MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS AT CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS WORLD 2015
FIRA GRAN VIA, BARCELONA | 19 – 21 May
Booth A301

Experience has shown us that when it comes to communication those working within the oil and gas sector are often asking the same three questions:-

"How can I link our field workers to a borderless network that makes collaboration easy and resolves problems faster?"

"How can I connect emergency response teams to the right information at the right time, providing maximum protection for our workers and assets?"

AND

"How can I anticipate asset failures and maximise uptime?"

If this is you and you’re planning on going to CCW then plan a little time to come and see me and the rest of the Motorola Solutions team – you could just find the answer and solutions you are looking for.

With our insights into the Oil and Gas industry, and our expertise in developing industry leading ATEX products, Motorola Solutions understands your key operational processes and the challenges these present, especially in the current climate of reducing oil prices. Our voice and data solutions respond to these challenges and are customised to your demanding operational environment in order to maximise uptime, productivity and worker safety.

Find out more about Motorola Solutions at CCW and book some time to come and see us >>

MOBILITY TO REVOLUTIONISE THE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF OILFIELDS?

There is no escaping the fact that with the oil price at its current level, the rise in non-economic fields and facilities is bringing forward decisions to decommission. But as operators limit investments and extend cuts to preserve revenue they are failing to address core operational issues. According to Oil & Gas IQ there is an almost 90% consensus that mobility will revolutionise the operational environment around oilfields and infrastructure. However, just over half believe that the depressed price of oil will directly impact the amount of money spent on mobility programmes, so there is a real threat if market predictions hold true that the pace of change could be hampered and slowed, at least until 2018.

Throughout the recession successful corporate organisations adopted two key battle strategies: they applied leaner processes and they invested their way out of recession. One strategy was to identify and then deploy technology that helped streamline processes and increase collaboration. Crucially much of this was outsourced, providing an alternative to the crippling capital expenditure which tethered organisations and reduced capability to adapt to a changing business environment. Right now the oil and gas industry is facing a very similar challenge, and it can take an early lead from those lessons already learned by other large enterprises.

Rather than closing or mothballing facilities, which is a short term solution, oil and gas companies can take a more proactive approach, maintaining installations in order to preserve both market reactivity and ongoing revenue streams. For this to be a realistic option requires operational costs to be lowered, crucially without impacting health and safety. With around 60% of oil and gas companies committing to roll out a mobility strategy the implication is that there remains recognition within the industry of the need for preserving live assets and making them work to their advantage. This is because they understand that communications technology represents a vital function in day to day operations and is increasingly a key tool for reducing downtime and meeting tough business goals created by market oversupply and falling oil prices.

As oil and gas producers examine how to improve the efficiency of their operation and evaluate whether they are 'fit for 50' (meaning operators are profitable at US$50/barrel), resolving to migrate to digital two-way radios and digitalising workflows are two cost effective, and rapid-to-deploy methods for improving operations. When a trusted vendor is engaged, there are also multiple opportunities to develop easier to manage OPEX driven strategies such as hosted or managed services, build own operate (BOO) or communications as a service (CaaS). In this way costs become more predictable, with an annualised spend that enables oil and gas producers to more consciously plan for new mobility strategies that can help focus efforts on enhancing operating efficiency, preserving margins and maintaining production that fulfils market demand.

To learn more about how Motorola Solutions can further support the oil and gas industry visit here.

If you’d like to join the conversation about how to maximise the efficiency of the digital oilfield in today's ever-changing environment, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

We are a society of consumers. We grow, extract and process materials and food stuffs into those everyday products that we take for granted. But when was the last time you even considered how complicated, difficult or even dangerous the processes might be behind food on our table or the latest must have gadget? The truth is that many of the goods we use in our daily lives will have passed through a hazardous environment of one sort of another during their creation and this presents a considerable challenge for those who secure the raw materials and the manufacturers of these products.

Understanding what constitutes “a hazardous environment” is a critical consideration when meeting the communications and operational requirements for these manufacturers:

‘An environment is defined as potentially hazardous if three conditions are met: there is a fuel source, perhaps a gas, a vapour, some sort of ignitable dust; oxygen and an ignition source.’

