Digital oilfield implies the application of new age technology across a wide array of oilfield uses, fleet management and maintenance activities being one among them. Digital oilfield concerns the combining of information technology with improved operations. It can be used to apply the best practices from one well to an entire oil field. Maintenance operations would be carried out on the basis of the condition of the equipment rather than the schedule-based system currently followed. It can also be used to improve data availability to the on-field workers. These are among the many benefits that the use of digital oilfield methods can bring about, ultimately resulting in greater production at lower cost.
Digital Oilfield Market Outlook
- Continued high rate of adoption with further improvements and advancements in technology and consequent high returns on investment on adoption of the technologies would be a key driving factor. Greater awareness about the emerging technologies among the industry participants would fuel the rapid growth over the forecast period from 2020 to 2026.
- Ongoing boom in big data analytics is projected to have a significant upside impact on the shale market and consequently on the whole oil and gas industry as well, given the growing role of shale in the global oil economy.
- However, budget constraints and threat of security of the digital infrastructure being compromised would exert a restraining pressure on the market.
Digital Oilfield Market Regional Highlights
- Asia Pacific’s digital oilfield market is in the process of streamlining its operations in a move towards achieving greater regional expansion. Higher amounts of capital expenditure for exploration and production in the regional petroleum industry is one of the indicators of this envisioned expansion. This would result in a rapid growth over the forecast period (in terms of CAGR) for the region’s digital oilfield market.
- North America holds a leading market share in 2019 attributing to its increased activity in the oil & gas exploration and production space over the past few years. The relative maturity of the region’s petroleum industry is another factor responsible for its dominance.
Digital Oilfield Market Segmental Overview
- Digitalization in drilling technologies has already made its presence felt in the industry with the advent of automated drilling rigs and horizontal drilling over longer distances. Solvent co-injection to increase production of oil sand and efficient water flooding in conventional oilfields are some of the innovations in use as part of reservoir optimization.
- Acquisition, reconciliation, and integration of refinery data is set to assume crucial significance in the years ahead with the changing dynamics in the oil and gas industry and the emergence of data as an important asset for any industry. Its storage and security would become all the more important. Cloud computing is an important technological innovation in this regard.
- With the growing number of offshore oilfield development, the use of digital oilfield technology in offshore areas is set to rise over the forecast period.
Digital Oilfield Market Key Players
The major companies operating in the digital oilfield market include ABB, Accenture, Baker Hughes, LLC, Emerson Electric Co, Halliburton, Infosys Limited, Intel Corporation, KOC, National Oilwell Varco, Rockwell Automation, Inc, Schneider Electric, Siemens, The General Electric Company, and Weatherford among others.
Industry focus would be trained on rapid innovation towards cost reduction given that the high cost of such technology is a key factor holding back uptake. Innovation in digital oilfield applications is currently higher in offshore applications given the unique operating conditions they pose and the need to overcome them has driven rapid innovation in the area. Such technology would eventually be taken up by onshore applications, given the large share of onshore oil fields in operation currently. Therefore, greater awareness and cost reduction would be the main focus areas of the key players over the coming years.
