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Offshore oil and gas industry begins to worry about the use of robots and the replacement of job vacancies by them
In a report examining robot adoption across the oil and gas industry, Rystad Energy found that existing solutions could replace hundreds of thousands of oil and gas jobs globally and reduce drilling labor costs by several billion dollars by 2030, if there is industry momentum for such a transition.
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One of the segments that has a lot to gain from the adoption of the use of robots is oil drilling, as it is highly expensive and involves performing dangerous tasks in challenging environments. Robotic solutions have already been successfully introduced into drilling operations, with companies such as Nabors at the forefront of development, taking a good chunk of the region's jobs.
Applying current supplier specifications, which suggest that robotic drilling systems can potentially reduce the number of yards required on a drilling rig by 20% to 30%, Rystad Energy estimates that such a reduction in offshore and onshore drilling crews could bring cost savings of over $7 billion in wages in the US alone, based on current wage levels.
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Robotic operations in the oil and gas industry
Inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) operations are also ideal for robotic operations and is the segment where robotics adoption has gained the most traction among operators in recent years.
So far this has mostly been limited to subsea IMR activities, but now we are starting to see IMR robotics solutions also being used for topsides.
Overall, Rystad Energy believes that at least 20% of jobs in segments such as drilling, operational support and maintenance could, in theory, be automated within the next 10 years.
Looking at the current staffing of some of the major oil and gas producing countries, the US could reduce its staffing needs by over 140.000 staff and Russia by over 200.000 staff. Canada, the UK and Norway could eliminate between 20.000 and 30.000 jobs each.
