A new wave of offshore technology

If you want to talk automation, it is not limited to downstream enterprises. You can also look at drilling and exploration like at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston this week.
Filling the Reliant Center, a good chunk of a parking lot and the Reliant Stadium, over 70,000 attendees are crowding the floor learning about everything about the oil and gas industry.
The industry is booming right now, but as it is downstream, show goers and exhibitors are talking about strained personnel issues that will be hitting the industry in the coming years.
That is where some of the technology is coming in.
Allen Chasey, marketing manager at Dynapar, said they are working on getting out a new class of encoders to handle the need for more data.
“It used to be that encoders were very fragile and people would worry they could break easily. The difference now is these are more rugged encoders to handle a rough environment,” he said.
An encoder is just one small example of the changes hitting the market. Other new technologies include contamination monitors, subsea production valves, among others.