Wireless Internet is the Most Important Technology to the Petroleum Industry

Today, there is an apparently growing trend of establishing wireless
Internet connections in populated areas to benefit large numbers of
users simultaneously with little cost. Most notably, many coffee
shops and college campuses have already taken a lead in installing a
network for customers, students, and faculty members, allowing for
immediate rapid Internet access from all corners of their large
coverage areas.

In fact, the technology is probably most important not when used by
some dude in a coffee shop sending emails, but in major industries
that cannot be access physically and thus requires remote
communication for control and smooth operations. The best example
that comes to mind is oil and gas fields far away from population
centers, such as those in the northern slopes of Alaska (that I so
regret not being able to visit in my Alaska trip)

Rapidly sharing information is necessary for the safety and efficiency
of the oil and gas industry in the future. Instant communication
between the teams on the field and the headquarters is needed to
ensure no accidents occur with exploration and to guide production
with the latest instructions. By giving Internet access to remote
areas where oil and gas are located, the wireless network can vastly
improve explorations and operations of the fields by quickly and
accurately transmitting urgent information and instructions.

In the process of exploration of new oil and gas reserves in
previously untouched areas, geological information about the area must
be relayed quickly to the exploration team and the progress of
drilling must be known by the headquarters. Only with a steady
exchange of such information can the headquarters accurately present
the underground structure of the explored areas and issue necessary
warnings of potential dangers in the process of drilling to make sure
the exploration personnel complete their tasks without putting their
lives at risk.

Similarly, the headquarter needs to relay the information about oil
and gas market prices and consequent quotas of production to the
various production units on the fields. By adjusting the production
as soon as possible by providing the market information in an instant,
the company can better manage its assets and become more efficient
financially.

Wireless Internet network is the most effective telecommunications
technology to achieve the instant sharing of information necessitated
by the oil and gas industry. It can relay information most
comprehensively while incurring the least cost in the process compared
to its benefits. Internet allows all kinds of documents, including
graphs and tables, to be sent to the most remote places covered the
wireless network. However, mediums of equal or more coverage, such as
satellite-based mobile phone and GPS devices, can only convey certain
types of information such as location but not others, such as
graphical analysis and geographical maps.

Since Internet can transmit the same types of information transmitted
by phone and GPS and more with similar speed, it is by far the most
comprehensive method of communication between long distances. At the
same time, installation of the Internet services can be done with
existing infrastructure of electricity and telephone wires. While
possibly more costly and time taking than satellite phones and GPS
devices, its extra benefits in terms of pictorial information can
offset its extra cost of installation in the long run.

With the increasing prevalence of wireless Internet technology at the
turn of the 21st century, it is certainly beneficial for the oil and
gas industry to keep up with the development. While the benefits of
the Internet in transmitting necessary information will not decline,
the cost of wireless network will inevitably decrease over time as the
wireless technology become more widespread and the components
necessary to construct wireless devices and establish the networks
become irreversibly cheaper in the future. At least for the next five
years, a wireless Internet network is definitely the most important
telecommunications technology to promote the safety and efficiency of
the oil and natural gas industry.