The world is coming up with newer forms of energy at almost every time, but that does not cripple the place of oil and gas in the fuel market. However, the distribution chain is facing a myriad of issues that are plaguing not only the availability of this natural resource in the quantities that will allow it meet demand but also cutting profits for the players too.
Fortunately, IoT utilities are fast shaping up a smart grid to tackle this problem out of the loop. In this piece, we explore some of the ways this technology is beneficial to the oil and gas distribution network as a whole.
1) Keeping Drilling Safe
No matter how we look at it, drilling is an integral part of the distribution network. After all, without it, there would be no distribution network at all in the first place.
As the drilling continues, the situation underground starts becoming more and more dangerous to deal with. Employing the aid of sensors, engineers get to measure and recalibrate their systems at different stages of drilling.
That helps them to take dangerous situations out of the way before they happen at all and reduce explosions, downtime, etc.
2) Pipeline Monitoring
In the distribution channel, pipelines can be fitted with sensors at different stages to help monitor the movement of the crude oil from the site to tanks and/ or refineries, as well as other places that they might need to be sent. This kind of monitoring will ensure that the engineers at the scene know when there is a problem at any point of transport.
Problems, in this case, can stem from blockages in the pipe, a change in temperature/ pressure, etc., which reduce the flow rate. It can also be a fault of breakage (which could be a signal to pipeline vandalism).
3) Transparency
Instead of having to take physical count of the volume of transported substances, the internet of things utilities and sensors can take over that task.
They will handle real-time reporting of how much crude oil and gas has passed through the pipelines at any given time. This will not only help make the process transparent to all the players in the industry but also ensure that the handlers stay accountable at any point in time.
4) Health and Safety
Men and women are working on the rigs, at the pipelines and other aspects of the distribution channel from time to time. Due to the sensitive nature of crude oil and gas, a small incident is all it takes to wound mortally or even kill these people.
It is, thus, important that all measures can be put in place to prevent that be installed onsite.
Considering all we have been discussing to this point, IoT utilities are a no-brainer.
Doing it Right
Maintaining IoT utilities on an oil and gas platform requires running the sensors on a high level of security lest they are hacked and manipulated by unauthorized individuals. By allocating one or many of the deployed devices to a VPN group, there is not the security risk of a public IP address or the need for private Static IP allocation from the carrier. People have access to deployed devices through the VPN desktop application.
This, and the fact that it is rugged enough to withstand the conditions of an everyday oil field, is what makes the Robustel R3000 a robust choice. Coupled with an installed VPN to secure your connection, remote functionality, and support for dual SIM, Robustel has put a lot of thought into this unit before launching it.