SCADA Systems for Oil & Gas Industry

The SCADA Systems for Oil & Gas Industry market research study delivers current market analysis plus a five year market and technology forecast. The study is available in multiple editions including worldwide, all regions, and most major countries.

Oil and Gas SCADA Systems Sales Struggle, But Are Poised to Recover

New ARC Advisory Group market research on the SCADA systems for the upstream and midstream oil & gas industry market reveals that SCADA systems must better support the increased demands for data and do so in the most secure manner possible. End users utilize supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology to help reduce operational and maintenance costs and link operations to business processes for a variety of purposes, including business performance management and leveraging investments in existing assets and systems to optimize capital expenditures. The global SCADA market reflects the impact of the new economic reality on SCADA components and more cost-effective communications for both data and knowledge transfer.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) business in the worldwide oil & gas industry.  It can serve as an effective planning guide for companies interested in either purchasing a SCADA system or providing SCADA systems to the marketplace.  The report provides strategic information to manufacturing industry executives responsible for planning, marketing, purchasing, and developing SCADA and/or related real-time information systems. 

ARC’s analysis of the worldwide SCADA market for the oil & gas industry includes market size and segmentation, market forecast, industry structure, and supplier market shares and profiles.  In addition to providing clients with a quantitative assessment of the SCADA marketplace, this report provides an insightful analysis of the products and strategies of the leading SCADA suppliers. 

SCADA Systems for Oil & Gas Industry Strategic Issues

In addition to providing a five-year market forecast, the SCADA Systems for Oil & Gas Research provides detailed quantitative current market data and addresses key strategic issues as follows.

Be Open to New Approaches

Industrial IoT is expanding the number of ways to address traditional challenges and the new opportunities provided by digitalization. The number and types of data collectors are increasing, as are the variety of field devices. With analytics getting pushed closer to the field, Edge devices can have ample processing power to accomplish more than just network processing and basic logic. Networking technology is also expanding the data pipes to the field making new solutions viable where they previously were not.

Dig Deep into Cybersecurity

Security is not a new issue for industries that use SCADA technology, but remains an issue that requires careful attention. As cyberattacks and infiltrations by terrorists and emerging superpowers have become more sophisticated and persistent, cybersecurity for SCADA system vulnerability has become a matter of increasing concern for many companies. Linking SCADA and other operations systems to IT and enterprise-level systems only increases security complexity. SCADA system end users often do not have the internal resources required to detect, assess, and remedy security problems, but they must at least develop a security policy or strategy. This was highlighted this year by a ransomware attack on a major US pipeline company.

Security continues as a focal point for operating companies, and SCADA suppliers must be able to respond to these clients’ increasing security needs. Security vulnerability assessment results often provide an additional driver to initiate a migration planning initiative or to seek assistance from external sources. It is important for end users that security solutions must be cost-effective and must not interfere with the functioning of SCADA systems. Many overlook physical security which is an important component of an overall cybersecurity strategy.

Legacy SCADA systems often have attributes that are not compatible with standard security measures. The technology cycle of the IT world changes rapidly compared with the world of SCADA systems. Web enablement brings with it another set of security-related concerns. Finding the right skillset to deal with a growing list of security issues may require partnering between suppliers, manufacturers, and security firms.

Make Full Use of Cloud, Virtualization, and Hosted Solutions

Enterprise-wide business systems have been migrating to cloud-based implementation for years. These same cloud-based solutions are a natural fit for SCADA applications due to their geographically dispersed implementations and heavy reliance on third-party networks. Small- to medium-sized producers have been cost averse, and many continue to run their data gathering operations with a pickup truck and technician or a standalone system that they cannot maintain. ARC believes that properly targeted cloud solutions will provide affordable access to technologies that small- to medium-sized producers can leverage to make their businesses run more efficiently. It also grants operating companies access to world-class cybersecurity operations. Cloud-based computing is a logical progression from virtualization that has already been accepted by several operating companies. This is evidenced by the large number of data center implementations within the industry. End users should be careful to conduct proper calculations of total cost of ownership in all cases.