(ET)
Automation and digitalisation initiatives could help the global upstream oil industry save a whopping $100 billion of their budget in the 2020s, according to a new in-depth study that says operators are likely to get help in realising these savings as service companies reinvent themselves.
“There are varying degrees of potential savings within offshore, shale and conventional onshore activity budgets, but in total, around 10 per cent of this spend can be erased through more efficient and productive operations thanks to automation and digitalization,” the study by Norway-based research firm Rystad Energy. Around 3,000 global upstream companies spent $1 trillion on operational expenditures, wells, facilities and subsea capital expenditures in 2018.
Many key industry players are setting optimistic goals, but the realization of these initiatives largely depends on how freely data is shared amongst companies and how commercial strategies are deployed to drive this development, according to Audun Martinsen, head of oilfield services research at Rystad.