The inherent danger of working in a gas plant or an oil processing facility may seem obvious, but you might be surprised to discover that a paper or flour mill can prove to be an equally dangerous working environment if the correct controls and safety are not stringently applied. It is easy to identify the stages in a product’s creation where a hazardous environment is encountered, be it the refinement of fuel which powers our vehicles, the production of chemicals we use in detergents, or the processing of metal ores used in our computers or the milling of the flour we eat. Every aspect of our lives is touched with products from these environments.

The scale of production means that many of the facilities encompass large, complex environments that require integrated communication systems to facilitate effective and safe operations. This drives the ever increasing demand for highly reliable, easy to use and intrinsically safe communication equipment. Intrinsic safety is a protection technique used in a wide variety of electrical equipment, allowing safe operation by limiting the energy available for accidental ignition in the presence of Oxygen and a Fuel. ATEX/IECEX radios are a prime example of communication devices that are designed and optimised to meet these very unique and challenging demands.

In conjunction with the intrinsic safety capabilities of a radio, it is vital to address the very particular needs of the user to establish their usability requirements. Invariably, hazardous environments are loud, dirty, hostile places and these conditions will further define the uniqueness of an ATEX communications device.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSIONS WE HAVE HAD WITH END USERS TO UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFICS OF THE CHALLENGE:

- In what sort of background noise levels do you operate?
Many users will operate in a plant environment with extremely high ambient noise levels, often exceeding +95dB. This drives the need for loud, clear audio from the speaker in conjunction with a comprehensive accessory portfolio, tailored to the user’s needs such as a heady duty headset.

- Do you require the use of any particular specialist accessories?
Fire fighters use ATEX products in response to certain hazardous situations. They may be entering a burning building, which is a loud environment in its own right. To ensure clear communications at all times in these instances, users may adopt skull mics and integrated speakers for use with their fire equipment.

- Where will you be operating?
Be it a plant, an oil field, a chemical production facility in the Middle East or Siberia, it is very likely customers will be wearing protective clothing whilst in the hazardous environment. This drives the need for ease of use and optimisations to minimise problems due to lack of tactility through gloves.

- What is the size of your operation?
An oil field or gas field can be huge. Some sites in the Middle East are in excess of 500km2 . Such large geographical communication deployments demand the best in capabilities to ensure effective user coverage and minimal ’dead spots’.

- How long will you be away from ’base’?
Many such sites where an ATEX environment exists are not necessarily close to a charging station or power socket. This drives the need for excellent battery life to maximise the usage time whilst in the field.

These are the requirements which drove the creation of the highly successful MTP850Ex ATEX TETRA radio that, since its launch in 2009, has continued to be extremely popular with our customers around the globe, recently passing the industry leading milestone of 100,000 TETRA units in market.

In this article, we have just scratched the surface of the ATEX user needs. In the months to come we will explore the specifics in more detail and discover how we help our customers operate in the most extreme working environments on the planet.

Download this case study when demonstrates the importance of effective ATEX communications equipment in the management of major gas plant: Gassco

If you’d like to join the conversation about communication in hazardous environments, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

“Only 50% of oil and gas companies have a robust information security strategy in place.”
Energy Sector Report: A Proactive Strategy to Protect Against Cyber Attacks

In my previous blog, I wrote about how transition to the Digital Oilfield is exposing companies to the potentially serious risk of cyber attacks - putting production, reputation, and ultimately profits at risk. There's no doubt that as attacks become more insidious, the potential consequences proliferate, with the cost of future breaches impacting infrastructure, safety, intellectual property, lost revenues, and even the broader economy.

But of course, it's not just the energy industry that's in the cross hairs of hackers and cyber criminals. The pervasive threat of cyber attacks has been brought into sharp focus in recent months by the heavily publicised Sony Pictures data breach. Although interestingly, Sony Pictures only ransk as the 33rd largest breach in 2014¹. The largest? eBay, with over 150 million records compromised².

