Technology in the Oil and Gas Industry

Technology in the Oil and Gas Sector

Advance in technology plays an important role in our everyday lives and in businesses across all sectors. Technology advancement has come a long way in the oil and gas industry looking at the way crude is extracted, produced into petroleum products and its delivery to refineries and end users. The oil and gas industry are divided into three sectors (Upstream, Midstream and the Downstream sector).

We are narrowing this blog down to the downstream sector to discuss the importance of technology or digitalization in the oil and gas downstream sector. As crude is extracted and processed into various products that we use daily, there must be collaboration across industries, from the vehicle industry to shipping industry and manufacturing companies so that when products like vehicles are being manufactured, information on new improved fuel are considered during the design and production process. For instance, diesel might be produced in a different way to combat environmental pollution, this new improved diesel must be able to work with new products. The same approach should apply to other products like shipping vessels and generators.

In manufacturing, some changes must be made to how products are made to help in reducing pollution which means some parts of an equipment will have to be upgraded or a new equipment designed to help in reducing pollution when products are manufactured. There are several benefits that advanced technology or digitalization in the oil and gas industry can bring to the environment, human beings, and businesses. Below are some of the advantages of investing in technology in the oil and gas sector.

1. Cost: Investing in technology can be costly in the short term as money is injected into the technology sector but in the long run as new or improved technology becomes commercially available and acceptable, cost in investing in that specific technology becomes reduced. Let us take shipping for example, technology in researching and building the modern ship to help with less fuel consumption, faster speed, safer vessels in the short term would cost more to assemble but after a new ship is built over a certain period and there is demand for the ship and becomes commercially acceptable, the funds investors put into building more ships becomes reduced when large orders are placed.
2. Health: Pollution comes from different industries, but our focus is on pollution in the oil and gas industry narrowing it down to fuels. Some of the pollutants from petroleum products that gets released into the atmosphere are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and particular matter which all contribute to air pollution leading to health issues in some human beings causing illnesses such as respiratory problems, lung cancer and stroke resulting in death, long term illnesses which brings about financial burden on families and the government where health care is free. This can be reduced by investing in technology and research on how fuels can be produced in an environmentally friendly way. Other benefits associated with cleaner air are improved skin appearance, better mood, normalised sleep patterns, help in digestion and a few more. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), approximately 4.2 million die every year prematurely from exposure to air pollution (Data Review: How many people die from air pollution? 2022).
3. Environment: It is not only gases generated from fuels that causes global warming, there are gases generated by manufacturing companies during production that also contributes to global warming. When gases like black carbon, ozone are released in the atmosphere, it causes global warming, higher temperatures which also affect sea levels.

CONCLUSION: Technology advancement can help in reducing pollution, health problems, save money in the long term through investment and cost of products when they become commercially acceptable, but this must be done across various sectors to see a lasting and visible positive effect. Planning, Cooperation and coordination is needed across industries to be able to achieve this result.

REFERENCE

Our World in Data. 2022. Data Review: How many people die from air pollution? [online] Availableat:<https://ourworldindata.org/data-review-air-pollution-deaths#:~:text=The%20WHO%20estimates%20that%204.2,(or%20ambient)%20air%20pollution> [Accessed 8 June 2022].