Any conversation with a corporate IT or cybersecurity person very quickly includes the phrase “It’s not if, but when and how bad” when the topic is the likelihood of being hacked. Employing good security measures in hardware, software, and the most important factor—people—does provide great protection. But, like Luke Skywalker slipping a bomb into a […]
Cybertech’s New Norm
As the principal adversary hunter at Dragos, Joe Slowik is tasked with finding, tracking, and deleting malicious actors. Having seen firsthand the havoc that industrial control system adversaries can wreak on organizations both large and small, Slowik does not mince words: the threats and risks are real and potentially life threatening—i.e., sabotage of worksite safety […]
Shrinking the Footprint
The business of environmental services keeps evolving into something more akin to a real business function, and less like an onerous duty. The trend is driven partly by conscience and partly by receptivity to change. The days in which “environmental” was a dirty word in the oil patch are long gone, say the experts. More […]
Automation Gets in Gear
The steps-saving discipline that is automation keeps expanding its realm. From a service company’s back office to a producer’s onsite operations to injection chemicals at remote locations—and far beyond—automation continues to spread its ability to streamline and inform oil patch operations. Innovators in those three areas share their expertise. By Paul Wiseman Transparency and Accountability […]
Machine Learning—a New Frontier in I.T.
By Paul Wiseman It seemed like a great idea at first. There’s all this data being aggregated from thousands of wells—why doesn’t someone set up some parameters for pumps, tanks, pipelines, and anything else that can exude data—then computers can send alarms to alert managers and field personnel any time there’s a problem! Very […]
IIoT Meets O&G
Can technology make $20 oil profitable? Technology-based improvements in time efficiency have already made oil production at least sustainable at $50 per barrel. Could further improvements drop the break-even level to even lower prices? Firms who are leaping forward to fully embrace oilfield technology—both providers and end-users—point out that the “old ways” of doing […]
I.T. Meets Oil: And Nothing Stays the Same
The oilfield’s IT revolution is streamlining operations and connecting the field with the back office like never before. These connections are changing the corporate culture for the better. by Paul Wiseman For the better part of a century field personnel have been chastised and glared at, if not outright berated, by office personnel seeking […]
iTankData Announces First Mobile App to Manage Oil Field Operations
iTankData Announces First Mobile App to Manage Oil Field Operations, to be rolled out at Permian Basin International Oil Show (PBIOS), October 18-20 “This mobile app allows operators to monitor production specific to leases and pumper staff. By 7am each day, supervisors can direct field crew based on the current status of crude oil production […]
Space Recon
Emiliano Kargieman has big plans for Satellogic that involve launching a constellation of 300 satellites, and the Permian Basin could be a primary benefactor. Al Pickett, special contributor When I was a youngster, I remember visiting my grandfather on his farm and seeing a plane flying low over a pasture near his house. He […]
The Hands-Off Approach
by Paul Wiseman The integration of man and machine has fired the imaginations of science fiction writers for over a century, promoting both wonder and fear. Now, automation is changing the landscape of the oilfield, allowing the click of a mouse or a thumb on a touchscreen to start or stop pumps, sort data, […]