THE ENERGY SECTOR'S VULNERABILITY TO CYBERCRIME

Security threats are expected to grow even further in the future. In the past four years alone, the financial impact of cybercrime has increased by nearly 78% and the time it takes to resolve a cyber attack has more than doubled.³ Across all industries and geographies, it’s been estimated that cybercrime costs some $400 billion in lost time and assets.⁴

According to Ponemon, companies in energy and utilities recorded average annual costs due to cybercrimes of $19.78 million, second only to firms in the defence industry. An ABI Research study predicted that globally, cyber attacks against oil and gas infrastructure will cost companies $1.87 billion by 2018.

The energy sector’s diverse and interconnected systems are also increasing vulnerability to cybercrime with newer technologies such as those controlling drilling rigs and cloud-based services being subject to probes or attacks. So too are once-isolated plant control systems that are now integrated with corporate networks or vendors. Even private smartphones and devices used by company employees potentially open up a business’s network to an increasing number of threats and malicious behavior. Such threats can target data at rest on the device and can be easily introduced through online web surfing (96% of all mobile devices don’t have encryption protection⁵).

In short, wherever there’s digitally enabled technology or an intelligent device – even a simple device that controls a valve on the pipeline – there’s a risk of it being used as a portal and taken over without authorisation.⁶ Cyber criminals are targeting the entire spectrum of potentially valuable data: data at rest, data in transit, and data in use.

Whatever the access point or motivation, high downtime costs and attack frequency rates necessitate strong cyber security protocols. When you consider that 96% of successful breaches could be avoided if organisations put simple or intermediate controls in place⁷, it really is time for the industry to collectively take action.

A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO IMPROVE CYBER SECURITY IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

In February 2013, The NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity was created as the result of a US Executive Order, in response to the growing security, economy, public safety and health risks caused by cyber security threats.

Our Oil & Gas industry report features a best practice cyber security strategy that’s consistent with the NIST Framework and based on global security standards. The strategy is built around the following 4 process pillars which, when executed concurrently and continuously, serve to mitigate the risk of cyber attack.

There’s also a detailed checklist within the report to help you assess your company’s current cyber security posture, define your company’s target state, identify and prioritise opportunities for improvement, assess progress, and communicate the risk to stakeholders.

1. Know your critical assets – identify your organisation’s business objectives and high-value assets, then conduct risk assessments to find any vulnerabilities.

2. Protect your IT, radio network and OT environments – Establish defences to block intruders before they reach your critical business assets, and educate your employees to recognise and avoid phishing attacks.

3. Detect potential threats before they occur – Use the right tools to gain a comprehensive view of your security environment and monitor potential threats both externally and internally.

4. Respond and recover – With the speed and intelligence of many of today’s cyber attacks, cyber breaches may still occur, even in the most secure infrastructure. Having a contingency plan in place can help you respond immediately if a breach should occur.

If, after referring to the checklist in the report, you find your operations are vulnerable to attack – then we can provide a full onsite cyber assessment service. Details of how to arrange your assessment can be found towards the back of the report.

If you’d like to join the conversation about protecting oil and gas operations from cyber threats, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

¹ http://www.idigitaltimes.com/10-largest-data-breaches-2014-sony-hack-not-one-th em-403219
² http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kyle-mccarthy/32-data-breaches-larger-t_b_6427010 .html
³ 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime Study: Global Report. Ponemon Institute © Research Report.
⁴ Data from Ponemon Institute 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime Study, based on survey of 234 organisations in six countries.
⁵ Cybercrime: Mobile Changes Everything – And No One’s Safe. Wired Magazine http://www.wired.com/2012/10/from-spyware-to-mobile-malware/
⁶ ABI Cyber Security and Smart Grid Research, 2013.
⁷ Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2013. Raising the Bar for Cyber Security.

17% higher offshore lost work days due to safety incidents vs onshore¹

Whitepaper: Improving Safety And Productivity In Oil And Gas Operations

Global oil demand is predicted to increase by more than a third by 2035². Yet despite an increase of over 790,000 barrels per day in the United States alone², pressure for continued production growth is intense.

