The North America Oil & Gas Drones Market has been estimated at USD 609 million in 2014 and is projected to reach USD 4 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 40.07% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.
The view from 50,000 feet shows signs of drones, or unmanned aerial planes, poised to become the next major disruption to influence the oil and gas industry. Drones offer all sorts of applications that the Oil & Gas industry can use. These allow the Oil and Gas companies to monitor Pipelines, Roads, Storage Tanks, Buildings, Bridges, Power lines. These also equip the Oil & Gas industry to carryout Flare stack inspections, Off- and On-shore oil derrick inspections, Tailings pond inspections, Oil spill Detection and damage assessment and Gas emissions monitoring.
The usage of Drones would literally astonish the industry with its capability to get as much data available in the last 30 years within 45 minutes.
Any segment of the Oil & gas industry right from the upstream to the downstream would welcome the usage of drones, as it would be a game changer to any field it is used in. The advantage of reduction in time, reaching the unreachable places, ability to give out all types of data required, safety improvement, weather independency are all the factors which could revolutionize the Oil & Gas Industry with a special emphasis on the upstream activities.
This market is driven by a number of factors, such as the Increasing safety norms in Oil & Gas Industry, the fall in Oil Prices and volatility expected to continue, the cost advantage to the Oil & Gas companies. However, this market faces certain drawbacks, such as the Federal regulations limiting the usage to line-of-sight, the Lack of Technological advancements for processing the raw data. These factors may act as a roadblock to the growth of the market.
This market can be broadly segmented into Fixed wing, Rotary Blades, Quad Rotor, Nano and Hybrid Drones. This technology has applications in a variety of markets such as Agriculture, Construction, Infrastructure, Utilities, Mining, Inspection, Surveying, Cinematography, Law Enforcement and Oil & Gas. Market study indicates that the usage is bound to increase multi-fold in the Oil & Gas Industry. This is due to the revolutionary nature of drones to source huge amount of information in negligible period.
The market has been geographically segmented into the United States of America, Canada and the Rest of North America. A few companies in the United States of America have started to use these drones for leak detection and inspection purposes and in future would utilize the potential to the fullest
The market has more relevance today since the Oil & Gas Majors are investing in huge amounts in the companies providing the drone services. There is huge opportunity in terms of innovation to meet the current industry demand for carrying a number of different sensors for a detailed view of operations, reaching the rough terrains where the industry operates and reducing the recharge requirement of the drones.
Conclusion
The current trends in collaborative environment indicate that there is a huge investment by the Oil & Gas Majors in the smaller companies looking for a long lasting impact in the Oil & Gas Drones Inspection space. The technology offers a huge potential for a revolution in the Oil & Gas sector all over the world.
