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Highlights
- Sensing is crucial for every aspect of the oil and gas industry but classical sensing approaches are becoming costly and unwieldy.
- Quantum sensing is evolving as a game changer for the oil and gas industry, advancing it to the next level with highly sensitive and precision measurement technologies.
- A holistic framework that combines quantum sensing and AI-driven inference can help in solving complex industrial problems, leading to significant economic benefits and enhanced quality.
On this article
Revolutionising sensing technology
The role of sensing technology is vital across all segments in the oil and gas industry.
Applications of this technology are found in drilling, reservoir management, well integrity, pipeline monitoring, safety, process optimization, quality control, emission monitoring, and efficiency measurements. Though conventional sensors are more prevalent, the rise of quantum technology is revolutionizing the industry.
Quantum sensing, an emerging field within quantum mechanics, leverages the principles of superposition, entanglement, and quantum coherence to measure magnetic fields, gravitational forces, angular momentum, temperature, and velocity with unparalleled precision that outperforms classical sensors. Classical sensors have limited sensitivity range and rely on physical phenomena like electrical resistance, inductance, and mechanical deformation to translate physical changes into electrical signals. This approach, however, poses challenges when measuring small physical quantities or mitigating external disturbances. Hence, classical sensors often require more effort and maintenance.
Challenges of classical sensors
Classical sensors face limitations related to measurement accuracy, cost, timing, and integration.
Some of the challenges are:
- Lack sensitivity for detecting minute changes in physical quantities.
- Susceptible to external influences from electrical, thermal, and mechanical sources.
- High maintenance costs through continuous calibration effort
- Require faster response time to detect smaller physical quantities.
- Difficult to integrate with small and complex systems.
- Higher maintenance due to high wear and tear of components
Quantum sensors offer a superior approach across many areas, including sensitivity and accuracy. It can measure beyond nano levels which far surpasses classical limitations. These sensors are developed through several quantum technologies like atom vapors, trapped-ions, photonic qubits, superconducting circuits, and artificial atoms. Leveraging powerful technologies such as quantum magnetometry, quantum gravimetry, quantum gyroscopes, and quantum imaging and optics, it is revolutionizing the oil and gas industry.
The quantum sensor industry roadmap outlines strategic development and advancement in technology and applications across various industries. By mapping out this trajectory, stakeholders can better understand the potential impacts on respective industries. Throughout the 2020s, advancements in atomic clocks and magnetic field sensor technologies are transforming applications ranging from the global timekeeping with international atomic clocks to optimizing automotive power management systems. By 2030, magnetometry, gravimetry and gyroscopic technologies are set to revolutionize the oil and gas industry, enabling advancements in bio magnetic sensing, underground mapping, and resource-intensive computational applications. In 2040s, quantum sensor technologies will become indispensable, drive breakthroughs in autonomous vehicles and redefining the consumer electronics landscape.
Putting it to use
Some of the use cases of quantum sensing in the oil and gas industry are detection of the earth’s magnetic field anomalies, accuracy in drilling, operations management, pipeline monitoring, and data analytics.
USE CASE 1: Earth’s magnetic field anomalies detection
Quantum sensing can detect the earth’s magnetic anomalies by measuring variations in the magnetic field to determine deviations from the normal field. These anomalies, detected with quantum magnetometers and gravimeters, will also indicate the presence of oil and gas reserves, geological structure, and subsurface features. Quantum sensing technology will transform the oil and gas industry by enhancing exploration, production, and monitoring processes.
USE CASE 2: Drilling accuracy and safety
Recent breakthroughs in quantum sensor technology have led to the development of innovative sensors, including NV Center Dimond sensor, atom gravimetry, cold atom gyroscope, and quantum enhanced fiber optic sensors. These sensors provide real-time data on trading conditions and improve accuracy, safety, and reliability. Monitoring the drilling parameters like position and soil and rock properties are helpful in preventing hazardous drilling incidents. Quantum-based seismic sensors produce higher resolution data, which support critical decision making during the drilling process. These quantum sensors produce highly accurate data compared to classical sensors which in turn result in massive productivity gains and safer environments.
USE CASE 3: Operation management
Quantum sensors enhance the characterization (seismic, well-logging, coring, fluid, and well test) of oil and gas reservoirs by providing detailed geological information. These sensors provide real-time data for optimized production operations, ensures safety protection, manages inventory, and minimizes environmental impacts. Quantum sensors enable superior resource management by monitoring and measuring accurate data, which is helpful in formulating efficient extraction strategies and optimized resource management.
Quantum-enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensors can improve the analysis of rock samples, providing insights into porosity and fluid content.
The key quantum sensors are.
- Quantum Magnetometers
- Quantum Gravimeter
- Quantum Gyroscope
- Quantum Acoustic sensors
USE CASE 4: Pipeline monitoring
Quantum sensors are used to detect the leaks and monitor the pipeline integrity with high sensitivity. This is one of the crucial capabilities for minimizing environmental impacts and ensuring regulatory compliance. The sensitivity of quantum sensors is much higher than conventional sensors. Detection can be enabled via phase shifts, optical time domain reflectometry, and transmission measurements.
The quantum sensors NV magnetometer, quantum gas lidar, and gravitometer are used to detect pipeline leaks. The NV center can be incorporated into sensors that are attached to or embedded into pipelines. These sensors continuously monitor the magnetic field and temperature and send data in real time to a monitoring system. The data collected by the monitoring system is further analyzed to identify the anomalies that indicate a potential leak in the pipeline. Advanced quantum machine learning (QML) technique can be used to improve leak detection. These sensors provide continuous real-time data enabling immediate detection of leaks. This kind of early detection prevents environmental contaminations and accidents.
Quantum gas lidar, a single photon gas detection sensor, offers accurate emission detection, quantification, and localization of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. The key component of this sensor is quantum single photon advanced detector (SPAD).
The way ahead
The future of sensing will be powered by quantum mechanics, which surpasses the measuring capabilities of classical sensors in terms of accuracy, real time monitoring, and potential cost effectiveness. The oil and gas industry should swivel spotlight from ‘conventional sensing’ to ‘atomic sensing’ by embracing quantum enabled magnetometers with the advanced data processing capabilities through quantum machine learning techniques. This paradigm shift can realize scalable, portable, and safer on-field sensing capacity.
