The oil and gas sector has its own set of unique challenges. Digital twins can address many of these challenges to reduce downtime and maximize production.
Digital twin applications insights
- Digital twin technology involves the creation of virtual replicas of physical assets, systems or processes.
- Reservoir modeling is a core application of digital twins in oil and gas exploration.
- Digital twins of the drilling process from rig to wellbore, alert operators of potential risks in real time.
The oil and gas industry is one of the most essential sectors, contributing significantly to the global economy and energy needs for more than 100 years. However, the industry faces growing challenges such as fluctuating oil prices, aging infrastructure, safety concerns, environmental impact and the need for increased efficiency. As digital transformation takes center stage in addressing these challenges, digital twin technologies have emerged as a game changer for oil and gas operations.
Digital twin technology involves the creation of virtual replicas of physical assets, systems or processes. These digital counterparts are fed with real-time data through sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to replicate and simulate the performance of their physical counterparts. This allows organizations to monitor, analyze, predict and optimize their operations more effectively.
The application of digital twins in the oil and gas industry is extensive, from exploration and production to refining and transportation. Digital twins in the oil and gas industry can transform operations, improving safety, reducing costs and enhancing sustainability.
Developing digital twins for oil and gas
Data quality is never perfect. This is a harsh reality that everyone needs to take into consideration when attempting to develop any digital twin. The first step in the development process should always be to clean your data. Next, determine what is possible based on the level of cleaned data you can consistently achieve. Don’t try to boil the ocean; start small and develop something useful that provides value on an attainable level. The initial model should be easily implemented to quickly realize the potential benefits.
A common question most companies have when starting on their digital twin journey is, “How do we monetize our models?”
There are multiple applications for using digital twins beyond their initial purpose or intent. As the maturity level and adoption of these models increases within an organization, additional benefits that were not planned for in the original use case can be realized.
Here are five of the leading applications in the oil and gas industry today.
1. Upstream exploration and reservoir management
In the exploration phase, oil and gas companies aim to identify potential reservoirs, estimate the quantity of recoverable hydrocarbons and optimize drilling strategies. Digital twins can play a central role in this phase by simulating reservoir behavior and performance based on historical data combined with real-time inputs at millisecond time frames.
Reservoir modeling
Reservoir modeling is a core application of digital twins in exploration. By creating a digital twin of the reservoir, engineers can simulate the reservoir’s behavior over time, predict its response to different extraction techniques and identify the most efficient drilling plan for each well. This enables accurate assessment of a reservoir’s potential capacity, pressure distribution and fluid properties, aiding better decision making before drilling begins.
Integrating seismic data, well logs and production history with digital twins allows engineers to improve their understanding of the reservoir’s characteristics. For example, with real-time data from the sensors in wells and surrounding areas, the model can evolve and adapt on the fly, improving predictions of how the reservoir will behave under different production scenarios.
Optimize production and reduce risks
Optimizing production is perhaps the most impactful application for upstream operations. By creating a digital twin that reflects real-time conditions and production rates, engineers can remotely monitor production, detect anomalies and adjust parameters like pressure, temperature and flow rate. This drives optimization while minimizing overproduction risks and potential damage to the reservoir.
Furthermore, digital twins enable predictive maintenance of rotating equipment such as pumps and compressors. By analyzing sensor data from these assets, operators can anticipate failures and schedule maintenance before a breakdown occurs, preventing unplanned downtime, reducing repair costs and mitigating dangerous incidents.
2. Drilling operations
Drilling and well operations in the oil and gas industry are expensive, resource-intensive and complex. Digital twin technologies can streamline these operations by providing better planning, monitoring and optimization in real time.
Real-time monitoring and actionable insights
Digital twins can be used for real-time monitoring of drilling operations, providing intelligent insights into drilling parameters. This enables operators to make educated decisions on the fly, improving drilling efficiency and safety. By analyzing historical versus real-time data, digital twins can predict how the drill bit will react with the different layers of geology, improving drilling accuracy and avoiding costly mistakes.
