22
INNOVATION
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN ENERGY By Tsvetana Paraskova
Innovation and increased use of technology have become integral parts of the global energy industry in recent years as more and more oil and gas sector companies look to streamline operations and prepare for a low-carbon energy future. Digital transformation has been a key tool in energy to reduce downtime, cut costs, and perform remote work and inspection in harsh offshore environments. As all oil and gas firms look to remain relevant in the energy transition, they are exploring opportunities in innovation and research and development (R&D) into ways to monitor and reduce emissions from operations, make carbon capture affordable and green hydrogen production cheaper, or produce more sustainable shipping and aviation fuels. Going forward, technology and innovation will play an increasingly important role in the energy transition and the energy industry’s efforts to offer more low-carbon energy solutions to customers.
Oil & Gas Industry Boosts Technology Investments By the end of this decade alone, oil and gas firms globally are set to spend as much as US$15.6 billion on digital technologies, as they look to overcome commercial, operational, and existential challenges, technology intelligence firm ABI Research said in a report in December 2021. Technology and digital transformation could help oil and gas companies analyse the condition of their assets, support action plans to expand low-carbon operations and renewable energy production, and prepare for the inevitable volatility of energy commodity prices, ABI Research notes. Safety of operations and securing assets against cyber threats are key priorities for the energy sector, which is also seeking to proactively prepare for the energy transition.
www.ogv.energy I March 2022
“Safety and Security are top priorities for Oil & Gas operators. Data analytics allied with IoT platforms have become essential to identifying issues ahead of time such as pipeline degradation, wellhead performance, and pollution from gas flares. Increasingly, however, network security is rapidly becoming a concern for both the C-suite and Governments,” said Michael Larner, Industrial & Manufacturing Principal Analyst at ABI Research. Spending on security services is expected to rise by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent from 2021 to 2030 and reach an annual spend of US$640 million at the end of the decade, ABI Research’s analysis has found. Expenditure on by oil and gas companies on Internet of Things (IoT) devices and application platforms is forecast to top US$5 billion in 2030 with data analytics spend approaching US$2 billion, the technology intelligence firm reckons. “The role of technology is evolving from helping Oil and Gas firms monitor their large, complex, and dangerous operations to helping them optimise their facilities to handle the volatility in their operating environments,” ABI Research’s Larner says.
The same technology intelligence firm estimated earlier in 2021 that spending on Big Data and analytics in the oil and gas industry was a total of US$156 million in 2020, up by 36.8 percent compared to 2018. The oil and gas IoT core analytics service revenue is estimated to grow to US$712.7 million over the next half decade, according to ABI Research. “Instead of developing analytics capabilities in-house, more and more enterprises are turning to supplier
