Upstream benefits: Oil and gas networks for the digital era

KAMAL BALLOUT, NOKIA 

Few sectors face challenges as diverse as oil and gas. Volatile pricing, shifting geopolitical winds, decarbonization pressures, and labor and supply-chain disruptions—compounded by Covid-19—combine to make the industry difficult to navigate.  

The idea of a digital oil field has been prevalent for some time. Today, with increasing C-suite and board-level support for digitalization, AI use in the industry has moved well beyond experimentation. Predictive maintenance, drilling optimization, subsurface modeling and seismic interpretation—some of the earliest applications—have proven their returns on investment.  

Fig. 1. High-performance networks enable seamless communication between onshore control centers and remote facilities, supporting mission-critical decision-making.

Yet, doubt remains. It’s tough to quash fears around data governance, cybersecurity breaches in operational technology (OT) networks, and expensive digital failures, due to poor planning or vendor lock-in.  

Still, there’s optimism for what’s possible. AI is set to amplify the use cases, making it possible, for example, to drill thousands of feet into the earth while the vast majority of staff sit safely in control rooms, monitoring the operation.  

A significant challenge, however, is connectivity. In the age of AI, it’s about ultra-reliability, ultra-high scale and speed, and ultra-safe cybersecurity. Next-generation connectivity is the foundational element. And that’s what Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and IP Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) technologies can deliver.  

Future-proofing of oil and gas networks is critical in the digital era, and DWDM and IP/MPLS are central to this shift., Fig. 1. 

MEETING DEMAND FOR OIL AND GAS 

Despite there being no end to the need for petroleum and natural gas, the $100 barrel of crude oil seems to be a thing of the past. This creates a duality wherein oil and gas companies must continue to drill, produce and expand into ever more remote and hazardous areas to meet demand, but in a safe, profitable and sustainable manner.  

That’s at the heart of the shift to software-centric, data-driven operations. Companies are deploying more digital technologies, building data centers further afield to support these technologies, and leveraging critical communication networks to connect the various parts.  

With this trifecta in place, companies can use real-time data exchanges and communications to maintain operational continuity across onshore control centers and offshore facilities. AI applications can augment worker capabilities, automate routine tasks, and gain deeper insights into data. Meanwhile, distributed data centers along oil and gas pipelines can process data at remote sites and drive faster, smarter decision-making.  

HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONNECTIVITY 

Legacy oil and gas networks cannot support these use cases. It's technologies like DWDM and IP/MPLS that make and sustain connectivity for these mission- and business-critical applications.   

With its massive capacity for data, DWDM brings high-bandwidth connectivity to offshore rigs, pipelines, and control centers. The technology makes it far more efficient to transport data across deepwater exploration sites or scale in step with fluctuating capacity demands at refineries and onshore process facilities.  

IP/MPLS plays several roles. One is about flexible networking for drilling platforms, pipelines and control centers. With support for multiple technologies, IP/MPLS converges the services used across refineries and remote extraction fields onto one platform, easing management and reducing costs. It is also the source of the resiliency and redundancy required for communications at offshore platforms, pumping stations and process plants. Lastly, with timely and secure delivery of critical automation traffic so vital to operations, IP/MPLS provides deterministic quality of service (QoS) and encryption capabilities.  

Oil and gas is not the first sector to turn to IP/MPLS, to modernize critical networks, as the technology is already widely deployed in mines, power grids and public transportation systems.    

HALTING CYBERCRIME   

Cybersecurity is another area in which DWDM and IP/MPLS technologies can play a pivotal role. With oil and gas operations a frequent target of malicious actors, and as these types of crimes (such as Distributed Denial of Service, DDoS), grow in size, frequency and complexity, the need to secure critical communications becomes even more urgent.  

DWDM and IP/MPLS each provide data protection capabilities across pipeline operations, as well as at onshore and offshore operations, from wellsites to control centers. Network segmentation also makes a difference to cyber defenses. By dividing networks into multiple segments, operators can better control pipeline, IT and OT traffic flows.  

