COVID-19 boosts adoption of virtual reality in the oil and gas industry

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a shift to remote working, which has boosted the adoption of virtual reality (VR) by oil and gas companies for training, collaboration, and data visualization, says GlobalData. The data and analytics company notes that this shift will persist even though most employees have now returned to offices. 

Ravindra Puranik, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “VR technology is becoming commonplace in the oil and gas industry as it helps to visualize 3D simulations of real-world objects. As the industry deals with volatile substances that are often found in dangerous environments, there is a substantial concern for worker safety.”

Taking a cue from the gaming industry, VR is gaining traction in the training of oil and gas personnel. Large oil and gas companies—such as Saudi Aramco, Equinor, and Shell—are using VR to simulate the physical environment in training rooms. 

Puranik explains: “Trainee personnel are given VR headsets that deliver an immersive experience of a facility, be it an offshore production platform, a gas processing plant, or a refinery. Although this lacks the real feel of a challenging workplace environment, it is a highly safe and cost-efficient approach to introduce personnel to a new facility.”

VR enables oil and gas companies to train workers on field equipment in a simulated environment to build their situational awareness. It can help develop safety procedures at production facilities to address smaller accidents, as well as for emergency responses. VR simulation can be used to design workflows and identify