For example, in deepwater drilling, digital twins can simulate the drilling process under various sea conditions and geological formations, providing engineers with insights into how to navigate these unique challenges. By simulating equipment degradation, digital twins help predict when equipment will fail which reduces unplanned operational downtime.
Drilling optimization
Typical challenges faced during drilling operations include stuck pipes, equipment failures and blowouts. Digital twins of the entire drilling process from rig to wellbore, alert operators of potential risks in real time. Live data from sensors on the drill bit, wellbore and surface equipment allow the digital twin to optimize drilling parameters like mud flow, torque and rate of penetration. These actionable insights minimize dangerous human mistakes and improves the overall efficiency of drilling operations.
3. Asset and infrastructure management
Oil and gas companies rely heavily on complex and valuable physical assets including pumps, compressors, pipelines, drill bits and offshore platforms. Ensuring the reliability of these assets is critical for minimizing the risk of failure and associated downtime, which most importantly improves safety throughout their lifecycle.
Predictive maintenance
Perhaps the largest benefit of digital twins in asset management is the ability to perform predictive maintenance. Sensors on physical assets provide real-time data to the model, allowing operators to monitor vibrations, temperature changes and other indicators of imminent failure. By analyzing this data, operators can predict when an asset will require maintenance or replacement, allowing them to proactively schedule service to minimize costly unplanned downtime.
Structural integrity monitoring
In addition to providing the health of equipment, digital twins can also be used to monitor the structural integrity of infrastructure such as pipelines, storage tanks and floating production platforms. Using data from sensors embedded in the structures (such as stress, strain and corrosion sensors), a digital twin can continuously monitor the health of these assets. By simulating the deterioration that these structures over time, the digital twin can predict when and where potential structural failures will occur.
This predictive capability reduces the need for extensive manual inspections in hazardous areas and increases operational efficiency.
4. Health, safety and environmental management
In an industry where safety and environmental concerns are paramount, digital twins provide significant benefits in risk assessment and mitigation. By creating digital replicas of operational systems, companies can simulate dangerous conditions and implement more effective safety protocols.
Risk assessments and hazardous events simulation
A digital twin of an oil and gas facility, such as an offshore platform or a refinery, can simulate various emergency situations, such as gas leaks or explosions. Operators can test their emergency response plans under different scenarios and identify areas for improvement. The ability to predict potential risks and evaluate mitigation strategies in a virtual environment reduces the chances of accidents in real life.
Additionally, digital twins can monitor environmental conditions in real time, including water and air quality. This helps companies ensure compliance with environmental regulations and identify any environmental hazards, such as gas leaks or oil spills, before they escalate.
5. Energy transition and sustainability
As the world moves toward a reduced carbon future, the oil and gas industry is adapting to new challenges, including lowering carbon emissions and optimizing energy efficiency. Digital twins are playing an essential role in this transition by optimizing energy usage and reducing environmental impacts.
Carbon capture solutions
Digital twins can help oil and gas companies track and reduce carbon emissions by simulating production processes and identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency. For example, digital twins of refineries can model energy consumption and emissions at each stage of the process. By analyzing this data, companies can identify areas where carbon capture technologies can be implemented to reduce emissions and improve efficiency.
Renewable energy integration
The energy industry is undergoing a major transition, causing more companies to expand their operations to include both oil and gas and renewable energy projects. Digital twins can optimize the integration of renewable energy sources and battery backup systems into the grid that oil and gas facilities utilize. For example, by simulating the performance of both solar and wind energy systems alongside traditional oil and gas operations, digital twins can help optimize the use of energy, ensuring reliability while reducing emissions.
Ways digital twins are transforming oil and gas
Digital twins are rapidly transforming the oil and gas industry by enabling more efficient, safer and sustainable operations. From exploration to asset management and environmental protection, digital twins are proving to be invaluable tools in optimizing production, reducing costs, and mitigating risks. By providing real-time insights into complex systems, they enable operators to make better decisions and improve overall operational performance. As the energy industry continues to evolve, the adoption of digital twin technologies will increase, helping oil and gas companies navigate the challenges of the future while unlocking innovation and driving sustainability.
Ross Mahler is the industry marketing manager of oil and gas and semiconductors with Moxa Americas Inc.
