If the year 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that technology is no longer the wave of the future; it's right now. It’s all around us, and the oil and gas industry is in the middle of it.

Most oil and gas producers have known that implementation of automation, with remote monitoring and control, and accurate, analyzed data would be more efficient leading to reduced downtime and boosting profitability. But 2020 showed us that having employees work remotely was not only possible, it was necessary.

The growing importance of technology for the immediacy of control and actionable data is changing the workforce. It’s prioritizing those who can deliver usable data for faster, better oil and gas production decisions.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” 

As most things in life, planning can make a world of difference when it comes to systems failing. But when it comes to human safety involved in those fails that only highlights the importance of planning ahead to be ready for anything.

One of my favorite sayings is 'hope for the best, but plan for the worst.' This is extremely important for natural gas distribution because planning ahead could save lives, lots of human lives. Which is why it's critical when considering a secondary system in case your primary system stops functioning.

Mergers and acquisitions are a part of life in the oil patch in any economic environment. 

Sometimes those transactions are fast and furious making our heads spin because of the amount of opportunity they can quickly deliver.

The steps taken after the sales transaction has occurred are what really determines the value of the long term return. Sure it was hard work putting the 'deal' together and making sure everything was in alignment before you even signed the dotted line. But, as with so many things in life, that was just the beginning of way more work, way more time, and way more attention needed to every detail to be sure the true value is realized and your previous efforts (and money) were well spent.

Thankfully, technology is evolving in giant leaps and bounds today. It's a great time to be alive and witness the new advancements every day. But with all the change it can also leave some producers and operations wondering when the right time is to replace the old with the new really is; given that some tech is only 'new' for a week or two, and then will be quickly outdated by something bigger, better, faster, smarter and will have more shelf life.

When producers invest in new technologies for their business, they can expect more profits, more production, and more sustainability but deciding when to purchase tech, and which tech to invest into that won't be outdated in a year (or these days a week), makes it more of a challenge to get right. And then of course, it comes down to what to upgrade, and as with everything in life; it comes down to 'how to leverage all that new tech'. Will the 'how' be so complicated it will eat away your team's time or quickly add value that contributes to fast gains?

If you're in production operations, you don't think of 'alarms' the way most people do. Most people think of 'alarms' as annoying devices that wake them up in the morning. Which sure, has a great purpose in itself. But alarms in production operations can save miles, and more importantly lives when handled with care and by a trustworthy tech partner like DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA.

Is your company still sending a pumper out to visually inspect every well? If so, I’m sure you’ve counted the miles and hours, not to mention the costs for fuel, tires and oil changes.

We've been using machine learning (ML) for years. It's been a big factor in our development to help oil and gas producers on their digital transformation journey to autonomous operations using the exact solutions that will bring them more production, profits, and sustainability.

The daunting task of keeping track of your expenses can be time-consuming and overwhelming if not managed correctly and efficiently. With the right software and automation in place along with mobile apps and other productivity tools, managing expenses has gotten easier.

For oil and gas, managing lease operating expenses (LOE) has gotten easier with automation and software solutions. Now, there are fewer reasons not to have the costs eat away at your companies’ ability to operate wells and keep costs within budget without having to shut-in operations.

Some of us (myself included) tend to lose random things around the house like the TV remote, keys, or phone that stress us out as we tend to frantically search for these lost items. Fortunately, we live in an era when automation exists, and you can get key finders, click a button to make your TV remote make a sound, or set other devices to find missing items saving us time and stress from searching for them.

For the remotely located production sites, tracking the location of assets can also be a challenge. Using Emerson's DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA Asset Protect, a fixed asset management software you are able to track all kinds of equipment. For an example, when a compressor isn't being used, sometimes it gets moved to be utilized at a different site. In my experience, the only person who would have known about this relocation would be the area foreman.

Way, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I had a very annoying flip phone that was really only able to make and receive calls and (upon the rare occasion) get and send a few random text messages from other techie types. The main reason I found this phone so annoying is I wanted it to be able to do so much more; and it seemed like it shouldn't be all that difficult to make it happen.

But, that's all there was on the market at the time.

I continuously wondered why on earth someone didn't make them to fetch my email, or have a decent camera in them. Then it finally became a reality and just like that we all became more mobile than we had ever dreamed of being! It was AWESOME being set free from waiting for an email, and unchained from my desk where I would often be found waiting for information to be sent.

Most people working today tend to work not only when we're at work, but also when we're at the movies, car wash or grocery store; we respond to emails and texts all hours of the day and night. Work-life balance is there, but it's also much more of a work-life blend today than ever before.

This blend is why you need your files and data to all be easily visible from top to bottom without relying on portable devices or clunky, undependable drives that should have been replaced years ago or, worst of all; boxes of paper files (I'm cringing at the thought of that one)!