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Smart Technology to Be Used in the Development and Production of Overseas Natural Resources

2018.11.16

- POSCO ICT and Energy Holdings together developed and deployed South Korea’s first digital oil field solution (DoF).
- After a pilot trial period in Golden mining field (operated by Harvest Corp.) in Alberta, Canada, the system will begin commercial deployments in gradual phases.
- The DoF will serve as a model of conglomerate-SME partnership for mutual growth in the energy sector in the 4th Industrial Age.
 
For the first time as a South Korean company, POSCO ICT’s smart technology solution which will encompass IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence components, will be implemented for the development of natural resources in overseas sites. The solution is expected to reduce the costs involved in the development and production of natural resources and lead to substantial productivity enhancements.
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POSCO ICT (CEO Choi Doo-hwan) has announced that in partnership with Energy Holdings Group (CEO Park Hee-won), it has developed a digital oil field (DoF) system with Korean technologies which can be deployed at overseas resources development sites such as oil and gas fields and that the company will gradually deploy the system commercially. 
 
The newly developed DoF system will be first piloted at the Golden mining field in Alberta, Canada, which is operated by Harvest Corporation, a subsidiary of state-run Korea National Oil Corp. The pilot will run until the first half of next year to verify the system’s effectiveness in the field. Afterward, the system will be gradually deployed at nearby mines operated by Harvest Corporation as well as mines operated by private Korean companies in China, Southeast Asia, North America, and the Middle East.
 
The digital oil field system developed by the two companies collects data through IoT sensors that are installed in some of the key equipment used on production sites. The collected data is analyzed using Big Data technology to identify equipment malfunctions and send notices in advance when replacement or repairs are needed. Artificial intelligence technology incorporated in the system produces production level forecasts, economic analysis, and simulation of oil deposits underground.  In this way, the entire production process can be controlled automatically which results in optimum fine-tuned operation without the need to have human operators standing by. With this system in place, the costs of developing natural resources can be lowered while improving productivity. The company explained that the entire service is cloud-based; hence its benefits are that it is highly scalable and less costly to invest in infrastructure.
 
Last year, POSCO ICT and Energy Holdings formed a consortium with the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Seoul National University, Chosun University, and Donga University and developed a Korean digital oil field solution for small to medium-sized oil fields. The oil field solution development project was a government-sponsored project that was commissioned by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning. The digital oil field system is being adopted by major oil companies around the world because of the system’s advantages in improving efficiencies in production and natural resource development and the economic benefits that it brings. According to the market research firm Market&Markets, the digital oil field system market is forecasted to grow to about KRW 30 trillion by 2023.
 
An official of POSCO ICT said, "Because digital oil field systems can help make a project economically feasible by reducing costs involved in the development and production of natural resources and results in stable operation, it is being adopted rapidly around the world. As Korea is a country that is actively involved in natural resource developments in every corner of the world, there is high demand domestically for this technology, and we intend to actively seek opportunities in the global market by partnering with SMEs.” 
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