Versatile Communications: A key Imperative for Effective and Efficient Operations in the Oil and Gas Market

Companies typically need to support communications between employees and facilities based across the globe – often in the world’s most remote and inhospitable geographies. Equipment at these sites needs to be remotely monitored and the status communicated to control facilities that can be hundreds of kilometres away. All communications must be protected by robust security. Communication systems, especially those at industrial sites, have to be failsafe, co-ordinating emergency responses when emergency strikes. And all this must be achieved within a cost efficient framework as the relentless economics of competition drive the need for agility and business efficiencies. These issues are reviewed in more detail by Stuart Broome, Motorola’s Director of Sales in Russia. Having set the scene, he analyses how new communications technologies provide a clear strategy for companies seeking to develop robust, flexible and highly efficient communications systems; technologies to enhance operational performance by strengthening the decision-making of employees in the office, on the road or at facilities.

Communication demands

Communications requirements for the oil and gas markets can be sub-divided into two key areas – corporate systems and, facilities management.

Corporate systems

One of the key requirements of customers in oil and gas markets is the availability of communications; put simply, employees must be able to access the colleagues, information and applications they need when they need them. So whether an executive is travelling, working remotely or visiting a far flung facility, they have to function as if they were in the office. The primary objective of supporting such flexible communications is to ensure that employees make more informed, immediate and efficient decisions; a critical demand in the dynamic and highly competitive oil and gas market.

This flexibility in communications has to be delivered within a highly secure framework. Most core areas of companies’ operations from exploration to site performance, pricing, revenues and reserves are hugely sensitive. In fact, virtually any communication has intrinsic value attached. It must therefore be ring-fenced with impregnable security – a demand that’s defined in regulation in many countries.

Alongside providing the backbone for day to day operations, communications systems are also widely deployed to protect facilities.

Facilities management

Communication infrastructure plays a key role in facilities security. Site workers need to be able to talk clearly with one another in demanding environments. And, if the unexpected happens, the networks must remain working; ensuring that contingency plans can be instigated immediately and effectively to negate the possible impact of the emergency both on-site and in the surrounding environment. Add in the fact that many facilities are located well away from traditional cellular coverage and it’s clear that remote locations must have access to their own dedicated, secure and failsafe networks.

Communications equipment is also playing an important role in operational security. In 2006 alone there were 1,000 cases of pipeline vandalism in the Nile Delta and the Cano Limon pipe was subject to 170 explosive attacks. Oil and gas companies are increasingly turning to wireless monitoring systems to keep an eye on exposed infrastructure. The challenge is to ensure that such measures can be cost effectively installed and the necessary network backbone is in place to send video images to security centres.

In addition, analysis equipment is also used to assess the status of remote assets – e.g. valve pressure, relay performance and sensor status.

When analysing the communications requirements of oil and gas companies it’s clear that the demands are extensive. And, it would appear given the challenges, expensive. However, a range of seismic changes are underway in the telecoms sector. These developments which impact both at the level of core networks and wireless interfaces, mean it’s set to become a whole lot easier and more cost efficient to acquire, manage and integrate disparate communications systems.

Network design

Internet Protocol (IP) – the technology that built the internet - is at the heart of changes to the design of communications networks. IP provides a range of open standards that ensure it’s easier and quicker to plan, build and launch communications networks. Indeed, software can now be used to connect what were once separate systems on a single communications platform.

IP-based technology is also being built into handsets. So a mobile phone becomes a device that can connect to any compatible network – not just the cellular system. The first handsets that support such flexibility are already being used; phones that provide connections to cellular coverage as well as to the Internet for voice over IP calls using Wi-Fi hubs.

