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high tech solutions – how technology is supporting the move to integrated energy

Today, the industry appears
improves coordination, communication
and, importantly, document control data hungry with companies
processes with the supply chain as well keen to know what AI or
as between internal teams. machine learning can
Amid the shift to renewables, should
oil and gas businesses start working do for them
with suppliers with whom they’ve had
little experience, this level of project may be too close to one another.
control becomes even more important. With sensors attached to the workers,
Each team should have visibility it is also possible to emit a progressively
into changes in the business and how louder alarm as a reminder whenever
they impact the different players. That workers are too close to each other. In
means being able to manage information the event that there is a confirmed case
centrally and share it appropriately, of Covid-19 on a worksite, an employer
helping to ensure there is clarity and can use contact tracing through
certainty about where each activity is in information captured passively by the
terms of the project lifecycle. worker’s device to gauge who may have
Further, with such a diversification been exposed.
of the business, a balanced portfolio businesses in directions they may
is critical. The move to renewables, as not have been before and will add to Data and analytics
well as shrinking budgets and growing the number of capital projects they Data continues to fascinate the industry.
risk aversion, means oil and gas need to address. Current restrictions It’s challenging to understand how the
companies will manage a larger number around physical distancing drive a need industry managed without what we
of smaller projects. for both resource optimisation and now think of as ‘big data,’ particularly
To effectively manage growing management at jobsites. considering the level of control,
portfolios, energy organisations need Preparation for this needs to be in transparency, threat awareness and
project management solutions that place early, so having an enterprise accountability it provides.
are flexible, mobile and user-friendly, view on resourcing labour, materials Today, the industry appears data
providing critical collaboration and and machinery not only brings hungry with companies keen to know
visibility – and helping to streamline and efficiencies but also supports planning what AI or machine learning (ML)
automate processes. Most transformation that minimises the number of workers can do for them. For many oil and
journeys require additional controls, needed on site at any one time. So how gas businesses, the data journey has
and that’s what a capital project delivery does technology support this? already begun. To see the value in a data
solution provides. approach, they need to explore what data
Remote visual monitoring they have across their projects already.
To effectively manage of construction sites They also need to understand what they
growing portfolios, energy In lieu of on-site inspections, project need data to tell them, and that requires
a data strategy.
teams have the opportunity to embrace
organisations need project a variety of remote visual tools, Before it considers AI and ML, a
management solutions that including drones, laser scanning and business should ask itself whether it
are flexible, mobile, and user- light detection and ranging technology can even use the data it currently has.
friendly, providing critical (LiDAR), to remotely monitor the If not, it’s just adding to the complex
pool of information that it already
progress, quality, safety and security
collaboration and visibility – of their projects. These technologies possesses. Either way, the key is to start
and helping to streamline and both reduce the need for workers to from within; see what you have, and
automate processes come onsite and enable project teams grow your data approach from there. As
to revise contractors’ work sequences with any large, complex undertaking,
to physically separate otherwise risky your data strategy needs a solid starting
In terms of capital project efficiency, work interactions. point. The insights will follow.
it’s important to have cost and change Site cameras can provide real-time
controls in place in an integrated project monitoring and security, with fixed Oracle Construction and Engineering
controls environment. Again, this is cameras increasingly leveraged to provides software for the visibility and
particularly important when there is enhance remote collaboration between control, connected supply chain and data
uncertainty, such as the potential need stakeholders while also capturing security needed to drive performance and
to change suppliers when shifting images and time-lapse videos for mitigate risk across processes. For more
to a renewables-based approach. regular status updates integrated information, visit www.oracle.com
Eliminating disjointed workflow to scheduling and other project
approaches – such as those associated management solutions.
with spreadsheets or manual data input References
– in favour of digital workflows further Physical distancing on construction sites 1)BP: From international oil company to
drives efficiency gains. Through the use of AI, site images can be integrated energy company announcement
analysed and tagged to identify various 2) www.iea.org/articles/the-global-oil-industry-is-
RISK MITIGATION, SITE SAFETY indicators of project risk relating to experiencing-shock-like-no-other-in-its-history
AND DATA ANALYTICS safety, productivity and quality. This 3) www.ipaglobal.com/news/article/responding-
Diversifying from oil and gas to technology can identify people working to-the-oil-price-drop-amidst-covid-19-lessons-
encompass renewables will take in a group and indicate when individuals from-history

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