For many E&P companies considering field automation, it may seem that installing a SCADA system gives them all the information, alarms and control they need to reach the real goals, which include boosting production and reducing costs. And SCADA does help, but not nearly as much as installing automation through the Cloud.

In this ever-increasing digital world, people and companies rely more and more on the Cloud for data storage and integration. IIoT brings that missing piece where field data and process data can join the rest of your information on the Cloud.

There can be some misconceptions about how data is handled when outsourcing your Cloud Software. Given the advances in new technology and many circumstances affecting several industries, automating your operations, and outsourcing your SCADA to a cloud based platform can have many advantages. 

The key is to have the right partner so you are certain your data will be handled with care. Emerson's DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA takes handling your data very seriously and provides advanced security for all our platform and software applications.

How often have you worked on a written assignment only to have an unexpected computer failure, and you lose all your information because it did not save? Once this happens, you either look for other ways to recover your work or get stuck starting from the beginning.  

When the unexpected happens, you want to pick up where you left off, especially when it comes to business operations. For this reason, it is essential to implement a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and have the appropriate technology to support services in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

There is a bit of magic in every childhood story we read. Whether it be the Chronicles of Narnia with its enchanted kingdom or Aladdin’s genie in the lamp, we learn very early that supernatural powers often come in pretty handy.

Maybe you could use some telepathic powers to know what is happening in a remote production location. You’ve probably wished to have psychic abilities to know when a wellsite will stop producing before it happens, or if your team is safe working on site.

Most certainly you’d enjoy the gift of telekinesis to restart an artificial lift.

Maybe you’ve declared your intention to digitally transform your production. That’s great. It’s a growing trend and it will really boost efficiency. But the jury is still out on whether to do it in-house or to let us do it for you.

I have a question that may clarify that decision for you:

What are you good at?

You’re good at evaluating leases, considering how to economically produce a field and to get that oil and gas to market. If you were to jump into the field of developing a cloud based platform, what would that look like in terms of hiring, training and implementing?

Things used to be so much simpler. Every home had one phone line. Every store took cash or checks, and almost every well had a rod pump over its whole life span. Then again, everything used to be way more work to 'do' anything at all; pump oil, or just grocery shop.

Complexity though, can be really great for your bottom line, and doesn't have to feel complex.

With cell phones, we can call for help from just about anywhere. Debit cards are way faster than check writing. And using a series of unconventional lifting methods on unconventional wells is unlocking much stronger potential for oil and gas production—and profitability that we could only dream of a few short years ago.

For years now we’ve been able to monitor tank levels, compressors, pump operations and flow meters. Most of that is pretty cut-and-dried. The tank is at whatever level it’s at; the pump is either running or it’s not. An alarm tells us what we need to know the minute we need to know it.

But detecting a pipeline leak involves combining a number of data points and deciding which ones, or which combination of points, means there really is a leak. I’m stressing “really” because the industry first believed any anomaly needed to be alarmed because at that point an anomaly equaled leak, and we defiantly know the faster that leak could be stopped, and repaired; the more profits from your production ended up staying in your pocket.

HMI (Human Machine Interface) – is really just the software application that presents information to an operator, or a user about the state of a process, then accepts and implements the operators’ control instructions.

This is usually displayed in a graphic format. But, it's that graphic format, and how well (or poorly) it's designed that can make all the difference. We, the humans as the users are generally visual learners. Which is just one of the reasons why our users love our HMI so much; hi-res, crystal clear graphics right in front of them that are easy to understand and give users the ability to make better business decisions.

In Roman times, humans were the messengers. Runners traveled sometimes for a week or more to bring home news of the battle. During this interval the situation on the front could change dramatically, rendering accurate decision-making almost impossible.

Romans didn’t have smart devices and remote monitoring. But thankfully, you do.

Why aren’t you using this to your advantage for remote compressor locations?

In the area of oilfield data, we know we’ve been sitting on a gold mine.

Well, sitting is not the right word, because we have been working on how to process all that information.