The energy industry is a seemingly nonstop engine (or drill) of innovation, extracting oil and natural gas in specific locations – and by all manner of ways – once deemed impossible. But these advances below ground, no doubt a triumph of engineering and technology, may soon pale before the strides above ground: The aerial mastery of the sky, providing energy workers and executives with a new view of the entire landscape; the derricks and offshore platforms, as well as the men and machinery, responsible for making this vast apparatus of gears, pumps, valves and systems operate seamlessly.
This milestone is important because drones will transform the energy industry across a multitude of categories, from improving safety and troubleshooting potential mechanical problems to surveying areas otherwise inaccessible to people in the field.
That material, controlled and delivered to you anywhere around the globe, will result in substantial savings (from reduced travel and insurance costs involved with sending workers to remote job sites) and greater real-time intelligence about critical projects vulnerable to delays or mechanical problems.
I write of what I know, as both a student of the energy industry and as a supporter of the use of drones for a variety of businesses.
Indeed, the upcoming (May1-3) Drones, Data X Conference in Santa Cruz, California, is a testament to the international popularity of drones for a diverse array of commercial interests.
I plan to attend this three-day event because the crossover appeal of drones has significant relevance to the energy industry.
For example: Given the personal dangers that are an inevitable part of energy exploration – not for nothing do we equip workers with safety gloves and glasses, and fire retardant boots and jackets –accidents do and will continue to occur.
Minimizing these risks is a priority, but, where conventional measures may as well be pointless (like awaiting urgent care from a medical flotilla while a roughneck is on the brink of death), drones can be the lifesaving resource that increases safety for a traditionally hazardous profession.
In the case of that injured roughneck, who may have suffered a heart attack, a drone carrying a defibrillator can be dispatched to land next to him – on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico, or off the California Coast, or in more treacherous waters in the Atlantic – as a coworker, speaking with a doctor, restarts the patient’s heart before a Coast Guard cutter or helicopter arrives.
Those critical seconds or minutes are just that: The moment when a person is close to death, unless someone can stabilize him as emergency personnel are en route to a distant, makeshift village or excavation site to render additional care.
That safety principle also extends to equipment in general.
Coming back to my earlier comment about vision – that a drone can focus on specific spots, where, for instance, it is too difficult for a worker to inspect a gauge or meter – this perspective can spare an entire crew from a possible explosion or sudden release of steam and chemicals, causing third-degree burns or worse.
Picture a drone stationed parallel to piping, approximately 400 feet above sea level, relaying (in real-time) high-resolution video of a leak or fractured valve. That apparently deceptive fissure could, in fact, be a prelude to a breakdown in operations, the expulsion of toxic chemicals and an inescapable cauldron for workers.
An energy executive can, based on this intelligence, evacuate his employees before a potential disaster ensues.
Drones are the newest hardware in an industry known for its pioneering spirit.
They are the ally of safety, and the enabler of safer energy exploration.
Lewis Fein is a writer and technology enthusiast. Based in Southern California, he can be reached at feinlewis@gmail.com.
