Crude oil is likely to have traveled several thousand miles and undergone various processes and treatments before it is suitable for delivery to a customer. Oil fields are often in remote places and crude oil has to pass through highly complex pipeline networks on its journey. It can be transported by oil tankers by land and sea. All these methods consume substantial energy and increase costs considerably by the time the crude oil is refined.
There are several challenges facing the oil industry:
- Reducing the cost of energy consumption between oil field and oil-refinery
- Reducing the cost of overall maintenance and operating procedures
- Reducing the environmental impact.
These challenges have to be dealt with effectively with while ensuring that improvements are made to the process. Improvements have taken place, helped by increasing competition amongst oil producers, but cost reductions must take place and the industry needs to look at ways to streamline its operation an increase its efficiency.
One of the major cost areas is the crude oil pumping systems. They are essential for moving oil across land and under water, but many are outdated, inefficient and often fail. This results in it being an area that could vastly be improved therefore producing a reduction in energy consumption and associated costs.
If pumping systems are improved profitability increases. Efficient pumping systems use far less energy and this automatically makes the process more environmentally friendly. Additional benefits from using efficient pumping systems include reduced breakdowns and fewer maintenance requirements resulting in more oil getting from the oil fields to the oil-refineries.
Upgrading highly expensive pumping systems involves substantial initial investment, but the future returns to oil producers will more than pay-back the investment. Building new pumping systems takes time and cannot be achieved overnight. Forethought and planning are required then ultimately oil transportation costs can fall.
