The oil and gas industry has grown by more than 20% in the last five years and is currently valued at $812 billion. This industry is highly profitable, but it also can be incredibly wasteful. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), businesses in the United States oil and gas sector produce over 18 billion barrels of waste fluids yearly. One potential solution that can help the O&G industry combat waste is switching from a linear to a circular economy. What is a circular economy? The World Economic Forum defines a circular economy as a “restorative or regenerative” indu ..read more

The global capacity for carbon capture in 2030 is set to increase sixfold from today’s level, to 279 million tons of CO2 captured per year, according to research company BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) newly released 2022 CCUS[1] Market Outlook. Drastic growth in the market has led to a 44% increase in expected 2030 capacity compared to last year’s outlook. Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is a key technology needed to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as petrochemicals and cement, and to provide 24/7 clean power through gas plants fitted with capture equipment. Still, despite signifi ..read more

Environmental sustainability insights Oil and gas are a crucial piece of the worlds infrastructure, but it can be difficult to get this energy with environmental sustainability in mind. There are several ways to achieve environmental sustainability, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in green technology, preventing pollution and reducing water usage. Transparency and accountability are part of today’s reality for the oil and gas industry. The public expects organizations to shoulder their weight for social responsibility, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability ..read more

Since its introduction, the Internet of Things (IoT) has rapidly changed the oil & gas (O&G) landscape. A recent survey from Inmarsat Research revealed that nearly three quarters (74%) of O&G firms have deployed at least one IoT project, with a further 81% indicating they plan to accelerate their IoT adoption in response to challenges related to the recent global pandemic. And while these new digital technologies offer greater control, deeper insight, and more efficient operations, one of the biggest hurdles is overcoming air-gaps in remote, off-grid locations and handling the mass ..read more

Refinery construction is often viewed through the lens of utilitarian design. But anyone who’s worked in the industry can attest to the fact that this by no means implies stagnancy or an unwillingness to work with new technologies. However, refinery construction is an incredibly competitive field that needs to contend with a constantly shifting market. Doing so often means that people within every area of the field will need to work with advanced technologies. And some of the most impressive examples of this principle have come from an unexpected source – artificial intelligence (AI). What is ..read more

On its face, there’s lots to like about modular automation. Breaking a production facility into modular units – or modules – is a good way to build, maintain and upgrade production systems. At the same time, it can be very industry specific. In oil & gas, modular automation offers significant savings across the lifecycle of a floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO). A vessel owner/operator can see up to a 50% reduction in capital expenditures for automation engineering and as much as a 20% reduction in costs to manage an FPSO unit over the course of a vessel’s lifecycle. How ..read more

Sustainability is a goal for a variety of noble reasons for companies in many different industries. Particularly in oil and gas processing, sulfur recovery needs to be properly managed to respect the environment as well as to improve production. Sulfur is harmful to the environment and the EPA regulates this; sometimes imposing fines in the millions of dollars. These possible fines go beyond any potential losses to production and/or quality. Sulfur recovery units are an essential means for engineers to track process behavior. When an anomaly occurs in sulfur recovery, prescriptive analytics so ..read more

Oil & gas drilling operators strive to improve performance and mitigate risks with frac plug drill-out and snubbing completion operations in challenging long horizontal wellbores. These processes require considerable pre-planning, operational and state-of-the-art machinery, constant inspection, real-time communications capability, and an experienced, trained and competent crew on the job site. Meeting these expectations, however, can be a considerable challenge for completion operators. One completions service provider has developed a comprehensive, integrated solution to these challenges ..read more