The world is currently undergoing a wave of rapid technological advancement that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres. The fourth industrial revolution is shaping every aspect of our lives and technologies like immersive (AR/VR), cloud computing, mobile connectivity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, 5G and Big Data are shaping the future of industries.

For over a century, Oil and Gas has played a vital role in the economic transformation of the world, but the industry is now on the top of a new revolutionary era called Oil & Gas 4.0. Digital Innovative solutions are being adopted by Oil & Gas operators to achieve operational efficiency, reduce emissions, optimise design and construction of new projects, enhance workplace safety, reduce cost and minimise the environmental impact of the industry.

The big challenge that Oil & Gas operators are facing now is how to apply advanced technologies properly to fulfil their needs, given that around 70% of digital initiatives are known to have failed achieving the planned goals.

At Kent, we are merging our engineering and digital expertise to apply emerging technologies in the right way to address our client challenges and achieve the rewards of digital innovation. We are using machine learning to create virtual flow meters that replace multiphase flow meters and reduce costs associated with well testing. Our immersive training solutions are based on virtual and augmented technologies to simplify learning process. We are applying AI to develop Geofencing solutions to improve safety of operators. This year, Kent Digital Engineering and Innovation team successfully delivered the most advanced digital center to ADNOC Al Yasat with the aim to extend Al Yasat assets life by 20% and reduce the cost of their operation and maintenance. Currently we are helping our clients to implement Digital Twin solutions for design, EPC4.0 and predictive operations. Our team launched the concept of 8D Digital Twin adopted by Oil & Gas players as a roadmap to achieve the ultimate goal, autonomous operations.

The global digital twin market was valued at USD $3.8bn in 2019 and is expected to reach USD $35.8bn by 2025.

Digital Twin is coming under the spotlight as a significant driver of business value and to overcome current challenges. In Oil & Gas industry, we know that Digital Twin will drive the industry 4.0 initiatives and unlock the next wave of innovation. A digital asset roadmap describes the route to improved CAPEX and OPEX performance for an Oil & Gas asset through a managed path towards digital maturity.

The journey starts with an assessment of the current operations, and then mapping technologies and processes towards future objectives. As we move along the journey, the horizon expands to include more ambitious objectives, possibly through more complex solutions or the adoption of new and emerging technologies. Kent describes the Digital Twin in terms of “Elements”. Each Element involves more technologies and increasing levels of operational potential. For us, a Digital Twin is not a single entity, it is a path from the basic geometric model to a fully autonomous facility. To put the Digital Twin into the context of the “big picture” digital roadmap, consider the Digital Twin of an asset as simply a single star in a constellation of stars. The full, connected constellation makes up the digital ecosystem of the enterprise. So, you see the digital horizon really does expand as you progress along the digital maturity roadmap.

Digital maturity is a slow burn though and cannot be achieved overnight. It is only partially about the tools and technologies, and much more about the organisation’s ability to make use of them. It also requires the investment in technology, people and training. In addition to delivering a technological solution, this should be embedded in the fabric of the operation, to build trust in the technology and to then progress in the digital asset maturity journey. Like our nearly universal experience with suddenly working from home, we start with basic technologies first, build competency and confidence and then move on to the next level of enhancing remote working processes.

Kent are industry leaders in the engineering-led deployment of digital technology and services to support the entire project lifecycle, including remote operations. Digital technologies that enable this include digital scanning, digital twinning, smart construction, immersive visualisation (such as VR and AR), Internet of Things (IoT) sensor deployment and data analytics.

Broadly speaking, our solutions fall into the following major categories, although we stress that these categories are not mutually exclusive. Technologies and solutions from any of all of these categories can be blended to provide unique differentiating solutions for particular clients and specific business needs.

Kent apply these technologies across the full project lifecycle to provide efficient and cost-effective solutions that solve engineering problems, improve quality, provide more effective training, enhance planning activities and de-risk worker activities. Our digital champions and Certified Innovation Leaders propose customised solutions by mapping the latest technologies to client business needs.

We are pioneers in implementing Digital Twin solutions for energy sector, and our innovation team cover the full Lifecyle of this journey. As a Digital Twin contractor we help our client to define Digital Twin functionalities, class library, software, hardware, process and operations methodology of Digital Twin for design, build and operations.

Data, digital & AI will play a key role in the future energy systems and supporting the efficiency of today’s energy sources. While the Oil & Gas is the main source of energy today, operators are facing pressure to reduce emissions as the atmospheric impact of fossil fuels is widely recognised. However, the big challenge that Oil & Gas operators are facing is how to use data and apply advanced technologies properly to achieve efficiency in their operations and capital project execution.

Today, the shocks of COVID-19 combined with growing momentum to transition to a low carbon future, accelerates the need for Oil & Gas companies to ‘supercharge’ their digital agendas. The need to build new and modify existing plants into efficient, connected and sustainable facilities of the future is moving at a faster pace than ever before. In the push to net zero, it is imperative to design, build and operate plants more efficiently and cost-effectively is the new norm. There is a direct correlation between efficiency and sustainability. Digital solutions are a key enabler to achieve both and deliver the plant of the future.