June 2014

By Greg Hale, Industrial Safety and Security Source

Attendees and exhibitors at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2014 in Houston in early May talked about all issues related to the booming oil and gas market, but at the end of the day, safety and security always ended up a main topic of conversation. And it needs to be.

For good reason as users fret about their hundreds of millions, if not billion, dollar investment and want to keep their platforms up and running so they can make as much product, and profit, as possible. Being able to communicate from the well head all the way through to the enterprise – through disparate systems — remains a vital concern for…

By Steve Sponseller, Kepware Technologies

Most of the general public is unaware that there is an automation revolution happening in the exploration and drilling segment of the Oil & Gas Industry. Like most automation endeavors, this revolution is being driven by the demand for improved efficiency, accurate reporting, and escalated safety requirements.

The fast-paced drilling taking place in current shale gas exploration and production sites requires improved process efficiency. Shale gas is a revolution in and of itself, with promises of lower energy costs and less carbon dioxide emissions than traditional hydrocarbon energy sources. Improved efficiency demands are a result of the wide geographic spread of shale plays and the need for multiple wells to drill and frack in order to tap into the gas that is trapped in the shale rock. Companies are also performing advanced analytics on their drilling operations, which allows them to predict…