Locating and managing valuable equipment in the oil field has always been a challenge. It is a 24/7 operation with assets like generators, heavy equipment, vessels, and cargo baskets constantly in motion across frac pits, drilling rigs, platforms, shore bases, marine vessels, and trucks.

In the high-stakes, capital-intensive oil and gas industry, where downtime due to the lack of equipment or its failure can cost as much as US $7 per second or $25,200 per hour, having the right oilfield equipment at the right location at the right time is critical. Success is closely connected to timely and error-free delivery of product through a complicated, high-value supply chain. Proper equipment maintenance, inventory, and asset management not only are regulatory issues — they are strategic operational imperatives for business performance.

Improved tracking, management

Traditionally, asset tracking and management has been a tedious, labor-intensive endeavor where operators and service providers have manually managed inventory counts in spreadsheets, sometimes being reduced to guessing asset locations. And locating equipment is only part of the equation. Knowing the location of equipment does not provide critical information about maintenance or compliance.

Knowing the location of equipment does not provide vital information about maintenance or compliance, both of which are critical for offshore assets.

Over the last decade or so, many have turned to new technologies such as GPS and radio frequency identification (RFID) to track equipment and inventories. While these technologies have afforded some nice operational benefits, they are still limited as stand-alone offerings.

Today companies have the ability to realize significant business intelligence and operational efficiency gains with new hybrid technology solutions like the Geoforce Web-based asset tracking and management platform. Many companies are using these software and hardware solutions, which leverage a blend of GPS, RFID, and other wireless technologies to automate and streamline the process of managing assets in the field.

Many technology providers offer basic GPS tracking or RFID inventory management capabilities, but a Web-based, hybrid approach combines the technologies to meet companies’ unique, real-world needs by delivering the right blend of applications on a single platform. Unlike many options that lock users into a single solution, Web-based, hybrid offerings are flexible, allowing companies to add new technologies and functionality to the platform when business needs warrant. For example, some companies have a need for GPS tracking today, but may consider RFID technology to manage inventory assets in fixed facilities in the future.

With Geoforce, companies can log into a secure Web site to view the location of equipment in real time and manage thousands of pieces of equipment with the click of a mouse. Whether a company is managing 50 or 5,000 assets, the Geoforce system helps provide access to vital information.

Management entails much more than simply locating assets. Ensuring equipment is properly serviced and certified to the latest industry standards is important. To simplify the process, the system offers the ability to automate compliance and equipment maintenance functions in tandem with tracking capabilities.

For example, a flagging and alert system tracks routine maintenance and other tasks, automatically generating e-mail reminders when action is required. The system also enables users to store documents online such as sling inspections, loading tests, certificates, and engineering drawings.

Applying the system

Louisiana-based Gator Tank Rentals, a provider of offshore rental equipment and services for the oil and gas industry operating in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), is one company that has capitalized on the Geoforce solution. With a client roster including some of the world’s largest oil and gas exploration and production companies, Gator Tank Rentals is keenly aware of the importance of streamlined and efficient operations in a trillion-dollar industry. Beyond providing mission-critical equipment and services that enable drilling operations, Gator Tank Rentals must continuously ensure equipment is effectively serviced and compliant with the latest industry requirements, including Department of Transportation and Coast Guard regulations.

After years of painstaking, manual inventory management of thousands of assets deployed in the field on behalf of many customers, Gator Tank Rentals CEO Carter Askew was determined to find a better way to manage the process. He envisioned a simple, affordable tracking system to help his company locate equipment, streamline operations, and provide his customers the best service possible.

Using Geoforce, Gator Tank Rentals staff can access a secure Web site anywhere at any time to view the location of their assets on a map and gain visibility into their inventory within a facility or a remote location. Gator Tank Rentals has achieved its goals to increase operational efficiencies, business intelligence, and enhanced customer service. Gator Tank Rentals manages the largest GPS oilfield equipment tracking and management deployment in the GoM.

Intrinsically safe GPS tracking devices transmit position data to secure data centers one to four times per day using satellite communication networks. The Web-based software manages the rest. Each asset’s current and historical location is shown on Google Maps along with offshore lease block information. Virtual boundaries are set to generate e-mail alerts based on movement, and inventory at multiple locations can be managed automatically. Gator Tank Rentals also uses the software to manage lifting compliance-related tasks for each asset such as mandatory visual inspections, load testing, magnetic particle inspection, and more.

Shortly after the initial launch, Gator Tank Rentals began to share access to its equipment rental customers, who now have visibility into the location of their assets in the field with their own secure online accounts. E&P customers want to know where their equipment is located and that the equipment is compliant and operational at all times. These customers have come to rely on this value-added service as a true operational advantage.

EOG Resources Inc. leverages the Geoforce platform to manage more than $2 million of equipment distributed in the field, including pumps, light towers, and generators. One of the largest independent, non-integrated oil and natural gas companies in the US with reserves in the US, Canada, Trinidad, the UK, and China, EOG Resources not only needed a technology solution to track equipment location but also to manage engine runtime and maintenance tasks.

With expensive equipment scattered across multiple frac pits previously identified only by latitude and longitude, EOG Resources needed a more efficient way to find equipment within pits that in some cases may be one mile (1.6 km) in diameter. Using Geoforce, EOG Resources can assign addresses to its frac pits by plugging the right coordinates into the online system. The system also enables the company to identify the location of specific pieces of equipment within the frac pit, allowing the equipment to be located and serviced more quickly and efficiently.

Gator Tank Rentals and EOG Resources’ use of the new hybrid approach to asset management and tracking technology illustrates how operators and service providers are better maximizing the benefits of GPS, RFID, and other wireless technologies to optimize operational efficiency.