Digitalization and drilling automation has been the hot topic of debate for quite some time now. The growing technological solutions for automating drilling necessitates some coordinated approach to avoiding misalignment as these digital ecosystems become increasingly interwoven into our operations.
So, earlier this year, when the IRF identified “digitalisation” as one of their three high-priority risk topics for the oil and gas industry, IADC wanted to to address the IRF’s Problem Statement about digitalization and supports the industry’s in developing solutions.
Supporting the Industry
The IRF’s objective of defining common problem statements is to support the industry to jointly address, coordinate, & and develop solutions related to the identified risk areas/topics.
Overall, the IRF’s general strategy is to reduce the risks from automated systems with a human-centered design approach.
The International Regulators’ Forum articulated various examples of the problems encountered by the drilling industry’s increasing digitalization:
- Complex integration of systems increases risk and ramifications for malfunctions that may cause serious incidents.
- Unforeseen circumstances causing systems to deviate can be malfunction of systems or interfaces between system components.
- Deliberate cyber-attacks or plant upset as a result of cyber-collateral damage.
In a joint effort with IOGP, IADC is partnering to assist with developing a “road map” for identifying the many facets and implications of digitalization and its application to the upstream industry.
For more information, visit the IRF website.
