At a time when turbulent economic circumstances, brought about by below par oil prices, has left operators, engineering and construction contractors, and service providers in the oil and gas industry reeling from an intense financial turmoil, stakeholders more than ever need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ in order to survive through the prevailing downturn.
Innovation needs to happen in every element of the energy sector for the industry to be able to achieve, within the perimeters of rigid financial resources, a comprehensive strategy to make every aspect of its operations efficient – something that we seek to acknowledge and reward through the ‘Technical Innovation of the Year’ category of the Oil & Gas and Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East Awards 2017.
When it comes to technical innovation, the adoption of digitalisation has by far caused a revolution of sorts in the oil and gas industry. As industrial stakeholders, beginning with owners/operators, feel the heat of financial constraints, implementation of ICT and software-based solutions seem like a viable and productive alternative to time and cost-intensive manual efforts.
From deploying digital systems for oilfield operations, to using software for geological surveys for offshore drilling, to digitising pipeline management to using 3D modelling in EPC projects and far beyond, the embracing of digitalisation is truly at the forefront of a technological upsurge in the oil and gas industry.
However, the Awards’ benchmark for recognising technical innovation in the oil and gas industry is by no means limited to just the adoption of digitalisation. Our endeavour is to identify and highlight every effort to digress from the trodden path and upgrade existing operational standards and achieve maximum productivity.
While operators need to carefully examine conventional methodologies and adopt practices that make its operations effective, EPC contractors have to revisit their traditional approaches to oil and gas contracts for the goal of delivering on-time, on-budget projects.
Similarly, oilfield services providers, devices and equipment manufacturers and other fringe suppliers need to constantly innovate to improve upon the technical elements of their offering to assist their oil and gas industry customers enhance activities through the utilisation of their products and services.
A technique that has helped an operator lower the cost of production, a certain innovative equipment from an oilfield services provider that helps the owner optimise oil output, equipment that ensures safe hoisting of personnel, a software that helps an offshore operator in precision geological mapping of reserves, encouraging results of a research initiative (which although yet to be put into practice) that would culminate in a path-breaking technology for producers to unlock tricky oil and gas reserves, digital systems that help operators avoid mobilising workers to remote areas, distinct gas treatment procedure that converts natural gas to LNG in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner, specially-manufactured protective clothing and workwear for labourers working in hazardous conditions, are all examples of the type of nominations we would welcome and consider for the ‘Technical Innovation’ award.
