
Safety is the main advantage offered by automation in any industrial sector. Without automation, operators need to be present for any kind of job, which in the oil and gas field should be avoided as much as possible due to the dangerous nature of the activities and surroundings. For example, pipeline facilities tend to be remote and in dangerous places. Sending a pair of engineers to travel for four or more hours every time maintenance is required involves danger, cost and time and trying to reduce the last two usually translates into an increased safety risk. Revenue-wise, one of the main advantages of automation is its usefulness as a well integrity tool to increase production, mainly in shale wells where production increases can reach 10 percent. These tools can also be used to increase a well’s lifecycle via monitoring and analysis to detect pressure losses.