Information Technology in Oil & Gas Pipes Industry.

Information technology in oil & gas pipes industry.

The oil and gas industry is one of the most valuable and growing industries in the world. However, their core business is responsible for environmental crisis when something runs out of control. Onshore oil & gas extraction needs to be transported by pipes for long distances to its refinery; this is the moment when most onshore accidents happen and where we need concentrated efforts to avoid any issues.

The way most companies found to deal with the problems is coordinating information from many different points through the pipes and controlling all information received to face how risky the operation is in that exact moment; then, if needed, the whole operation can be shut down in a few minutes, avoiding any further damages and losses.

Besides all the environmental reasons justifying the investments, we have to take in account the product controls that are added to the oil supply chain. Controlling pressure, density, viscosity, flow, fluid speed and the mixture of oil/gas/water in the pipes can save hundreds of millions of dollars per year since it became possible to follow how the fluids are behaving inside the pipes.

Unfortunately, all these sensors cost a huge quantity of money to acquire and to maintain, since there are only a few people well qualified to work with the equipment. Indeed, it is not only hard to find people to work with the equipment, but it is also complicated to find someone able to interpret all the collected data and take decisions; the machines are not able yet to decide by themselves when is the right moment to cut the oil flow inside a pipe. Another point to be observed is the training time required to adapt the responsible employees to all new technology included in their daily lives.

The different sensors (it is used many different sensors to obtain all information needed to ensure that the whole pipe is safely conducted) work sending information to a central datacenter...