Satcoms Now an Efficient Cost Saver

As the Mexican oil and gas industry and its most prominent operators traverse the rocky oil price landscape, consolidation under a coordinated exploration and production strategy to rein in costs becomes increasingly urgent. The effective integration of daily operations requires adequate communications resources but the remote worksites that characterize the onshore and offshore settings of the sector can make these resources either prohibitively expensive or decidedly unreliable. An erroneous choice in this regard has consequences that go beyond an inability to integrate. Communications failures in any minutely planned exploration or production activity can not only represent an unacceptable security risk but also easily lead to downtime that can quickly become financially untenable.

The satellite communications technology provided by Elara Comunicaciones allows customers to drastically reduce costs, an advantage that cannot be overlooked. For more than a decade, the company has operated an internationally high-ranking teleport in Mexico that provides telecommunications coverage throughout Latin America in a concerted operative effort with various satellites and ground-level infrastructure. “Year on year, we have achieved greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness,” says Jorge Villarreal, CEO of Elara. “Satellite technology is becoming an attractive solution, especially in light of the current environment.” Remarkable developments in recent years have made the technology an efficient option for operators, he says. “Satellite communications technology as a whole has been evolving tremendously over the last few years, meaning that we can provide greater efficiency and higher bandwidth to the customer at a much more competitive price.”

Elara provides communications and networking services for Mexican wells and platforms. Its oil and gas systems implement voice and data communications over Internet Protocol (IP) and also access to File Transfer Protocol (FTP), among other services backed by its private networks connected to its teleport. Villarreal highlights the technological range of these systems: “We can deliver a seamless integration between the satellite and the rest of the technology and we connect our interoperable systems with a range of technologies, such as fiber optic and mobile networks,” he says.

Although Elara has focused its oil and gas operations on PEMEX and its contractors, Mexico’s new regulatory environment has created a spectrum of opportunities for a company that sells itself as a world-class service provider and also an insightful local player knowledgeable of conditions exclusive to the Mexican market. As Villareal points out, however, that the new regulatory environment is not limited to the provisions of the Energy Reform. The Telecommunications Reform also has allowed Elara, as a relatively small company, to move quickly in taking advantage of opportunities.

Despite new possibilities created by an increasingly multiclient environment, Villareal also wants the company to play a role in PEMEX’s modernization. “We can be an invaluable asset in optimizing its networks and ensuring it operates more efficiently. As PEMEX’s landscape begins to change dramatically, we can help it convert into a much more efficient company.” The attractiveness of satellite technology as a cost-effective option for operators seeking further integration and coordination in the pursuit of decisively more efficient operations will only increase in the coming years, Villareal says. “By 2017 we anticipate a major change in the satellite services that are available and eventually the goal is to use more powerful satellites that can transmit higher megabytes (MB) to the customer. As a result, the cost per MB will drop dramatically, by up to 50 percent in some instances, so eventually satellite connectivity will be a much more attractive option in terms of cost of bandwidth,” he says.

As these technological developments unfold, Elara’s position and expertise as a communication services provider to the Mexican oil and gas industry will continue to broaden, Villareal says. “As Elara, we have been a leader in the sector in Latin America, meaning that many service providers approach us as a platform to integrate their solutions.”