ANALYSIS OF RFID-TAGGING TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Abstract

In the oil and gas industry, one of the key tasks is to assess the current state of pipelines and equipment. Most of the existing methods used to assess depreciation are narrowly focused and expensive, for example, flaw detection of downhole equipment, tubing, rod and pumping equipment, which can eventually reach the cost of the equipment itself. To date, one of the main methods for assessing the equipment state is the analysis of its operation time, which directly depends on the identification accuracy. Various technological solutions are used as an identifier, for example, barcodes, seals with technical information, however, such controls are unreliable, wear out quickly, and, as a result, it becomes difficult to correctly identify them.
 The paper considers the technology of radio frequency identification (RFID) – «RFID-tags», describes the operation principle and its features. The basic scheme of the tags, conditions and purposes of application in the oil and gas field industry and, in particular, in the pipeline transport. The cases of technology implementation by different foreign and domestic companies are described, and some ways of their potential development are indicated. The analysis of technical solutions is given, the advantages achieved in the implementation of RFID systems are compiled.
 The key and promising factors for the use of this technology in pipeline transport are the possibility of minimizing risks in case of accidents and oil spills, minimizing environmental disasters for both organizations and the environment, since the cost of equipping RFID tags and RFID reading equipment can be insignificant in comparison equivalent.