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n an increasingly fragmented world, oil and gas companies are turning to technology to solve a vast new swathe of problems. Because of this, the factors behind investment into digitalisation are changing. Report by Danielle Edwards, VP Commercial Satcom at Open Cosmos.
Where previously digitalisation made sense because it reduced costs and increased efficiency, it is now much more about adding a layer of protection against emerging risks. Whether it be an increasingly volatile climate, complex supply chains, unclear regulatory guidelines or trade restrictions, the world today is unpredictable and highly competitive. Changing by the day, these factors contribute to a general sense of growing uncertainty across the oil and gas industry.
Along with government and defence, the oil and gas industry was one of the earliest adopters of satellite technology, sitting at the cutting edge of what satellites can enable in the field. But the growing uncertainty across the industry means oil and gas companies are evaluating new innovations in space to increase their resilience.
Whilst the use of satellites is nothing new in oil and gas, the barriers to adoption remain, holding the industry back from seamlessly integrating the most modern and innovative option afforded by the latest developments in space.
Support from the sky
Today, satellites are playing an increasingly critical role in providing oil and gas companies the situational context they need to operate safely and sustainably.
Traditionally viewed solely as a means of providing communications to remote assets, satellites are now delivering a much broader set of capabilities. This could be providing highly resilient connectivity for secure communications, collecting data from thousands of IoT sensors deployed across hard-to-reach environments, understanding environmental trends through Earth observation imagery or even providing the real-time situational awareness required to keep crew safe.
In their vast scope, satellite technologies have quickly become a crucial part of how digitalisation is helping oil and gas companies respond to emerging threats like dramatic weather changes, critical remote maintenance or cyber-attacks.
However, integrating these complex, wide-ranging use cases into a single capability has proven difficult. This is because, until relatively recently, the satellite industry has operated in a vacuum of sorts. Whilst the technology solutions were innovative and advanced, they could be difficult to directly map to customer demand.
Often, separate capabilities are siloed and therefore tricky to package and integrate into existing technology stacks. The increased complexity and cost that comes along with that limitation restricts access, and many global industries still perceive the use of satellites as an expensive, niche solution, used as backup or only where there is absolutely no other options.
But things are changing. There are satellite companies working hard to shift priorities and meet customers where they are. The key here is enabling customers to overcome the barriers to entry by making it easy to integrate satellite technologies into everyday operations. And to achieve that, integration is key.
Delivering an integrated satellite offering means combining different capabilities into a single, layered architecture. If a customer needs high-speed broadband, then they can have it. If they need IoT sensors, then they can have them. If they need Earth observation images, then they can get that as well. Multiple technologies stack on top of each other, unlocking a vast swathe of new capabilities at better value.
As well as being layered, this architecture needs to be open, so that companies can easily integrate the technology into their daily operations.
On thin ice
To understand how this would work in practice, it is worth investigating a real-world scenario in the high-altitude Arctic. The Arctic polar region is one of the most ecologically fragile and climate-sensitive environments on Earth. One mistake could have catastrophic consequences. Just one leak or blowout could devastate local ecosystems in a matter of hours.
As oil and gas companies progress their digitalisation efforts, there are increasing risks of cyber-attacks. Just last year, research from IT security provider Zscaler found that ransomware attacks on the oil and gas industry had risen by a staggering 935% year-on-year.
The rapidly growing threat of ransomware is in part fuelled by digitalisation. The attack surface, or the number of points where a threat actor can hack into a system or network, has been expanded greatly by the integration of technologies like automation. So even though a new goal of digitalisation is to increase resiliency, it has also inadvertently exposed oil and gas companies to new and pervasive threats.
For an oil rig in the Arctic, a cyber breach or network blackout is more than just an IT headache, but an impending environmental disaster as it impacts processes across the site from operations monitoring, command and control, and health and safety. Satellite technology has a major role to play in ensuring digitalisation meets its goal of increasing resilience by preventing events like these, rather than exposing companies to a dangerous risk.
A new combined approach
Where this layering is already proving effective is the integration of broadband connectivity, IoT sensor networks and Earth Observation into a more unified architecture. Traditionally, these functions have been procured separately: satellite connectivity from one provider, IoT monitoring from another and Earth Observation data from a third. Bringing these functions together shortens the path between detection and response, particularly where environmental conditions change quickly, and operational decisions need to be made in near real time.
Security is one reason this unified architecture matters. Remote industrial assets often rely on public internet-facing infrastructure, VPNs or routing hardware to transmit operational data. More closed, private satellite-based architectures offer an alternative by reducing dependence on public-facing networks and limiting potential attack surfaces.
Reducing latency is also crucial. High-latitude operations have historically been constrained by the limitations of geostationary satellite coverage, which can be slow and inconsistent at northern extremes. Low Earth orbit systems offer a different model, with lower latency and more reliable coverage across polar regions, making it easier to support continuous monitoring, rapid alerts and remote interventions.
With these options in place, oil and gas operators can focus on what they do best. And whilst the benefits of this model are clear, economics and ease may still be stumbling blocks.
Meeting the industry
If the new direction of digitalisation across oil and gas is enhancing resiliency, then satellite technology has a major role to play.
But if satellite companies want to be part of that journey, then they need to map their solutions directly to the oil and gas industry's core challenges. Integrating satellite technology into everyday operations needs to be a seamless process: it cannot be siloed. Operators must be able to select the capability that suits their specific needs.
Oil and gas companies are already starting to see what satellites can offer without the barriers to adoption, and as confidence in the technology increases, the industry will become safer and more secure as a result.
