Offshore oil and gas companies: A bright spot in the global energy market

Transcription

1 ...Oil & Gas Offshore oil and gas companies: A bright spot in the global energy market ITC Global is a leading provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments. The company became a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation in 2015 and today leverages the Panasonic network to deliver high availability broadband and end-to-end managed service to oil and gas operations, mining camps, and transoceanic routes around the world. Joe Spytek, CEO of ITC Global, outlines the importance of the oil and gas sector to the satellite service industry, the range of solutions required, and the outlook for business with oil and gas companies in the years to come. Even though oil and natural gas prices have firmed up a bit in the past few months, they are still well below the peak levels of two years ago and are continuing to put downward pressure on the revenues of almost every company associated with the energy business. Satellite service providers have felt the sting as well, as drilling and production companies using satellite connectivity have scaled back their operations. Yet one sector of the business, offshore oil exploration and production, has held fairly steady through the price downturn. The entire process of obtaining exploration rights 8 oil.pmd to offshore tracts, drilling exploratory wells and perhaps starting production, takes from three to five years. Oil and gas companies working with this extended time horizon know that they have to ride out ups and downs in commodity prices. As a result, these companies have continued to push forward with many new offshore projects, especially in the Asia-Pacific region and off the coast of West Africa. One recent study found that an average of 86 new offshore oil and gas platforms begin operations every year in the Asia-Pacific region alone, bringing the current total rig count to over 1,800. At the same time, the introduction of a new generation of July/August /07/2016, 17:04

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3 ...Oil & Gas and speed of bandwidth that fits the specific needs of an oil and gas customer s operations. Designing networks for oil and gas consumers In planning the Panasonic Network, we made a 10-year projection to determine where capacity will be needed everywhere in the world for each of our vertical markets, including oil and gas. Our model segments the earth down into one-half-degree grids, and looks at time in 15-minute increments. We then planned and designed entire payloads that were launched specifically to meet our network requirements so that we could create a global fabric of coverage where it is needed. By undertaking long range planning and detailed traffic modeling, we will be able to deliver the satellite capacity and the network support when and where our customers are operating, anywhere in the world. As oil and gas organizations have become more widespread in their operations, they increasingly want to work with satellite service providers who can offer a global network and global support of that network. This is particularly true in offshore exploration and production, where rigs and support vessels are thousands of miles away from home offices. As a result of our 10-year projections, we have designed our network with global coverage concentrated in high-demand high throughput satellites (HTS) is creating the opportunity for energy ser vice providers to improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs by upgrading the communications networks at their remote sites. The HTS satellites are expected to deliver broadband service more efficiently and at a lower cost per megabyte than traditional wideband satellites. With energy customers reviewing their operating expenses and wanting more bandwidth to help automate some operations, HTS technology is getting into space at just the right time. 10 oil.pmd Oil and gas: A strong source of revenue Despite the woes facing the oil and gas business, the sector remains a strong source of revenue for the satellite industry. A recent report by the consulting firm Northern Sky Research (NSR) predicts that satellite industry revenues from global oil and gas service providers will increase from the current level of around US$800 million to nearly US$1.1 billion over the next decade. NSR estimates that by 2025, about a third of that revenue will be from service provided on HTS. These satellites, with powerful spot beams delivering up to 10 times the throughput of traditional wideband satellites, are being launched by a number of satellite operators, in both Ku and Ka frequency bands. Oil and gas customers who adopt HTS technology using Ku-band can connect to a service as it becomes available without upgrading any remote terminal equipment. Ku-band service is also less susceptible to signal degradation in rainy conditions than the competing Ka-band, an important factor for offshore operations in many parts of Asia. In selecting HTS solutions for remote locations, oil and gas customers are best served by a network linking multiple satellites from several operators, rather than a single operator offering only its own capacity. A service provider with capacity across a wide range of satellites can best deliver the amount July/August /07/2016, 17:04

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5 ...Oil & Gas areas. This is better than a one-size-fits-all platform of equally distributed global coverage, which leaves unused capacity in low-use areas and not enough in high-use regions. Oil and gas service companies also require a complete network solution across a wide range of platforms. For example, ITC Global provides service to Saipem, a Europeanbased oil field service company with 42,000 employees spread over 60 countries. The company operates two ultradeep drill ships, seven semi-submersible rigs, seven jack-up rigs, three floating storage, production, and off-loading vessels, and 40 support vessels. ITC Global provided a solution that connected all of these into the Saipem corporate network to support voice and data communications with the company s land-based offices. The benefit to the customer has been improved rig-to-rig communications, with each remote site an extension of the corporate network and private Ku and C satellite bandwidth that can be shared across the globe. Providing customized solutions Providing comprehensive communications for crews on drilling platforms and support vessels has become as critical in the oil and gas business as it is in other maritime operations. One of our customers, a leading global contractor in seabedto-surface engineering, construction and services to the offshore energy industry, is an example of organizations driving this trend. The company wanted a fully managed, custom-designed VSAT system to support crew communications for its globally dispersed vessels, with highspeed broadband for the crews separate from the company s corporate network. This separation is critical, as it protects the corporate network from significant cyber security vulnerabilities. For the customer, it was also important to have compact equipment that could be easily shipped and installed onboard. ITC Global provided fully managed hotel style Internet access on each company vessel, designing a dedicated crew network that runs on a separate stabilized antenna from the corporate network. Each crewmember has reliable access for voice, Internet and content streaming that they pay for on a flexible and secure billing platform with more than 5,600 user accounts. Having a separate network for the crew eliminated the company s frustrations of competing network priorities. Providing satellite connectivity for oil and gas customers requires a customized managed solution that takes into account individual circumstances and changing demands. We had a customer who needed a 100 percent uptime solution during cementing operations and well-completion operations offshore. To guarantee that the connection could not be lost, we set up two VSAT antennas on the rig, looking at two different satellites, connected to two different ground teleports and data centers. By teasing out the customer s requirements and working with their team, we were able to create a network that provided 100 percent customer satisfaction. Satellites will play a greater role in the oil and gas industry Even as the world seeks to develop alternative sources of energy, oil and gas will remain primary sources of fuel for many years to come. Finding new oil and gas deposits requires going further offshore, into deeper waters. Satellites will play a greater role in connecting these remote exploration and production sites, for both the ongoing operations and the welfare of the crews working the rigs and ships. Satellite service providers will satisfy their customers by delivering reliable global service and supporting that service in the most cost-efficient way possible July/August 2016