The quest for efficiency, safety and compliance is the strategic focus of any highly complex industry. At the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Rio de Janeiro, we had access to crucial insights into the future of the sector in the Pix Force Podcast, recorded during the event.
In a conversation with Simão Silva, Oceaneering’s Country Manager in Brazil, we talked about how the Oil & Gas sector balances the need to innovate with disruptive technologies and, at the same time, guarantee the operational efficiency of its activities.
Conteúdo
Oceaneering’s Innovation Model
Oceaneering has adopted a cutting-edge strategy, positioning itself as a Technology Delivery Company. Its innovation philosophy is clear and customer-focused, as Simao himself comments:
“Our number one priority is not to make art, it’s not to do research. We do a bit so that [Oceaneering] remains at the forefront of technology… But our main objective today is to identify technologies that are on the market and can be added to our portfolio and that increase the generation of value for our end customer.”
Oceaneering’s innovation model is based on partnerships, seeking out companies that can develop the technology, and focusing on execution and service provision.
The Digital Twin
The future of safety and inspection is focused on removing the human factor from high-risk environments. Oceaneering exemplifies this strategy with the acquisition of GeoSLAM.
The central insight of this technology is the creation of the “Digital Twin” by scanning the real asset, not just the drawing, recognizing the changes that occur over 10 to 40 years of operation.
This technology points directly to the future, with a focus on having fewer people in risky areas.
“In the not-too-distant future, you won’t need to have people running all over the platform scanning… You’ll have a robot walking around the platform… And then you’ll have a person who will only look at the anomaly. So you manage based on the exception and no longer manage based on inspecting the whole package…” – Simao Silva.
AI’s impact on workers’ daily lives
The impact of Artificial Intelligence and robotics on the workplace is already tangible and translates into a clear ROI.
An internal Oceaneering case illustrates the acceleration of processes: two engineers used to spend a whole month manually reviewing offshore reports. One of them created an automation for checking deviations, reducing the work time to just 30 minutes.
AI eliminates manual inspection and frees up staff to focus on more strategic actions.
The conclusion is market expansion: technology creates new opportunities in all markets, causing these sectors and their technologies to expand.
The Dilemma of Innovation in Oil and Gas
Brazil stands out globally for its potential for developing technology. The Oil & Gas sector is driven by an innovation engine on a monumental scale, about which Simao comments as follows:
“There is an investment fund that is promoted by the ANP through regulation, which obliges oil and gas producing companies to dedicate part of this money and 1% of their net profit to research funds. And today this money amounts to approximately 3 billion dollars a year available to the industry.”
Despite the magnitude of the capital, Oceaneering points to the challenges of access. Most of this capital is directed to universities, while the problems that require R&D investment begin in the operation.
“The nice thing is that I think Brazil fits in very well at the intersection of these three points. So, despite this, we still don’t develop a lot of technology in Brazil because of the bureaucratic obstacles to accessing this technological [fund].” – Simao Silva, Brazil Country Manager at Oceaneering.
Solution to a Real Problem
Simão Silva concludes the conversation with a powerful thought that should guide any B2B technology company: avoid developing products that don’t solve a real industry problem.
“I can see that countless operators in Brazil and around the world have developed technologies that are useless… they have zero practical commercial application.”
According to Silva, the focus should be on eliminating concrete pains:
“The first thing to think about is the problem I’m trying to solve and, based on that, build your case for developing a solution to eliminate a problem that will generate value for the industry…”
The insight that remains is that innovation is about developing solutions that solve real problems and generate measurable value for operations, rather than just chasing the latest trends.
Conclusion: The way forward for the industry
Oceaneering’s vision provides a clear road map for B2B technology in Brazil: successful innovation is that which solves a customer problem and generates practical and economic value.
Pix Force, with AI and Computer Vision solutions, is fully aligned with this vision: to optimize safety deviation inspections and increase the safety of operations.
Watch the full episode on YouTube.
Want to know more about Pix Force’s solutions? Get in touch using the form on the website.
