$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Gone are the days when manual labour drove the bulk of the work in oil and gas exploration. In a post-peak-oil era, in which resources are harder to extract and oil prices continue to plunge, the race towards automation means higher profitability — and less human error. Out on the oil patch, opportunity comes to the firm that can do the job more safely, cheaply and quickly. “The motivation for technical innovation has always been threefold,” says Mark Salkeld, president and chief executive officer of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) in Calgary. “First and always foremost, companies are striving to improve safety. Second, to reduce costs and improve margins, and third, to gain the edge that will win them the next contract.” Salkeld served in the oil and gas business for 36 years before joining PSAC, the national trade association ...
PeakOil is You
Machine over Man
Plant Thu 27 Jul 2023 "Personally I think the IEA is exactly right when they predict peak oil in the 2020s, especially because it matches my own predictions."
Plant Wed 11 Apr 2007 "I think Deffeyes might have nailed it, and we are just past the overall peak in oil production. (Thanksgiving 2005)"
Plant Wed 11 Apr 2007 "I think Deffeyes might have nailed it, and we are just past the overall peak in oil production. (Thanksgiving 2005)"
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AdamB - Volunteer
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Re: Machine over Man
by Tanada » Thu 12 Oct 2017, 22:30:01
I still think human labor will make a big comeback in a truly post peak economy. Not necessarily in the short term, but years down the road when people accept it is cheaper to pay two guys to cud down your tree rather than use a gallon of gasoline in the chainsaw engine plus the pint of bar oil to keep the chain lubricated.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alfred Tennyson', 'W')e are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Tanada
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Re: Machine over Man
by rockdoc123 » Thu 12 Oct 2017, 23:05:17
The main issue that automation on drilling rigs is trying to address is safety. As the article states head count on the lease doesn't decrease. What does decrease is the number of dimwits on the floor making connections, or swinging pipe on the monkey boards. Some of this innovation has been around for a long time. At one of the companies I was with the usual procedure when operating in a country where you had to use local labor was to emply the mechanical tool push. This avoided screwups on the floor improving both up time and removing a lot of lost time incidents.
Although in the article Mark (who I know) makes it seem like automation on rigs is fully deployed that really isn't the case. It is, however, making inroads. Cost savings are there but perhaps not as great as some need to push them towards change.
Although in the article Mark (who I know) makes it seem like automation on rigs is fully deployed that really isn't the case. It is, however, making inroads. Cost savings are there but perhaps not as great as some need to push them towards change.
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rockdoc123 - Expert
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Re: Machine over Man
by vtsnowedin » Fri 13 Oct 2017, 07:29:58
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'I') still think human labor will make a big comeback in a truly post peak economy. Not necessarily in the short term, but years down the road when people accept it is cheaper to pay two guys to cud down your tree rather than use a gallon of gasoline in the chainsaw engine plus the pint of bar oil to keep the chain lubricated.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
You picked a poor example there. Considering the amount of wood you can cut down and block up running a gallon of 50;1 gas through a sharp saw, gas would have to be north of $150 per gallon before I'd park the saw and take an end on a cross cut blade. It certainly will be years before that happens.
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vtsnowedin - Fusion
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Re: Machine over Man
by Tanada » Fri 13 Oct 2017, 08:39:34
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'I') still think human labor will make a big comeback in a truly post peak economy. Not necessarily in the short term, but years down the road when people accept it is cheaper to pay two guys to cud down your tree rather than use a gallon of gasoline in the chainsaw engine plus the pint of bar oil to keep the chain lubricated.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
The petroleum energy slaves are great, as long as they are cheaper than the worker just trying to get enough to feed themselves+spouse/family.
You picked a poor example there. Considering the amount of wood you can cut down and block up running a gallon of 50;1 gas through a sharp saw, gas would have to be north of $150 per gallon before I'd park the saw and take an end on a cross cut blade. It certainly will be years before that happens.
If you read my second sentence carefully you will note I specified "Years down the road".
I do not expect this change to take place overnight however as a historian I look at decadal time scales, as well as singular events. People keep touting the robot revolution when human labor will be extinguished. All such projections are based on one fundamental root, energy to build, maintain and operate that machinery will be cheaper than hiring a half starved day laborer to do the same task. Sooner or later your chainsaw will need new parts, or need complete replacement. In a world where energy is very expensive you will be faced with the choice of spending a lot to maintain or replace that chainsaw, or paying the hungry local laborer meals and a few coins to do the same work. Farm hands and ranch hands never got rich, but they also never went hungry and had at least a shed to sleep in out of the rain and snow. That is what the world looked like before cheap energy from coal arrived in the early 1800's, and it had looked like that for at least 3,000 years everywhere there was agriculture. Sure some places were much nicer for laborers but even 3,000 years ago a hired shepherd could count on meals and a tent to sleep in and escape the weather.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alfred Tennyson', 'W')e are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
I don't think a better more useful tool has ever been invented. The amount of work one person can do is amazing. I have used a crosscut saw. It would take a day to do the work a chainsaw can do in about 15 minutes. 
