Decarbonisation Technology - February 2024 Issue

decarbonisation in the oil and gas industry. Automated and digitalised operations are simply more efficient. Automated processes can run with fewer manual steps, require less staffing, and may be operated remotely. Digitalised operations make data available for enhanced decision-making from the facility to the enterprise level. Digital operations can capture energy usage, monitor assets to predict production issues, as well as prevent upsets and their associated emissions. However, automated and digitalised operations can do more than support and optimise existing processes – they can unlock entirely new business value to significantly reduce emissions across the enterprise. “ Automated and digitalised operations are simply more efficient. Automated processes can run with fewer manual steps, require less staffing, and may be operated remotely ” Integrating digital platforms within existing and future facilities can move operations from manual to autonomous. Oil and gas producers will benefit from less manual or, in some cases, unstaffed site operations. Autonomous operations will first require reliable and secure connectivity to a remote operations centre for decision support. Remote autonomous operations will require self-diagnostic assets that can monitor and even adjust to changing process conditions on their own. Emissions measurement tools For companies to manage their carbon footprint, they must first measure it. Specifically, they need to measure their Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions. By measuring their emission sources, companies can establish emission baselines by asset or facility to identify strategies and investments that make the biggest emissions- reducing impact. Emissions measurement is also essential to accountability. Companies need accurate emissions data to track how they are performing against their emissions-

reduction targets and report progress to key stakeholders, including management, investors, and government regulators. Modern automation platforms connect to edge devices and process data like burner temperatures, fuel consumption, and flaring models to accurately quantify a site’s carbon footprint. Companies may need to unlock this data and develop ‘energy consumption models’ for reporting. In some cases, the data can be made available by using totalisers in the control system code to quantify energy data for reporting. Of course, individual data points alone do not tell a complete story. The data collected from processes may require data from multiple sources and needs to be organised and contextualised into meaningful information across the enterprise. This is only possible if the right digital platforms are in place. A key to capturing and orchestrating a company’s data at the enterprise level is leveraging open, high-speed communications protocols such as EtherNet/IP and OPC UA. These protocols or connectors establish unified data taxonomies to egress large amounts of process data into a unified digital platform. Not all automation systems use these protocols, so some companies may need to modernise their automation systems or build interfaces or extractors to collect the process data; otherwise, they risk isolating it. Once these data highways are in place, information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) teams can work together to establish the carbon footprint at the enterprise level. Cloud computing technology is another key component of digitisation. It provides a central platform for collecting, organising, and reporting data and sets a company up for a potential future shift to remote operations. The cloud also offers inherent sustainability benefits because it allows a company to share a portion of a third- party cloud infrastructure rather than building, running, and maintaining that infrastructure on its own. Importance of cybersecurity To leverage the cloud, robust cybersecurity is also essential. As oil and gas companies shift from hardwired to digitally connected systems,