Aramco, Shell, Chevron & bp: Drones for Safety in Energy

The first-known unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, was created in 1916. Today, they have evolved to a point where anyone can acquire one for under US$50.

Drones have permeated many industries, and can significantly enhance operational efficiency, safety and sustainability in the energy sector.

“The advent of drones in the oil and gas industry is a game-changer,” says Khalid Y. Al-Qahtani, Senior Vice President of Engineering Services at Saudi Aramco.

Revolutionising infrastructure inspections

In the domain of energy, drones have become indispensable for the inspection of critical infrastructure like power grids and lines.

Armed with high-definition cameras, drones offer a rapid and efficient means to identify issues such as structural weaknesses, corrosion or other potential hazards on high-voltage power lines.

Similarly, drones can ascend to inspect towering wind turbines, which can soar up to 280 metres, mitigating the risk to human inspectors.

Shell, which began exploring drone possibilities in 2010, has integrated them into its regular inspection processes.

Specifically, drones autonomously survey tank farms at the Energy and Chemicals Park Rhineland, assessing tank roofs without human presence on the site.

Thomas Klein, Digital Innovation Lead at Shell, says: “Shell is highly innovative in tank roof inspections with the deployment of the automated drone solution.

"This technology can also be used for many other monitoring tasks that make these operations safer and more efficient.”

Integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence with drone technology allows for the identification of anomalies, signalling and even predicting when repairs are necessary.

This technological integration not only boosts operational efficiency but can also slash inspection costs by up to 50%, particularly in areas like solar farms.

Drones are also pivotal in the inspection of oil and gas facilities, detecting issues in a fragment of the time traditional methods would take.

Chevron made history in May 2024 when it received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to utilise uncrewed aircraft systems in airspace shared by crewed aircraft for pipeline monitoring.

As they use less fuel than traditional methods, the UAS is also a lower carbon emitting tool. 

Enhancing safety through technology

The application of drones fundamentally transforms safety protocols within the energy sector.

By employing drones for regular inspections, the risk of exposing human inspectors to hazardous conditions, such as elevated heights and toxic gases, is substantially reduced.

Drones diminish the need for physical transportation to and between offshore facilities which inherently reduces risk.

In the oil and gas industries, these robotic aids have not only cut inspection times by half but also improved overall safety and provided a 33% gain in operational efficiency.

The advanced imaging techniques employed by drones, including thermal sensors, detect risks that might elude the human eye, facilitating earlier identification and mitigation of safety hazards.

In dire circumstances, drones can provide a swift overview of the affected areas without endangering human lives, quickly detecting oil spills or gas leaks.

Aramco has been using drones since 2015, deploying ultrasonic testing drones to spot flaws or corrosion that might compromise the safety of industrial assets.

Khalid explains: “Deploying industry-leading robotics and drone applications across Aramco’s business is driving safer, cost-effective, and more efficient practices.”

Drones in data collection and analysis

Drones are not just mechanical flyers, but potent tools for massive data collection and analysis.

They can produce high-resolution maps and comprehensive timelines for various energy infrastructures employing multiple sensors, generating countless data points—data that would take humans extended periods to process manually.

Advanced software integrates artificial intelligence and machine learning, refining the data into actionable insights, thus enhancing performance and operational efficiency across the board. 

Drone data can also be used to create digital twins. LiDAR scanning can capture 3D views of infrastructure sites, improving the speed and accuracy of data collection.

This can also assist with major equipment changes.

bp has created digital twins of its production systems around the world using APEX and Microsoft Azure. 

“Modularity is at the heart of bp’s digital approach to drive an integrated set of world-class customer experiences, reduce the time to value for new products, and enable bp to create new businesses,” says Abeth Go, Vice President for Data and Analytic Platforms at bp. 

“We need to be able to mobilise very swiftly, especially when we're entering new markets. It's important that we have a modular operating model so that we can bring multidisciplinary teams together in a shared ecosystem of data assets and data products that spans the organisation.” 

bp’s Data Hub is its core data ecosystem that integrates the entire data value chain and contains digital twins.

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