Huawei’s LTE Technology Revolutionize Oilfield Operations in Africa
By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
Huawei, a leading technology company, is making headway in designing and developing Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology for African operators.
In its statement, Huawei’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Wang Hao said that the company has been working in Africa for more than two decades and providing world-class digital technologies into Africa’s oil and gas industry.
He confirmed that Huawei is currently providing its cloud-based solutions to Sonatrach to help transform their support and operation systems to improve the overall operational efficiency.
“In line with Sonatrach 2030 vision and company’s one cloud strategy, Huawei has introduced cloud-based solutions to centrally manage multiple data centres, streamline resource silos, and significantly improve resource utilization,” stated Wang Hao, Huawei’s CTO. “Through the one cloud system, ERP has been deployed successfully to the entire Sonatrach group. So far, we have achieved cloud transformation of the IT systems. And we will be working closely with Sonatrach to transform their support and operation systems to improve the overall operational efficiency.”
Information and communications technology (ICT) are playing an important role for oil companies to digitize their operations and ensuring an efficient oil production.
Wang further explained that Long Term Evolution (LTE), is a next-generation wireless broadband technology highly recommended for oil companies that are implementing smart solutions to revolutionize the management and operations of oilfields.
According to him, Huawei’s LTE technology offers a one – time solution on operational issues as well as provides operational safety, efficiency, and seamless communication for oilfields.
He continued, “With LTE technology, existing challenges such as the lack of visibility in oilfield operations and security can be addressed.
“LTE technology enables real-time video streaming for a more transparent production process and improved management efficiency. The collection and monitoring of real-time data from oil wells and auxiliary facilities are crucial to detect anomalies and optimize production.
“As oil wells are often dispersed across hundreds of kilometres, bottlenecks in data collection often occur due to poor performance of communications networks in large open areas. While deploying wired networks is inefficient and costly, LTE can provide wireless communications networks to enable smooth data transmission across large open spaces.
“LTE provides video surveillance systems for enhanced security at oilfields. The surveillance system will enable oil companies to monitor the surroundings of its sites and provide early warnings against intrusion or equipment sabotage.
“LTE technologies also play a key role in the implementation as a video surveillance system and big data services will have bandwidth demands that older generations of wireless networks will not be able to support.
“LTE enables multimedia trunking systems to improve the efficiency of multiple work teams. Oil field operations are complex and require several teams to work together on routine checks on oil wells and pipelines, equipment maintenance and repair, troubleshooting and emergency response.
“By implementing a trunking communications system that supports real-time multi-party voice communications, collaboration can be enhanced, and the different teams can address situations through video and voice calls without having to be onsite in person, especially for the moment with COVID-19, the new norm.”
Huawei is a Chinese multinational technology company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It designs, develops, and sells telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics.
