No matter how remote the crude oil site, ICT can save time and eliminate the costs associated with geographic separation by establishing effective communication links.
This is according to David Hartshorn, secretary general of non-profit satellite networking organisation Global VSAT Forum (GVF), who spoke at the Cairo GVF Oil and Gas Communications Conference, in Egypt, yesterday.
The conference, presented by GVF, brought together over 100 players from the oil industry and the communications sector to discuss the importance of communication solutions in the exploration and production of crude oil, GVF announced.
Oil and gas companies operating in a "real-time" setting are deploying VSAT-based wide-area networks in remote locations. These bring together their local area networks which are thousands of miles apart, at speeds of 2Mbps, enabling data to come to the experts immediately, said Hartshorn.
"High-volume real-time data is being brought from remote sites to regionally-located experts and even to the client, who can now collaborate on the oil projects much more effectively and experts can support operations at several sites concurrently."
Better productivity
This type of efficiency results in better productivity and larger service revenues, as experts no longer waste time travelling to the geographical site for assessment, explained Hartshorn.
Oil companies` ability to reduce operational cost to a minimum depends heavily on non-stop access to reliable, robust and scalable communications, he said.
"Businesses working with satellite-based communications are saving millions of dollars per year," he stated. He added that the total cost to operate a typical offshore oil rig is between $300 000 and $500 000 per day, which translates to $109.5 million to $182.5 million per year.
Deploying technology, such as time digital multiple access and demand assigned multiple access to support small sites and large headquarters, allows coherent communication at rates of up to 128Kbps, which cuts costs dramatically, he said.
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