A Survey on Industry 4.0 for the Oil and Gas Industry: Upstream Sector

The market volatility in the oil and gas (O&G) sector, the dwindling demand for oil due to the impact of COVID-19, and the push for alternative greener energy are driving the need for innovation and digitization in the O&G industry. This has attracted research interest from academia and the industry in the application of industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies in the O&G sector. The application of some of these I4.0 technologies has been presented in the literature, but the domain still lacks a comprehensive survey of the application of I4.0 in the O&G upstream sector. This paper investigates the state-of-the-art efforts directed toward I4.0 technologies in the O&G upstream sector. To achieve this, first, an overview of the I4.0 is discussed followed by a systematic literature review from an integrative perspective for publications between 2012–2021 with 223 analyzed documents. The benefits and challenges of the adoption of I4.0 have been identified. Moreover, the paper adds value by proposing a framework for the implementation of I4.0 in the O&G upstream sector. Finally, future directions and research opportunities such as framework, edge computing, quantum computing, communication technologies, standardization, and innovative areas related to the implementation of I4.0 in the upstream sector are presented. The findings from this review show that I4.0 technologies are currently being explored and deployed for various aspects of the upstream sector. However, some of the I4.0 technologies like additive manufacturing and virtual reality are least explored.