Huawei urges Oil Industry to lay solid ICT foundation for greater security

Huawei, a leading global information and communication technology (ICT) solutions provider, will remind the region’s decision-makers at the Digital Oilfield Summit, Kuwait, 4-8 March 2012, that the technology and networking infrastructure behind the region’s lucrative oil and gas industry needs to be reliable, robust and secure. Senior level Huawei executives will outline steps the industry can take to meet these requirements on 6^th March at 2.30pm in a presentation entitled Embracing the digital flood with Huawei Energy ICT solutions. 

Huawei offers end-to-end ICT solutions specifically tailored to the business requirements of the oil and gas sector, from wireless technology, Emergency Command Centre solutions, CCTV solutions to telepresence and more. Huawei has a number of flagship customers across the region in the oil and gas sector, including Saudi Arabia and Iraq, as well as working on global projects in Mexico, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and China. 

Pan En, General Manager, Huawei Technologies, Kuwait commented: “The Digital Oilfield and Intelligent Pipeline are concepts that have emerged in recent years to describe the harnessing of ICT infrastructure so oil companies can better manage and visualise data, establish a communications infrastructure that links their upstream, midstream and downstream activities, and build pipelines that can detect and isolate faults or attacks. Although these concepts are not new, the deluge of digital data facing oil companies is faced with an even more hostile environment they operate in than ever before. 

“Not only is exploration becoming more competitive, with theft of sensitive data a constant threat, but oil projects usually take place in hazardous terrains and areas of the world that sometimes experience political instability. On top of all this, the digital environment places extra demands on oil companies to secure their data, as recent cyber threats have shown. Oil companies need secure communications lines that can cope with the large volumes of data travelling from offshore to onshore sites, such as drilling and oil well exploration data. They also need wireless technology that can intelligently and automatically capture key performance refinery and pipeline data without the need for engineers to spend time in-field recording data manually, with the attendant risks of human error.” 

Visitors to Huawei’s stand at the Kuwait Digital Oilfield Summit will gain an overview of the company’s oil and gas product portfolio and end-to-end Digital Oilfield and Intelligent Pipeline solutions. Huawei’s Emergency Command Centre (ECC) solutions allow oil and gas companies to monitor their oil delivery fleets and ensure their cargo is safe. An important component of Huawei’s ECC solutions is CCTV systems, which ensure workforce safety and the protection of assets by preventing intrusions, terrorism, thefts and data leakage. With energy sector workers often sent offshore for long periods of time, energy companies are increasingly seeing a compelling case for investing in telepresence and video conference facilities. 

Huawei’s technology helps oil and gas companies protect their oil pipelines against sabotage, illegal tapping and attacks. Energy companies also need to comply with Zone 1 certification and withstand external exposure to extreme levels. From having the capacity to tolerate dust, fire, water and poisonous gases, to being able to resist heat in tough desert conditions and operate even where explosions may have happened, technology is replacing the role of human site inspectors who were previously risking their health and lives working in hazardous areas. Huawei believes that rather than buying solutions off the shelf, oil and gas companies need to look at customising their solutions based on specific business requirements, and that the network and ICT infrastructure of an energy company needs to respond to the sensitivity of its business and priorities. 

While consolidating its leading position within the telecom market, Huawei is also growing rapidly in the enterprise market; specifically in the government, oil and gas, transportation, banking and finance, power sectors and more. 

Since officially establishing its Kuwait office in 2008, the ICT leader has enjoyed several significant successes in the local market, including Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This is part of Huawei’s broader expansion in the region as a strategic approach to leverage the market opportunities brought be the technological revolution.