The global oil industry has taken a hard knock in recent years, specifically since 2014 when oil prices started falling at a drastic rate due to various internal and external drivers. This has led industry players to seek ways to reduce costs within their infrastructure and generate even more revenue streams than before from their existing assets to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive industry. However, reducing costs in the oil field while ensuring that production quality and operational efficiency are maintained to the highest standard has proved a challenging task, especially for those companies that deliver the majority of their services via satellite- based networks, a technology known to be very costly and difficult to scale efficiently.

The key obstacles that typically hinder the implementation of robust networks in oil fields are related to the harsh environment and the remoteness of oil wells and operating bases. At a time when new mass-market technologies such as artificial intelligence, drones used for faster deliveries to the consumer and voice-operated personal assistants are being introduced, there is still a major digital divide between communities located in rural areas and those in urban ones, especially when it comes to connectivity.

Many energy companies consider deploying fiberoptic networks to improve connectivity but soon discover not only how costly implementing such a technology is but also the difficulty of implementing it in harsh landscapes and isolated areas. Despite major technology breakthroughs over the years, laying the ducts required for fiber networks requires a huge amount of costly civil engineering, and projects are subject to long delays when dealing with adverse climate conditions.

Going wireless

The implementation of a wireless network mitigates the issue of cost and laying cables since wireless systems are comparatively cheaper than their cable counterparts. Instead of the tedious task of laying miles of cables between the sites, wireless base stations, access points and remote terminals can all be deployed relatively quickly to transmit all types of internet protocol (IP) streams such as video, plain data, voice over IP, etc., across vast distances.

Many innovative wireless companies are constantly working to improve the distances they can cover with their various wireless solutions, increasing each individual unit’s range and at the same time reducing the need for multiple repeater stations. For example, Facebook is working on an initiative in India to use wireless hot spots to connect and bring millions online. The village of Linefork in Kentucky is deploying its own broadband network because its previous satellite network was too unreliable, and the EU is pushing ahead with its plans to deliver high-quality wireless internet access to all Europeans and enterprises living and operating in rural areas by 2020.

One relevant example of a complete wireless solution recently deployed in an oil field is the platform implemented for AxURE Technologies S.A., a Colombian company that provides integrated telecommunications solutions and services to more than 85% of the petroleum industry in eastern Colombia. The technology consisted of InfiNet Wireless’ Point-to-Point and wireless Point-to-Multipoint technologies and ultimately enabled all three oil fields to seamlessly connect their main sites with all of their deepwater drilling locations. This new platform allowed full access to all of the remote exploration facilities and field sensors and also offered much greater network stability compared to the previous satellite-based infrastructure.

The new wireless platform’s ease of integration with the legacy systems proved to be a far more cost-effective tool than the previous platform, avoiding the need for an entirely new infrastructure to be created. In turn, this has enabled AxURE to significantly reduce its operational costs and those of its own customers while at the same time delivering brand new services to all subscriber terminals wherever they are located.

Looking forward

Robust and reliable communication in remote oil fields that span hundreds of square miles isn’t just desirable; it is a must and is central to the safety of those working in the potentially hazardous environments normally associated with this industry. Field teams are often operating in extreme temperatures and challenging conditions, so the network they rely on for their tasks must be highly reliable to enable them to communicate effectively, especially when faced with potential emergencies and disasters. The consequences of bad connectivity in these environments isn’t just lost valuable time.

In the past wireless networks were often too complex and difficult to integrate with legacy systems due to their proprietary nature. The IP protocol, however, has changed this significantly, making it a lot easier to not only deploy new and cost-effective wireless networks much more quickly than cabled infrastructures but also to cover large geographical areas.

In the harsh landscapes and isolated areas of oil fields, wireless communication solutions can provide reliable high-capacity connectivity that is scalable enough to cater to today’s requirements as well as future expansions. As energy companies of all types continue to look for ways to keep their wellheads and remote locations connected 24/7 while keeping their operational costs down, they are looking to wireless solutions as alternatives to satellites and cable-based wide area networks.

Kamal Mokrani, InfiNet Wireless for E&P Magazine 

Photo caption: Workers install a wireless system that is allowing access to all of the remote exploration facilities and field sensors and also offers much greater network stability compared to the previous satellite-based infrastructure.