Overcoming Oil and Gas Communications Challenges with Industrial Cellular Routers

Exploration and Production

Unplanned downtime at oil and well pads could lead to a significant loss of revenue and reduced overall asset profitability. To an operator, rig downtime results in lost revenue, added drilling costs and missed deadlines. The contractor suffers increased repair costs, financial penalties and reputational damage. Investing in real-time monitoring can make a dramatic difference.

Digi solutions support Ethernet, serial, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections and come in a range of speeds, from LTE Cat 4 to Cat 11.

• Gain real-time visibility: With real-time access to operations data, find emerging issues before they cause downtime
• Improve efficiency: Proactively detect issues and plan maintenance to support uptime and reduce operating costs
• Safety and site visits: Reduce costs and increase worker safety by remotely checking equipment status Reduce shutdowns: Maintain revenue projections by reducing unplanned shutdowns
• Minimize well maintenance cost: With real-time monitoring, operators can improve planning through preventative maintenance

Advanced Script Automation to Control Water Tank Levels at a Fracking Site

Using a Digi IX30 router and a level sensor, the customer deploys a Python script to automate pump activity. The script parses through sensor data in real time, activating the pump when it discovers critical threshold data. By automating the pump operation, the operations team:

• Activates critical pump operation more quickly
• Reduces data transmission costs by parsing only exception data

Running Automation Software in Digi Containers at a Well Pad Site

At a well pad site, the customer deploys a Digi IX40 router attached to a programmable logic controller to collect SCADA information. By running edge software in a lightweight Linux container (via Digi Containers, a valueadded service), the team drives considerable time and cost savings:

• By replacing a cellular router and an industrial PC with a Digi IX40 router, the team cuts thousands of dollars in extra equipment costs

Reduce Safety Risks

Fires, leaks, spills, and hazards caused by excessive pressure, vibrations and other conditions create significant safety risks for workers and remote operations. That’s why predictive analytics using near real-time data matters.

With the C1D2-certified Digi IX30 solution, operators can reliably monitor and manage all the disparate equipment and processes remotely and automatically, lowering the risk of injury or environmental damage.

The Colonial Pipeline is the largest refined oil pipeline in the U.S. and carries around three million barrels of oil each day between Texas and New York. But on May 7, 2021, the pipeline was targeted by a ransomware cyberattack that halted operations for almost a week, affecting thousands of gas stations.

Digi oil and gas solutions work great for pipelines, supplying reliable, hardened, secure connectivity across all your operations. Digi technology includes built-in security to help operators collect data and automate processes, with assurance that the data is secure from cyberattacks across the OT network.

Digi oil and gas solutions can be used to provide communications to assets and people over private cellular networks at refineries. Running fiber or cable can cost thousands of dollars. Private 4G/5G communications substantially reduce communications costs. 

Digi routers with edge applications can provide communications for asset monitoring of critical equipment like pumps, as well as turnaround trailers and workers during turnaround events. Digi routers can make it easy to install additional security equipment like video cameras and access control systems.