By Paul Wiseman Overwatch Solutions owner Brandon Crate likes catching perpetrators on camera. Cognite’s Global VP of Partner Success, Prabu Parthasarathy, loves consolidating and freeing corporate data from siloes. ATI’s (Automation Technology Inc.) CEO, Cooper Etheridge, is dedicated to being able to relieve pipeline pressure to avoid problems. All three employ technology to automate […]
6 ways QuickSet is changing the game in gas lift
“Closed-loop” design eliminates fugitive methane emissions and more… The QuickSet™ skid by Liftrock is an environmentally friendly control system that eliminates methane emissions from gas lift operations and delivers other key operating advantages. Here is a look at how QuickSet is changing the game in gas lift, and how operators in the Permian are benefitting. […]
Innovators
Wells and technology both get more complex. Companies are applying their best minds, and best thinking, to the task of staying up with the changes. By Paul Wiseman “Sometimes I think—me personally, or WellWorx or the industry—that we’ll run out of ways to innovate or we’ll run out of good ideas,” said Matt Raglin, founder […]
The Art of Control
By Paul Wiseman To be a Basin business and be a mere four years old and have almost 100 employees—this is not the typical track for a Permian startup of recent vintage. But at Van Zandt Controls, Larry Richards and team have focused small to grow big. The news is always full of stories of […]
The Keys to the Castle
Most cyber threats come, unintentionally, from within. By Paul Wiseman “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” Admiral Oliver Perry, September 1813 “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Walt Kelly, as quoted in a Pogo poster, April 1970 The average person receives 12 spam emails per day, totaling 4,000 per […]
I.T. is what I.T. is
In the field and in the back office, information technology, and the automation that arises from it, continues to boost efficiency. This is not your father’s automation. By Paul Wiseman For decades, oilfield automation was controlled by devices called Programmable Logic Controllers. A PLC is a small, limited function computer that controls process in […]
Keep That Data Secure
By Shanti Terry The digital world is one filled with dangers for all industries, and oil and gas is no exception. Industries that make up our nation’s critical infrastructure, like the energy sector, remain constant targets from entities outside the United States who mean to do as much harm as possible for their own gain. […]
The Digital Oilfield, Now and Forever: Sidebars
Sidebars to accompany the second installment of the Digital Oilfield. Editor’s Note: PBOG Magazine asked Lance Tolar, president of Tolar Systems Inc., to comment on how technology is transforming the oilfield. He’s done that, both in this issue and in last month’s installment of this series, but he also indicated to us that there is a tradeoff that […]
The Hands-Off Approach
Automation and remote monitoring are redefining the industry. As David Savells remarked, there is a saying in the oil and gas industry that “there is no way to recover lost production.” “If you lose two or three days of production, there is no way to make it up,” he observed. “That is why it […]