4 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR DATA WORK FOR LEASE OPERATORS IN THE FIELD

Energy demand world over is on the rise and will continue to be, given the burgeoning necessities that it fulfills.  The worry, however, is, that the age of “easy oil” seems to be over. The industry continues to negotiate the tumultuous terrain of geo-politico-economic stress to survive. Top it up with eroding profits, due to high costs of operations in the field, and the situation becomes rather challenging.

In this scenario, can you afford to let the legacy processes and scattered data pull you back? Look at the sheer magnitude of relevant and significant data you produce daily, nearly 600 petabytes per day, as per the industry estimates. And, as is said, data is the new oil, why let it go waste?

Let’s delve on how you can make this goldmine of data work for you to ensure higher productivity, leaner, smarter processes and ease of operations. Let me share some of the ways you can make your data work smarter for lease operators in the field.

DISRUPTIVE MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES

How do you consume information – in printed sheets or on the glowing screens of erstwhile PCs? Or – you would rather have it on the handier mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets? Pumpers on the field must access information and insights regarding where to pump, when and in what order. Does it make sense for this information to be held within offices that may be blocks away from on ground operations?  If your data is scattered – strewn across multiple systems, in as many different formats, fetching the right information for the right action at the right time will be difficult, to say the least. If your reporting systems deployed in the field are not up to speed with new reality of the digital age, it is time you took action and implemented a system that collates data from various sources, allows you to analyze and consume the insights anywhere, and in any form, you choose.

DYNAMIC ROUTING

Managing the wells in a large operation is absolutely challenging. You would definitely not want to dilute your efforts by servicing wells that may not be a top priority and leave behind the ones that need urgent attention. The question is how would you know which wells need the pumpers more urgently than others? No, it is not a matter of gut feeling anymore. Your data can tell you where to focus and why. Trust the data, and when the information is logically clustered with analytical algorithms working on them in the background, you will have insights that make the work on the ground much easier, efficient and quicker.

In fact, with artificial intelligence at work, you will also have near accurate prescription on the best route to take while servicing the wells – and it need not be linear. Suppose you have 20 wells on an existing route, but one of them that is connected to SCADA is experiencing tubing pressure that is below 30 psi, with normal being 145 psi. A disparity of this magnitude likely indicates potential downtime. If you have 5 wells in this condition, with 3 of them producing significant volume and 2 with lower production, prioritizing the 3 large producers is the optimal approach to take. Dynamic Routing makes this possible by enabling you to place these wells at the top of the route list.

ENHANCED SAFETY STANDARDS

If there is one thing that is completely non-negotiable in the field, it is safety. You would have put the best resources and systems to monitor the operations round the clock, at times, even at prohibitive costs.  Despite the best efforts, many a time all you get is an opportunity to react. How about being prepared and gaining the ability to pre-empt any major mishap? Again, you can make your data work smart and let it alert you when a well is reaching its capacity. You can specify the triggers and set a chain of actions– for instance, the Pumper can be alerted in advance when a tank is 75% to 80% of capacity and can be routed there to take required measures like, transferring the oil to another tank or, switching the well to produce into another tank or, even shutting down the well, if nothing else is possible.

CENTRALIZED COMPLIANCE

Regulatory and compliance management does sound a lot of work – different agencies like BLM, SPCC, GHG, and general EH&S require different data and may have altogether different styles for filing the information. Trouble is that you have your data everywhere – each compliance inspection record is stored in different systems, in formats as varied as Excel files or as one-off entries in off-the-shelf applications. You can be much better off if you had clean, clear and coordinated data sets for specific compliance formalities. Well, it is not that difficult. All you need is a system of centralized data collection and the ability to configure all forms and reports on a single platform.

Make Your Data Work For The Field

Make your data work harder, smarter and swifter for better operations on the ground. Demand your field system to collect, collate, configure and analyse data from various sources. Expect that your system can alert you and prescribe best possible action for the pumpers at the wellhead, on a device of your choice.