(Newswire.net — January 23, 2016) — After a lackluster year for the oil industry, the New Year isn’t shaping up to be much better. Add
to that a subpar Loonie and it’s no surprise a recent NANOS poll conducted by the Globe and Mail found that the majority of Canadians are worried about the economy. “44 percent of respondents expected the Canadian economy to be weaker this year compared with 2015, while only 19 percent thought it would be stronger,” the accompanying news report concluded.
Analysts remain pessimistic that crude oil prices will recover after crashing last year, an opinion that is leading many oil industry experts and insiders to believe that the time is ripe for innovation in the oil field. Nav Dhunay, an Alberta based tech entrepreneur, knows the economy of his province is heavily linked to the oil industry, which is why his latest tech startup, Ambyint, is focusing on uniting the Internet of Things with the oil sector. “[Ambyint’s] technologies are harnessing the power of Big Data, the IoT and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to increase sustainability and enhance production efficiency [in the oil and gas sector],” explained Nav Dhunay.
Ambyint’s latest innovation, The AmbyControl IoT Bridge, can be retrofitted easily into existing oil well management systems and is designed to log and monitor performance data across each individual system. The data is then integrated into the Ambyint platform, where it is interpreted and analyzed using proprietary algorithms developed by the company.
“Our IoT Bridge technology allows all well managers around the clock, real-time information on all of their oil producing assets, and enables oil producers to benefit from the power of the Ambyint even if they are currently working with competing well management solutions,” said Nav Dhunay.
While Ambyint is dedicated to optimizing performance and output, an American company aims at reducing oil well emissions and energy costs with their own innovation. Glasspoint Solar manufactures and installs solar steam generators for the worldwide oil and gas industry. The energy generated by the solar steam can fuel drilling machinery and a host of other mechanical equipment used in the oil extraction process.
As Glasspoint Solar president Rod MacGregor explained, solar steam is also beneficial in the actual extraction process, saying “There’s a reason we want to inject steam into an oil well… the oil we are trying to produce is incredibly thick and viscous. The steam heats the oil up, the viscosity drops, and now it can be pumped more easily to the surface.”
Glasspoint Solar is currently working on a solar field in Oman, a country that uses almost a quarter of its natural gas supply on oil extraction. This is a number that Glasspoint hopes to reduce greatly. “You can imagine that if 80 percent of that was now provided by solar, then that gas could be used for much higher-value purposes,” MacGregor noted.
The innovations at Ambyint and Glasspoint won’t solve all the oil and gas industries problems. However, they are allowing the industry to harness the power of technology in order to become more sustainable, efficient and environmentally friendly.