| | OCTOBER 20158CIOReviewBy Ben Wilson, Chief Information Technology Officer, GE Oil & Gas.It is no secret the oil and gas industry is facing into some strong headwinds. A perennially low oil price, high workforce turnover, safety considerations and the difficulties associated with managing multiple fleets are all making life harder and more fraught for the sector, as well as keeping executives up at night.Many of these problems are deep-rooted and have built up over time with no easy solutions. But the pace of technological innovation and specifically the rise of the Industrial Internet offer more than a glimmer of hope for a more productive industry. At the heart of this exciting phenomenon is the Industrial Internet ­ the name given to the digital integration of physical machinery and processes with networked sensors and software ­ which is revolutionizing businesses and redefining the operational landscape.By drawing on technological advances in fields as diverse as big data, processing power and automation, the Industrial Internet offers multinational companies unique opportunities to navigate complex terrain, optimize their assets, increase productivity and vastly enhance the overall performance of their businesses. It also helps keep workers informed and up to speed, allowing them to do their jobs more easily, efficiently and safely, with real-time feedback and data analytics driving up standards.For these reasons the Industrial Internet has the potential to transform the oil and gas industry and allow it to be resilient during this challenging time. The financial pressures caused by depressed oil prices and ageing infrastructure, coupled with the challenges of high industry retirement rates that arise from an ageing workforce, and the global issue of employees working in silos across different hubs and locations, are requiring oil and gas companies to build in additional flexibility and aim for lower operational costs.The Industrial Internet provides the tools to allow them to do this and to maintain profitability despite the bleak backdrop. Companies are not seriously considering the benefits of integrated systems and digital collaboration risk being left behind.Worldwide, there are currently more than 100,000 pieces of turbo machinery, one million pieces of artificial lift equipment and approximately two million miles of pipeline generating peta bytes of data each year. To give you some idea of the sheer quantity of information produced by that network, GE estimates that for every 30,000 miles of pipeline 17 terabytes of data is generated ­ more than the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress.It has been estimated that by analysing all of this data, oil and gas companies can boost production by six to eight percent ­a staggering statistic which, if realised, would represent a momentous leap forward. It was clear to us that the industry desperately needed new technology and computer programs that could harvest this data and process it at lightning-quick speed. There has always been demand for new technologies that prevent incidents, enable businesses to be more agile and Ben WilsonOpinionn MyThe Power of Programmers: Productivity in Oil & Gas
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