Wireless interfaces

As well as changes to network cores, new or enhanced wireless interfaces are becoming available again built around Internet protocol technology. These include TETRA, wireless broadband and MESH systems:

TETRA: TETRA systems were created for the emergency services to provide a dedicated system – separate from public networks – delivering extensive coverage, reliable and secure communication. The allocation of spectrum for private users to build or rent access to TETRA systems has generated intense interest in the oil and gas market in recent years where companies similarly require robust dedicated communication networks: infrastructure that ensures the safety of field workers, delivers efficient operations (immediate and clear voice calling as well as data services), and business continuity should unforeseen incidents arise. TETRA provides an uncompromising communication platform for critical communications needs and it’s particularly being installed to oversee key locations in remote regions.

Motorola’s TETRA systems are IP based ensuring that they can be easily integrated into wider networks with satellite links to global locations.

Wireless broadband: Low cost, quickly installed and IP compatible wireless broadband systems are now coming on stream. The technology comes in two main forms – systems called WiMAX – that require licenses to operate in protected radio spectrum and, unlicensed systems. WiMAX systems will primarily be implemented by telecoms companies to flood conurbations with voice and data services. Executives will be able to access this in much the same way as they use the network of Wi-Fi points now to connect at high speeds to the internet and corporate applications while mobile. Unlicensed systems are being implemented in the oil and gas market to provide low cost, high speed connections between remote facilities.

MESH: MESH networks are primarily being used to deliver high speed data across towns and cities – often termed ‘Metro Wi-Fi’. As with WiMAX, when traveling, employees will be able to roam across MESH coverage, using their mobile devices to work as if they were in the office; connecting to email, remote applications, VoIP services and the Internet.

The implications

So what are the implications of these changes to communications technologies for the oil and gas industry? Perhaps the most important is the ability to support Seamless Mobility.

With IP devices (e.g phones and laptops) communicating with IP networks, executives will have far more connectivity freedom. They will be able to securely link to corporate networks using MESH and wireless broadband coverage where available. And when on remote sites, they will also be able to use the facility’s communications system – which is increasingly likely to be managed by TETRA – to reach colleagues on site and connect with the head office using a satellite link. The result is Seamless Mobility; where the mobile device – complete with cellular, wireless broadband, MESH and TETRA capabilities - assesses the networks available and automatically delivers the optimum service experience as users move across office locations, airports, cities and remote facilities. With this flexible connectivity, remote and mobile workers can operate as if working in a fixed office.

The technology also provides the opportunity for IT teams to reduce the multitude of devices they supply to employees to a choice of a PDA or laptop that deliver the complete array of corporate applications – reducing the costs associated with supporting the remote and mobile workforce.

Cost reductions will also be generated in network design. All IP systems make it easier to connect and manage disparate networks and we expect companies to increasingly implement a range of IP-enabled technologies to support their communications needs. A typical system profile is likely to include:

Remote locations: We expect oil and gas companies to continue to implement dedicated systems – increasingly these are likely to be TETRA based – which will connect through satellite or, where distance permits, through wireless broadband equipment to the corporate network.

Installation security: New IP MESH systems are increasingly being used to quickly and cost efficiently install systems to monitor remote equipment with wireless connectivity of status reports and video surveillance back to incident control posts.
Corporate networks: Corporate networks will provide applications and services to remote and mobile workers over a range of systems including publicly available Wi-Fi hubs, city-wide Wi-Fi and wireless broadband coverage. All communications will be securely managed using encryption technologies.

Flexible, cost efficient and productive

IP and wireless access technologies change the economics of building and maintaining systems that provide a global workforce with seamless network access. It’s easier to connect facilities through wireless communications, build dedicated coverage for a remote location, connect this with other sites and quickly and cost efficiently establish wireless systems to monitor sensitive equipment.

With multimode PDAs and laptops, employees can also travel across environments from the office to remote locations with versatile and secure connectivity putting them in touch with the applications, services and colleagues they need where and when they need them. This level of support ensures that executives wherever they’re based can make informed and efficient decisions. As companies search for strategies to reduce operating costs, advance operational efficiency and enhance agility, reviewing communications assets and assessing where wireless and IP systems can be integrated can be a highly productive process.