The end of easy oil is driving energy companies to explore for new reserves in ever more remote, and dangerous locations - offshore deep under the ocean, in extreme climates such as the Arctic, in hot deserts, and in fields where High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) wells are developed. Although reducing time to first oil is a major priority, health, safety and the environment (HSE) remain non-negotiable and at the very top of an agenda that also includes protection against cyber attacks, and addressing the skills shortage.

INDUSTRY-WIDE COMMITMENT TO SAFETY

The oil and gas industry is committed to continually improving safety standards. But of course, safety is everyone's business. We must all take some degree of personal responsibility for safety culture. A number of initiatives exist to make oil and gas one of the safest "major hazards" industries in the world - including workforce engagement programmes such as the Step Change in Safety campaign. Despite this, a recent study showed that safety incidents offshore caused 17% more workdays lost, compared to onshore incidents¹ .

MOBILISATION OF INFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL OILFIELD

Technology plays a vital role in keeping workers safe both offshore and onshore. In the Digital Oilfield, the seamless and secure mobilisation of voice and data is key to ensure that people are always connected so the best decisions are made in critical situations. But oil facilities are complex environments. Key players can be found offshore on the platform, onshore at one or more control rooms, in the air, and at sea. Often, each player uses its own communications system and this can create challenges in efficiently mobilising emergency response resources. Enabling the efficient flow of data, and continuous, reliable communication between all these stakeholders requires advanced digital Land Mobile Radio (LMR) and operation technology.

As primary communication devices, robust digital two-way radios need to be safe for use in environments where potentially explosive substances such as propane pose an ignition risk. These intrinsically safe (IS) devices and accessories must be certified as a system, be failsafe, and comply with globally recognised IS standards such as ATEX and IEC Ex.

Although the choice of device can ultimately become a lifesaving decision, the mobilisation of information in the Digital Oilfield is about more than "just a radio".

APPLICATION SAFETY

Of course, it's imperative that personnel can communicate with one another instantly and securely - particularly in critical situations, whether individually or as part of a group. But it's also essential that Offshore Installation Managers and Onshore Emergency Response Coordinators know when a remote - or lone working employee gets into trouble.

There are many ways in which applications expand the scope of advanced digital LMR to protect workers in the oil and gas industry.

• Man Down alerting solutions from Motorola Application Partners, protect and monitor lone workers at risk in hazardous sites. Working silently in the background with voice and data calls operating as normal, alarms are generated to the control room if the radio falls at a specific angle or if there's no radio activity for a pre-determined amount of time - ensuring personnel can get assistance even when unable to call for help.
• Geofencing and GPS positioning apps can help identify when a radio enters a dangerous workspace and raise an alarm if an employee fails to response to continuous 'alive check' messages.
• Automated alarm management apps instantly send alerts in the event of electrical or mechanical failure, fire or panic alarm via text message to a user's MOTOTRBO radio.
• Real time indoor positioning uses Bluetooth to keep track of employees within a building for safety purposes, using a clear graphical overview to display the location of users without affecting radio network performance.

HOW APPS IMPROVED WORKER SAFETY AT GASSCO GERMANY

Responsible for the safe transportation of gas from the North Sea to Europe, Gassco wanted to migrate to a digital solution to improve worker safety at remote sites. They implemented GPS positioning and man down alerts over a Dimetra IP Micro TETRA network. This improved the coordination and response of their maintenance teams across multiple work groups, connected their operations centres onto a central network, and created a dedicated emergency channel to provide instant simultaneous broadcast of incident messaging - inside and outside its plants.

We've recently published Improving Safety and Productivity in Oil and Gas Operations. This whitepaper takes an in-depth look at how the right communications network can help energy companies meet growing demand while keeping HSE risks and downtime at a minimum.

If you'd like to join the conversation about improving worker safety in the digital oilfield, we'd be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

Companies involved in oil and gas exploration, pipeline operations and refining demand safe, secure and reliable communication technologies to help them manage their often hazardous operations in some of the world's most demanding environments.

Imagine a scenario where drilling operations on a major oil explorer's offshore platform are slowing, or at risk of stopping altogether because of abnormal readings from a number of drilling sensors. This has far reaching implications and is precisely the reason why Motorola listens and continues to develop new voice and data products and solutions.