CURBING QUANTUM THREAT 

The advent of quantum computing ratchets up the cybercrime threat. Even though a quantum computer powerful enough to crack modern encryption standards does not yet exist, it is in the works. And, increasingly, as the industry relies on more network-connected devices and moves operations to the cloud, the risk of creating backdoors and other exploitable vulnerabilities grows.  

In a technique called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL), bad actors may already be harvesting encrypted data communications from oil and gas networks. At a future date, when a quantum computer with the right algorithm exists, these cyber bandits will have all the elements to launch targeted attacks that derail a digital transformation plan, disrupt operations or put lives at risk. 

The best advice is to start now to make oil and gas networks quantum safe. To achieve this, DWDM and IP/MPLS can play a key role in supporting the deployment of quantum-safe encryption, key management, and intrusion detection. These capabilities will help turn the network into a strong first line of defense that protects a company’s full operations— pipelines, onshore, offshore and control center—against HNDL threats and future quantum attacks. 

USE CASES: WHAT’S POSSIBLE TODAY 

Once a high-performance, resilient, and scalable communications network is in place, the opportunities for transformation are significant:  

Real-time data transmission.  

Large volumes of real-time data must be transmitted from offshore platforms and remote land-based rigs. Think seismic, telemetry, SCADA and video surveillance, for example, that must reach centralized control centers for analysis and decision-making. 

DWDM packs multiple channels into a single optical fiber, allowing simultaneous transmission of high-capacity data streams. Thus, the network has access to dramatically more bandwidth without any need to lay more fiber, as data volumes increase or fluctuate.  

To maintain the integrity of the data transmission, IP/MPLS guarantees routing and prioritization by traffic type—voiceover IP, video, telemetry—maintaining required QoS and latency levels for critical applications. With this setup, oil and gas companies can monitor operations from a central location to speed up decision-making while at the same time reducing the need for onsite personnel.  

PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING  

Given the remoteness of many oil and gas production sites, pipelines often stretch thousands of miles from production to consumption. And they’ll have compressor or pumping stations along that route. What they lack along that route are staff and resources, making inspection and servicing a real challenge. DWDM and IP/MPLS address these challenges directly.  

Fig. 2. Offshore operations depend on real-time data exchanges—future-proof fiber connectivity ensures safety and efficiency in even the most remote environments.

DWDM can transmit data at high speeds over very long distances. Plus, the technology supports monitoring systems to detect shock and vibration, as well as temperature changes along the fiber optic cable path.  

With IP/MPLS, network operators have access to the SCADA, environmental monitoring, and sensor equipment used along the length of the pipelines. IP/MPLS also connects video surveillance systems and voice communications systems for telephony or Public Address and General Alarm (PAGA) applications.  

The option for centralized monitoring can help resolve the challenge of inspection and servicing in remote locations with fewer on-site personnel. It’s also a boon for the prevention of environmental harm.     

ON/OFFSHORE OPERATIONS UNIFICATION  

Secure and reliable connectivity is a must across the mix of offshore platforms, floating production units, and onshore facilities that populate the environments where oil and gas companies operate, Fig. 2. 

Interconnecting these onshore and offshore locations over long distances is possible with a high-capacity DWDM backbone. On top of that backbone is an IP/MPLS overlay that brings intelligent routing and traffic engineering to support VPNs and secure segmentation of operational, corporate, and third-party traffic.  

Working in tandem, DWDM and IP/MPLS networks streamline operations by integrating IT and OT networks, enhancing security to defend against cybercrimes, and supporting digital initiatives, such as remote asset management and predictive maintenance.    

SMART OILFIELD SUPPORT  

Fig. 3. AI-driven analytics powered by DWDM and IP/MPLS networks transform raw field data into actionable insights for smarter, more sustainable energy operations.

With the adoption of automation, AI-driven analytics, and IT within upstream operations, the imperative for ultra-low latency and high-bandwidth networks is growing, Fig. 3. These capabilities are critical to supporting edge computing and private 5G deployments, especially when public connectivity in remote and offshore environments is limited or unreliable.  

The high-capacity optical transport layer that DWDM provides is fundamental to this scenario. DWDM supports the movement of large volumes of data between edge computing nodes, which are located at platform or field office sites, and centralized data centers or cloud platforms. The ability to scale bandwidth without new fiber makes it ideal to support capacity needs.  

