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As the upstream industry continues to delve into digital while tapping new and efficient ways to enhance efficiency, the sector’s ability to adapt to remote operations over the past year has been exceptional. When the pandemic struck, operators and service companies quickly transitioned to remote operations—and a year later, companies are using technologies that were a futuristic dream just a few years ago.

One such project was carried out by Baker Hughes, deploying remote operations digital technology to more than 200 sites across Saudi Aramco’s drilling operations in Dhahran. The project, which was completed in June, provided Saudi Aramco with a single solution covering data aggregation, real-time, unified data streaming and visualization, data management, software development services and monitoring personnel.

E&P talked to the man who led the project—Shan Jegatheeswaran, vice president of digital for Oilfield Services with Baker Hughes.

“We were able to provide a full service, one-stop shop to get the job done,” he said. “We brought together the full might of a field technician team, a digital and data team, and a team of oil and gas domain experts to build the digital experience from rig site to remote monitoring and surveillance. Having a single accountable team allowed us to deliver for Aramco in record time.”

Jegatheeswaran noted that the company’s investment in the remote operations space over the last two decades allowed them to hone a good balance between domain and digital expertise on remote operations implementations.

“Success came down to operating rigor and experience," he said. "We combined global expertise with local talent to accelerate through the learning curve of the complex implementation, which allowed for efficiencies in speed, cost and quality.”

Baker Hughes

“It’s more than a digital story—it is a story of transforming operations by combining advances in analytics and automation with an approach rooted in agility and change management.”—Shan Jegatheeswaran, Baker Hughes

Training local talent

A key focus of the project was the cross-training of local talents, for which a new digital remote center was established. 

“To support the needs of over 2,000 Aramco end users and 24/7 drilling operations, we established a dedicated center staffed by a team of software engineers, data professionals and field service technicians,” Jegatheeswaran said. “We brought in global experts for training and left behind a world-class Saudi team.”

He continued, “Our belief is we must invest in the re-skilling and upskilling of talent in our industry now—wherever in the world that happens to be. With projects like these, we’re able to train people on capabilities and skills linked to data management, system operations, analytics and industrial internet of things. These base skills will be required for people to succeed in the future as industrial operations become increasingly digital, automated and enabled with artificial intelligence [AI]. And in turn, over time, companies and employees will benefit through greater optionality on workforce roles and increased workforce agility. It’s all part of taking industry and energy forward, making it safer, cleaner and more efficient for people and the planet.”

Digital capabilities

Despite working under pandemic conditions, Baker Hughes delivered its remote operations technology deployment 50% faster than planned, Jegatheeswaran said, adding that the Baker Hughes team made more than 400 onshore and offshore trips covering 350,000 km to install rig-site edge devices and integrate data streaming, monitoring and visualization capabilities into Aramco’s existing digital infrastructure.

The remote deployment was delivered using the WellLink application, which provided several benefits building on Aramco’s current digital capabilities:

  1. Remote monitoring personnel receive faster, higher quality, standardized, real-time data delivered through a modern user experience, enabling enhanced well monitoring and management.
  2. Field-based personnel have access to a unified view of wellsite operations from all providers on location, enabling effective and proactive mitigation of drilling hazards.
  3. Office-based personnel have easy access to current and historical well data for quick visualization and benchmarking, enabling proactive operations management with a direct line to the well site.

Jegatheeswaran said a key success factor of the project was that Aramco made the strategic decision to unify data from all its active drilling locations. 

“This unlocks a very valuable data stream, that when combined with a robust data quality and change management program, leads to improvement in operational performance," he said. "As we deployed WellLink RT, we focused on enhancing data standards, data quality control and optimizing data latency in order to stream data from hundreds of wells simultaneously. This enables real-time collaboration between field personnel and centralized experts on critical operational decisions related to reservoir navigation, wellbore quality or even early declaration of terminal depth."

In addition, a consistent, high-quality data stream empowers other internal applications and analytics as well as supports efforts in areas like automation and AI as part of Aramco’s overall objectives.

Looking ahead

“Our focus is on working with customers, like Aramco, to reimagine core concepts such as data streaming, data quality and data governance, but then also to apply a lens of oil and gas domain reality,” Jegatheeswaran said. “It’s more than a digital story—it is a story of transforming operations by combining advances in analytics and automation with an approach rooted in agility and change management. The future is promising. There is an air of innovation that we are excited to see and our investments in remote operations, advanced analytics and data management reflect that.”