THE TOOLS FOR COLLABORATION

Take our WAVE Work Group Communications solution for example. Developed and refined over ten years and widely deployed throughout the world in military, public safety and commercial worlds, WAVE is the only software platform today that can provide seamless interoperability between disparate radio systems (ASTRO25, TETRA, MOTOTRBO as well as older Motorola systems and those from other vendors). It also extends radio communications over other networks to a multitude of different devices - smartphones, PCs, desk phones and enterprise collaboration applications. Then there's the radio-like push-to-talk (PPT) communications between just smart devices over any 3G/4G LTE network as an over-the-top service.

Delivering instant and secure end-to-end PTT communications capability throughout the enterprise helps drive engagement and team collaboration; both must haves in any industry where efficiency of operations drives bottom line performance. That's why WAVE is already generating so much interest with upstream and midstream operators that see the many operational and safety benefits of connecting workers when needed, regardless of their location or the device they carry.

LET'S SEE COLLABORATION IN PRACTICE

So, going back to my earlier scenario where abnormal readings are causing havoc on operations, let's put WAVE to the test and demonstrate how it brings together multiple systems and works to alleviate the impact.

It's the weekend, but real-time data delivery to the central control centre means managers are already aware of the issues and are talking directly to platform personnel from PCs their equipped with WAVE desktop clients that allow PTT communications on multiple talk groups.

In an adjacent meeting room, a team of supporting staff has gathered to discuss the problems they are seeing and to troubleshoot with the platform team in real-time. A WAVE bridge is allowing everyone in the room to participate in the conference call, which also includes the control room staff at their consoles as well as remote personnel that have been alerted and who have dialed into the call.

The operator of this particular platform has a headquarters building on another continent where it helps its 3,000+ employees communicate and collaborate better with Microsoft Lync, a unified communications platform. Some of these project management and engineering staff have Lync clients that are enhanced with a WAVE plugin that allows them to also participate in real-time, secure PTT with platform workers and others directly from their Lync desktop, thus avoiding the need for a separate PC application. Hundreds of engineering and systems professionals are now working the platform issues, collaborating, communicating and understanding what the problems are and how they can be solved.

An important member of the engineering team is not in the office but has been contacted. He's at a family get together. Fortunately he can use any available PC and brings up a WAVE web browser application to access the same communication channels available to the other operations staff. His contributions are critical and timely. He takes out his iPhone and signs in to this WAVE mobile client. A wireless headset allows him to rejoin the family while discreetly listening into the ongoing troubleshooting. If necessary he can step aside and use his iPhone and push-to-talk again.

Before long, a solution has been agreed by the expanded team. A faulty piece of drilling equipment needs to be replaced and the platform support and maintenance provider has been contacted to see if they can find and deliver the required equipment. This provider uses Microsoft SharePoint to manage its global parts inventory portal and a WAVE plugin for SharePoint allows a dispatcher to work directly with the platform workers and on-shore support teams to correctly identify the needed component and prioritise its collection and shipment to the platform.

Although this is a fictitious scenario, the WAVE use cases are entirely real. With WAVE Work Group Communications, you will never have to worry if your key onshore and offshore personnel are on 'your' network with the right device. WAVE removes barriers to full and complete collaboration and communications interoperability, regardless of network device and user location.

It's just another reason why you can count on Motorola Solutions to listen to what you need and then go on to build it so you can get the job done.

Download our latest whitepaper - Improving Safety and Productivity in Oil and Gas Operations - and discover how a fully integrated communication network with advanced applications boosts productivity.

The future is brighter than ever for the hydrocarbon industry – particularly with the recovery of unconventional resources such as shale oil and gas, and coal bed methane. Yet this also brings with it some controversy, and this is just one reason for the industry’s increased vulnerability to cyber attack.

Political espionage, malicious attack for financial gain, disgruntled employees, even human error; all have the potential to significantly disrupt processes at rigs and refineries. With a typical oil pipeline pumping $3m oil per hour, effective digital data management keeps revenues flowing¹. But it’s not just the hydrocarbons – a large refinery produces an average 1TB of data per day².

