American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019 - 51

AOGR: Speaking of traditional systems, how challenging is
it to infuse existing legacy automation and monitoring systems
with the new capabilities? What recommendations and best
practices would you offer smaller oil and gas companies seeking
to cost-effectively upgrade their older systems on an enterprise
level? What should the first step be when upgrading existing
systems to lay the framework for building a fully digital
production operation?
PENNEBAKER: Operators, especially the larger ones, are
not enthusiastic about "rip-and-replace" upgrades. The newer
IIoT systems can offer gradual migration pathways. These
allow phased integration into cloud and back-office database
systems. The operator can access the vendor's real-time server
via an application programming interface (API) and control the
orderly migration of data into legacy systems.
The major barrier to widespread IIoT adoption is the
difficulty in integrating a fragmented market of IIoT sensors
into a production environment. While SCADA architecture is
standardized and compatible, most IIoT products are designed
as stand-alone, proprietary products. Each has its own software
package, data formats and phone apps. As the IIoT ecosystem
develops, industry standards will emerge to drive tight data
integration across multiple IIoT providers. With open standards,
operators will be able to take advantage of the competition.
Operators will not care about the various sensor configurations
and form factors. They will just need accurate, reliable and

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secure data delivered to their cloud servers at the best price
and service.
There are several steps to ensuring success. The first is for
management to ensure that it has identified key internal champions
to onboard the new IIoT technology at both the field and
corporate IT levels. The vendor must be able to work with both
groups. They speak totally different languages, so the vendor
needs to be fluent in each.
Installation and maintenance are key cost factors. Selfinstalled systems are best but if the vendor requires a trained installer, be certain that personnel are available locally.
Integrating old and new systems is not easy. SCADA and
cloud-based data stores rely on very different protocols. Consider
two options: Pulling new data into an old historian or importing
old data into a new cloud. Which is better? The newer commercial
data import and visualization tools may help.
Also, operators should ensure that the vendor has a robust
API that allows seamless integration to their own databases,
and adopt a preference for vendors that use open standards.
Oil and gas companies do not want to get locked in to a
single vendor.
I recommend incrementally moving old data systems to new
ones with APIs for external tools to access data. This allows
data to be pooled and ensures data is not trapped in a single,
proprietary database.
Finally, operators need to ignore IIoT buzzwords and trends
and instead focus on products that solve real problems, not necessarily those that use the most exotic technology.

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AUGUST 2019 51

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019

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