XERAFY Company Blog
RFID: A Promising Technology in the Oil and Gas Industry
October 19, 2010
By Sam Falsafi, Oil and Gas Principal of Shipcom Wireless and Co-founder of Oil and Gas RFID Group
Radio Frequency Identification was poised to change the way supply chain and asset control was done in business and industry. One industry that is eager to find a reliable asset tracking system is oil and gas. Crucial and expensive assets can get lost at a production site and must be found quickly when the need arises. For example, not having the right part for the right job at the right time can be significant when you run deepwater offshore platform at $800,000 per day.
The oil and gas industry have been investigating RFID for the past 10 years, but in some cases found RFID unreliable, costly and too bulky to fit smaller assets. The oil industry is tough for any kind of ID tag would need to endure such as exposure to high temperatures, rough handling, and caustic solvents and acids. For security and efficiency, a dependable method of asset control is important to a number of heavy industries.
Now, a new generation of RFID technology looks promising, that can be embedded in metal to enable them to survive the long and harsh journey. XERAFY and the Oil and Gas RFID Group are working together to meet the specific needs and set standards in the oil industry. The new RFID technology can be read from a greater distance, even when bonded to metal or contained within a metal enclosure. These tags are smaller, in order to fit in tight places, and able to survive extreme temperatures, constant moisture and rough handling.
Especially in emergency situations, the oil and gas industry needs reliable, accurate asset control. During the last national oil spill, the U.S. Coast Guard evangelized the use of RFID technology to track 12,500 critical assets with RFID including skimmers in the Gulf of Mexico. Recent mandates within the oil and gas industry call for improved traceability and accountability. Maintenance logs, previously filled out by hand, can now be fully automated. More importantly, RFID aids in health, safety, and security for workers in remote areas, such as an offshore oil rig.
See our whitepaper on RFID in the Oil & Gas Industry
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