number and issues related to accessibility. ”
The report revealed that challenges facing exploration and production of hydrocarbons, as well as processing and packaging of the commodities are forcing technology giants to design solutions that could address risky duties for humans in the industry and not necessarily to cut jobs.
The report said leaving IOCs deploying robots in operations include Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Gazprom, Repsol, Equinor, Total, Saudi Aramco, Sinopec, and ADNOC even as there had not any form of robotics in NNPC’s operations.
Puranik added further that “To overcome this concern, robotics technology providers and oilfield service providers are devising new business models, such as Robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) to drive the deployment of these technologies in field operations and reduce uncertainty over the total cost of ownership of robots.”
According to the document released on ‘Robotics in Oil & Gas’ by GlobalData, oil and gas sector is seriously gearing up for use of robots to address its complex challenges, thus deepening global robotics yearly growth rate of 16 per cent from $98.2 billion in 2018 to $277.8 billion in 2025.
