AUTOMATION: A BOON OR A BANE

Current Scenario:

 ExxonMobil is working with MIT to design a design a robot for ocean exploration.
 Shell has launched AI assistants (Emma and Ethan) for its customers.
 Sinopec boasts a long-term plan to roll out construction of 10 intelligent plants with a
goal of a 20 percent reduction in operation costs.
 Total held competition known as ARGOS challenge.
 Gazproom has collaborated with Yandex for development of AI in drilling and
planning.
Boon

Thanks to advancements like deep learning, automation is proving itself more adept than
humans at diagnostics and analysis. Automated functions are quickly becoming as qualified as
humans when it comes to logic-based tasks, and as machines become smarter and more
capable, they will continue to assume these types of roles in virtually every field, from
accounting to transportation to Information technology to security.

O&G industry has been very late in adopting the advancements in automation due to several
reasons, but today, it is the need of the hour to optimize production due to collapsing economy.
Automation itself and automation combined with AI can bring revolutionary changes in the
industry which and save millions of dollars by saving downtime, optimizing production etc.

First, automation can do the labour work which are repetitive and monotonous e.g. roughneck
making joints of drillpipe. This will firstly, make the job more efficient and will be economic. This
will also solve the problem of workplace safety as the labour can be utilized at a safer place.

Second, the use of automation integrated with Artificial Neural Networks and fuzzy logic
reasoning, we can optimize production. This can be done with the help of data mining, fuzzy
logic theories, and artificial neural network to automate and design Surrogate Reservoir Models
(SRM) which will optimize production. In this AI can provide decision support and automated
decision making.

Third, Robotic Drilling System (RDS) are being designed to work in extreme conditions like
arctic ExxonMobil is making robotic rovers which can work in extreme environment where
human presence is very difficult.

Fourth, downtime can be reduced as AI assisted automation can predict machine failures by
recognizing the vibrations made by machinery. Kick detection can be made in early stages
using automated data mining.

Fifth, automation can help in exploration by using robotic transmitters and receivers, this can
do the monotonous work and the data can be made available to the cloud and with the help
of data mining, this data can be utilized by the geologists and geophysicists all across the
globe.
Overall, there are many areas in Oil and Gas industry from Exploration and production to the
sales and marketing, where automation can play a significant role in easing the human work
by

 Saving time

 Saving labour cost

 Providing safety

 Provide assistance in decision making

This will make the workplace safer for workers, save downtime and labour which will in turn
save money which can be utilized in other fields etc.

Bane:

No matter how much leap we have taken in the field of artificial intelligence and automation
of processes but we are so not ready for it to take dangerous jobs in fields. Elon Musk, CEO of
Tesla decided to fully automate the manufacturing line of model 3 to meet the manufacturing
goals but the machines were not ready for the future where they can build a machine, a two-
month shutdown forced tesla to stop that plant for making automation changes.

Now the question comes is automation bad, it’s said artificial intelligent robots are ready to
handle dangerous jobs but every job has three main parts:

1. To do the work correctly

2. To take care of itself

3. To take care of its environment

Let’s understand this with an example of cleaning robot, it has to clean the room perfectly not
leaving dust behind and while doing this it has to make sure it doesn’t bump into any vase
which in turn can spill water on it and make it useless.

Now, are we that ready with automation answer is no, not only is AI still not compatible with
the environment, it still has way to go to learn to do complex operations like adding a drill
pipe which if done wrong can damage the automating machine itself.

Moreover, increasing cases of AI experiments are a hint of an inevitable future and one of the
main drawback is there is no one on the behalf of AI or automation machines who can take
the blame for the lives lost due to their malfunctioning.