Market Outlook for the Oil and Gas Industry
As oil and gas remain the key sources of energy for the developed and emerging economies of the global markets, oil and gas is a significant industry that drives the world economy. According to market research tools, oil and gas firms own and operate large pieces of essential infrastructure that are important not only for commercial practices but also for the economic and military well-being of the country. Market research tools suggest that upstream, midstream and downstream operations are critical targets for cyber-attacks by attackers with several agendas, from personal advantage to corporate spying to economic destruction. The global market for oil and gas industries also faces strict cybersecurity regulations owing to the sensitive function of these structures. The Oil and Gas Industry as well as its market trends can be studied using Global Market Database. The cloud based market research tool studies the shift in line with changing market trends.
According to the market database, there can be negative impacts of an intrusion on the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system that controls an offshore platform, oil well, pipeline, or refinery. These may entail costly damage to infrastructure, long delays of supply, and even injuries and loss of human life for workers, visitors, and people in the area. The growth in the value chain for the oil and gas market can also be studied using Global Market Database. The contact equipment market and its impact on the production of the oil and gas sector can be understood via the production data provided by market research tools.
The integration of ICT in the Oil and Gas Industry
Market research tools state that there was a period when the systems that connected equipment and control systems for oilfield processes were physically separate from conventional IT networks. For field engineers, the rise of mobile technology and the advantages of data processing and analysis mean that everything is now linked to the internet. Market database suggests that upstream management and accounting systems are increasingly digitalized, leaving companies engaged in exploration and production (E&P) vulnerable to security issues linked to the network. Global Market Database can be used to study the growth in digitalization within the Oil and Gas Industry. Market research tools portray an optimistic market growth for the value chain of this market.
The repercussions of a cyber-attack can be financial as well as reputational. When production is suspended, money is lost. If partners and suppliers lose trust in the stability of services, then it can become more challenging to sign new contracts in the future. And there could be fines imposed, based on leasing arrangements and contracts if the supply of oil and gas from a well or lease is interrupted.
Data obtained from market research tools state that there has been generally no regulatory standard in the oil and gas sector for security. More than 65% of respondents reported in a survey by the Phenom Institute entitled The State of Cybersecurity in the Global Oil and Gas Industry: The United States that their facilities have encountered at least one safety breach in the past year. As per the same market database, however, a third of managers at the United States oil and gas organizations would rank their security readiness as high. In comparison, as per a study, Cyber Attackers Successfully Targeting the Oil and Gas Industry, 82% of those surveyed have observed a spike in the active cyber-attacks year on year. The active cyber attacks within the value chain for the ICT domain can be studied via Global Market Database.
The market research platform, Global Market Database studies the dynamic shift in market trends and is a key market research tool that can be used to comprehend the change in energy-based consumption behavior. Global Market database studies the overall dynamics for the global market to produce market forecast data. The cloud-based market research tool provides free market research reports for the first five Global Market Database.
Market research tools suggest that the oil and gas industry is not only a huge and rising target for attackers, but the harm incurred by security breaches is greater than in most other industries. For each day of suspended activity, the oil and gas sector losses an annual average of USD 8.4 million. The estimated cost of recovery after an incident is almost USD 300,000 after services have resumed, and if sensitive data is leaked during the breach, the cost may be much greater. Not all losses from a cyber breach can be measured in dollars and cents. In specific, oil and gas industries are vulnerable to threats that may have adverse environmental effects. The effect may be incredibly catastrophic if a cyber intruder were to exploit the cement slurry data coming from an offshore construction well, or block out the live views of offshore drilling from monitors, or delay the well-flow data needed for blowout preventers to interrupt the fluid eruption.
Oil and Gas Industry and its high growth markets
Norwegian intelligence officials have warned of a rise in the number of cyber-attacks on the Norwegian industry. Events in recent years have shown that the oil and petroleum markets are among the most fragile. The tactics are highly creative, and the attackers are getting more advanced. New field technologies are also based on the power supply (electrification) from the shore to reduce the CO2 generated as a result of power generation in oil installations. If there is a failure in the power supply from the sea, most of these installations have to interrupt production. There has been a growing emphasis on technological gaps in power delivery networks for a long time now. Complex grid networks that are highly reliant on management and control systems are these delivery systems.
Large distances and deep waters make it expensive to set up a computer network on the Norwegian continental shelf for oil and gas installations. Sometimes, fiber-optic cables are used on the seabed, and those cables are prone to disruption and erosion from construction and fishing activity. Establishing redundant and fully autonomous network solutions is difficult. A loss of communication would lead to an instant breakdown of output from platforms that run from a shore-based location or adjacent platforms. This is also crucial for pipelines where, among other factors, the pressure and volume in the system must be controlled and tracked.
Many installations are built to have a lifespan of between 15 and 25 years on the Norwegian continental shelf, and a variety of these have been permitted to run for more. This means that a lot of the infrastructure and equipment are old and not very well equipped for the digital vulnerabilities of today. Digitization of the global market for oil and gas is constantly gaining momentum. The amount of data to be transferred is increasing and regular IT systems are gradually being combined with advanced control systems, and the Internet of Things is also contributing to more technologically vulnerable units. Therefore, the safeguarding of the oil and gas industry from all internal and external threats becomes a top priority.
