Very Interesting New Study Supports ARC’s Position on Business Value of IIoT in Oil & Gas

​Recently I had the opportunity to read a new study sponsored by Cisco that highlights what ARC has been opining about for months as it relates to tremendous value and opportunity that IIoT affords to those oil & gas companies that are able to embrace the future in order to better operate today.  The report supports ARC's belief (see recent ARC report) that companies should not just take a short-term reaction by cutting costs and laying off employees and invest in automation and technologies such as IIoT and others in order to better position themselves when oil and gas prices recover to more sustainable levels.

According to the survey conducted during the completion of the report, respondents indicated that their main focus was on focusing on getting more out of what they already have and named "operational efficiency of existing projects" and "maintenance of assets and infrastructure" as the top two areas of increased investment over the next 24 months.   ARC has been covering the topic of petro-technical data integration (PTDI) for some time now and discussing how the challenge of managing and integrating the "data deluge" in order to increase collaboration (both internal and external) can likely yield some of the "lowest hanging fruit" benefits of IIoT as the level of investment required is minimal to potential benefits realized.  Apparently a majority of respondents named "data" as the area of IoE (Cisco's term) they need to improve most to take advantage of connected technologies.   Interestingly, respondents also named "data analytics for faster, better decision-making" as the #1 driver for IoE investment.

The report also highlighted another topic for which ARC has been championing for some time, the need for greater IT-OT collaboration (people, process, and technology).  Sadly, fifty-nine percent of survey respondents did not believe that their firms' IT and OT strategies are closely aligned.  ARC believes that IIoT can enable oil & gas companies to increase collaboration, improve productivity, increase production and EUR, and help better position operations such that greater profitability is all but assured when oil & gas prices continue to recover to likely "new normal" trading ranges (<$100/bbl).