Oil and Gas Firms Find New Solutions in the Aerospace and Defense Industry

The oil and gas industry has been effective at optimizing its technologies. But as the pool of resources has become increasingly unconventional—tighter, deeper, hotter, heavier, etc.—new technologies are called for. Periods of low oil price heighten the call. Many firms are looking in earnest outside the sector for step-change technologies that can enable unconventional resource development and dramatically reduce capital and operating costs regardless conventionality. Harris Corporation, a leading aerospace and defense contractor, will discuss its work with exploration and production companies worldwide to introduce technologies previously unavailable to the oil and gas industry.

This presentation will show how Harris’ radio frequency-based technology is being developed for the thermal recovery of bitumen resources. The development is being performed in partnership with Suncor, Devon, Nexen/CNOOC, and Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC).Other potential applications of this technology, such as in thermal fracturing and formation damage remediation will be discussed.

The presentation will also describe several other technology areas that may be of particular interest to the O&G industry, but that are highly advanced in the defense and aerospace sector. The areas include photonics and fiber optics, mechatronics and robotics, advanced structural and thermal analysis, electronics design and packaging, remote monitoring and operations, and large data management and data analytics.

The technology areas will be of interest to firms looking for new ways to access unconventional resources and to increase production, lower cost, and drive more efficiency into their operations.