Industry Forecasts Increase in Robots, BP Poll Reveals

BP poll shows delegates at SPE Intelligent Energy International 2013 believe more robots will be deployed in production in next 15 years

Oil and gas industry professionals believe that robots will be deployed at scale across the production industry in the next 15 years, according to a poll conducted today at the SPE Intelligent Energy International 2013 exhibition in Dubai. 95% of participants said more robots would be deployed while 5% disagreed.

The poll was conducted by BP on the second day of IE2013, which is expected to attract more than 2,000 business leaders and senior engineering professionals from across the world.

At the event, under the theme empowered by realtime integrated data, BP is drawing on its experiences from its Field of the Future® programme to review the progress of oilfield digitalisation to date and encourage debate on how the industry will develop going forward.

It is now more than 10 years since the Field of the Future® concept was established by BP to improve decision-making through realtime data-to-decision capabilities in production, operations and reservoir management. Over that time, the Field of the Future® flagship has developed expertise in a range of disciplines including advanced remote surveillance, the handling and analysis of realtime data, remote well operations and downhole and subsea sensors.

Steve Roberts, Vice President of the Field of the Future® technology flagship, BP, said: "The question of the extent of robotics deployment is extremely interesting and the delegates here are telling us that they expect to see more in use in the years ahead as a progression of the digital oilfield concept."

BP is conducting three delegate polls this week, one for each full day of IE2013. Delegates were asked yesterday to vote on whether implementing realtime "Big Data" analytics will be the next challenge for digital oilfield implementation. Tomorrow they will be asked if the digital generation will enable emerging technologies to optimise production and enhance safety management. To participate in the polls, visit BP at the visitor lounge B20.