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Under the Spotlight, the Energy Industry Leans on Wireless to Make It More Efficient, Safer

By Holt Hackney, Managing Editor

Whether in the field or at the plant, employees of energy companies are increasingly a scattered workforce. For example, in the petroleum refinery industry, being able to reliably communicate is critical to making important on-the-spot decisions about better and faster ways to move the product from the ground to a refined state.

“You don’t realize how much you rely on wireless devices until you face the kind of demand that we have today,” a field manager recently told Today’s Wireless World. “Our ability to reliably communicate has contributed to double-digit improvements in our efficiency.”

The industry is rife with examples, such as the ability to immediately assess the need for additional workers and then communicate that need, or to quickly report equipment problems in order to minimize downtime.

Wireless communications systems also make for a safer environment to work. For example, Motorola manufactures cellular phones for use in flammable environments—phones that eliminate the kind of spark that could potentially ignite chemicals and gases. Today, most wireless products that are used in these plants must be FM (factory mutual), a.k.a., “intrinsically safe.”

The combined need for increased efficiency and improved safety will be even more critical in the future, given that the U.S. Congress is currently considering redefining some of the environmental rules that regulate the energy industry. The EPA, for example, enforces regulations which require these plants to perform shutdowns and outages. Other environmental-related projects that come under the shutdown/outage process include wastewater treatment systems, air pollution control, hazardous air pollutant reduction programs, hydrogen sulfide level reductions, newer emission control systems, and FCCU flue gas scrubbers.

In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this summer, by a 238 to 179 vote, which is designed to facilitate refinery permit processing. The bill now goes to the Senate. This bill would reduce the time to obtain environmental and other approvals to expand existing plants and build new ones without compromising community protections.

The stakes are high, as there are more than 600 active projects, presently valued at $26 billion, for North America in just the oil refining industries alone. Reliable wireless communications systems will be critical to adapting to any new regulations and managing that growth. And such wireless systems will be critical on the exploration side of the business as well. If the energy industry is permitted to find and leverage new resources, doing so in an efficient and safe manner will lead to cost-effective products.

Whether the improved efficiency occurs in the refinery or the field, the beneficiaries will be the energy industry as a whole, as well as the end user. Ultimately, the U.S. economy may the real winner.

For more information or to learn how organizations like yours have been able to improve their operations through the use of wireless technologies, contact BearCom today at Energy@BearCom.com or 800.527.1670, or visit the BearCom Web site.

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For more information, contact us at TodaysWirelessWorld@BearCom.com.