TRANSITION TO THE DIGITAL OILFIELD
More and more oil and gas companies are experiencing the benefits of transitioning to the Digital Oilfield. By converging IT and operational technology (OT), these companies are realising huge gains from real-time visibility of operations, including - increased productivity, reduced operational costs, improved safety, and regulatory compliance.

But the combination of open standard based IP protocols and integration into back office systems also exposes oil and gas companies to the threat of cyber attacks.

THE RAPID RISE OF CYBER CRIME
So it's hardly surprising that the prevention of control system security incidents is a hot topic, and one that's been heightened by the effect of serious cyber attacks on the energy sector in the Middle East during recent years. Threats are becoming more inventive and more insidious.

The Stuxnet virus, which targeted programmable logic controllers (PLC) and SCADA systems in 2010, was one of the first examples of cyber-sabotage. Typically introduced by infected USB flash drives, it subverted industrial process control systems, collecting system information and causing them to self-destruct³.

These are complex, intelligent viruses: Stuxnet was notable for including code to fake control sensor signals to prevent the precautionary shutdown of an infected system due to detected abnormal behaviour, and also for making itself inert if the specific SCADA software wasn't found on the infected machine.

Even two-way radio systems that are considered "isolated" from the enterprise IT network are vulnerable to attack. Indeed, the source of computer virus that infected the radio dispatch system of an Australian ambulance service in 2011 was thought to have been a compromised USB stick⁴.

Back to the present day, and global security experts are currently investigating the Shellshock bug which appears to primarily target Unix servers⁵. Early indications show that the level of vulnerability has yet to be fully understood but could be uncommonly wide-ranging.

WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITY NEEDS SYSTEMATIC PROTECTION
The IDC Energy Insights whitepaper issued in 2013 highlighted that 40% of the total number of cybersecurity incidents were attacks against the energy sector, costing $19.8m annually⁶. Protection from such threats requires an organisational culture change as well as an enterprise information security architecture: from systems and data, to processes and people. Yet only 50% of oil and gas companies have a robust information security strategy in place.

Successful attacks show that companies often underestimate the vulnerability of digitally enabled technology and devices⁷. 45% of oil and gas companies responding to the IDC security survey were unclear just how many security events happened during the last 12 months, and of that percentage, half didn't know the nature of the breaches⁶.

A CYBER SECURITY FRAMEWORK ALIGNED TO GLOBAL SECURITY STANDARDS
So what should the oil and gas industry be doing to maintain a secure, intelligent and responsive digital oilfield, while mitigating the risk of cyber threats and malware? A 2013 study by the CSIS found that 96% of successful breaches could have been avoided if simple controls were put in place⁸, and as a result the NIST Cybersecurity Framework was established to provide a common mechanism for organisations to improve their security position.

In response to these changing conditions, we've published Protecting Operations in the Energy Sector Against Cyber Attacks. The whitepaper discusses the threats in detail and presents a best practice cybersecurity strategy that is consistent with the NIST Framework. We've also included a handy checklist so you can assess your company's current levels of protection.

If, after reading, you find that your operations are indeed vulnerable to attack then we do offer a cyber assessment service, details of how to arrange the assessment can be found on the back page of the whitepaper.

If you'd like to join the conversation about protecting oil and gas operations from cyber threats, we'd be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

¹ Motorola Solutions White Paper “TETRA – Enabling Critical Communications in the Oil and Gas Sector”
² Journal of Petroleum Technology – October 2012 “Data Mining and Analytics, Data Mining Applications in the Oil and Gas Industry”.
³ BBC News Technology Article “Struxnet ‘hit’ Iran nuclear plans”.
⁴ IEEE Spectrum: Virus Hits Australian Ambulance Service.
⁵ BBC News Technology Article “Web attacks build on Shellshock bug”.
⁶ IDC Energy Insights, 2011 “Worldwide Oil and Gas Top Predictions, 2012”.
⁷ Security in Upstream Oil and Gas, Microsoft Corporation, March 2013.
⁸ Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2013 “Raising the Bar for Cyber Security”.