Similarly, IP/MPLS is fundamental to this scenario, because it supports traffic segmentation, path optimization and deterministic routing for diverse service types. Edge workloads, such as AI-based equipment monitoring or drone video feeds, can be isolated from traditional IT traffic using IP/MPLS, optimizing service delivery.  

Additionally, MPLS provides a redundant path failover. This helps maintain uptime for latency-sensitive applications like robotic drilling systems or augmented reality tools for remote maintenance.  

With DWDM handling long-haul transport and IP/MPLS responsible for efficient routing, QoS, and traffic segmentation, a private 5G network can connect the IoT devices (such as sensors, cameras, and autonomous equipment) at wellsites, and edge servers can analyze data locally and forward summarized insights to the central site.  

This support for edge computing and private 5G networks in smart oil fields pays off in multiple ways, enabling smarter, safer, and more autonomous upstream operations, as well as real-time responsiveness and minimal human intervention. All possible, even in environments where bandwidth is constrained or when operations are spread out over wide areas.  

FUTURE USE CASES 

As oil and gas companies embrace more digitalization, the possibilities for new applications abound. DWDM and IP/MPLS remain critical to the ultra-resilient, low-latency, and high-bandwidth networks at the heart of these next-generation use cases:  

Full-scale remote operations.  

A major future step is full-scale remote operations with completely unmanned platforms. In this model, centralized operational centers manage offshore facilities and remote well pads without requiring any personnel onsite. 

To enable this, DWDM would provide massive bandwidth for high-definition video, real-time equipment telemetry, and control signals. IP/MPLS would provide secure, prioritized traffic flows and support network redundancy and fast failover in the case of link failures.  

The impact would be considerable, including reduced risk within the areas of health, safety, security and environment; OPEX reduction through minimizing logistics and personnel transport; and accelerated maintenance through predictive analytics.  

Predictive maintenance and digital twinning.  

Digital twins and AI analytics will make it possible to simulate, monitor and predict equipment behavior, from downhole tools to compressors, across multiple assets and locations in real time.  

The data generated by IoT sensors and simulation models in this scenario will quickly transmit over DWDM to edge or cloud compute nodes. IP/MPLS will guarantee deterministic traffic behavior for time-sensitive data, such as vibration analysis and flow rate changes and will also segment AI workloads from routine data. This reduces unplanned downtime, extending asset life and improving in-field reliability and forecasting accuracy. 

MORE TO COME 

Other use cases are on the horizon, including autonomous drilling and robotic inspection, with real-time control over low-latency IP/MPLS networks; high-bandwidth optical transport of AR- and VR-based remote collaboration for engineers and technicians via DWDM; and satellite integration with terrestrial IP/MPLS/DWDM backbones for connectivity in ultra-remote regions, such as deepwater rigs.  

MINIMIZING THE COST OF DIGITALIZATION 

While the move to modernize legacy communications infrastructure can be capital-intensive, keep in mind that a full rip-and-replace is not always necessary. Many companies are choosing phased upgrades or hybrid deployments, which allow for DWDM and IP/MPLS to be layered on top of existing infrastructure or deployed selectively, based on priority use cases. 

In some cases, DWDM and IP/MPLS can be introduced at high-priority locations or backbone links first. There’s also an option to run the technologies in parallel with legacy systems for critical operations prior to full migration. It’s important to opt for vendor-neutral architectures that support interworking between legacy and modern systems to reduce any rip-and-replace needs.  

BUILDING FOR THE DIGITAL ENERGY ERA 

As the oil and gas industry shifts from pure resource extraction to intelligent, data-driven decision-making, digital technologies like AI, edge computing, Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) and data analytics are crucial. Yet supporting these capabilities—and unlocking high-impact use cases—requires more than legacy infrastructure can deliver.   

Future-proof connectivity with DWDM and IP/MPLS provides the performance, scale and security needed to stay resilient in complex environments. 

KAMAL BALLOUT is Nokia’s head of Network Infrastructure Enterprise and Partners for the Middle East & Africa, overseeing GTM strategy and regional growth. With 20+ years in telecom and networking, he has led digital transformation efforts across global markets and industries, including energy, transportation, smart cities and critical communications.