Industry 4.0 and operational efficiency highlighted in the lectures on the third day of Rio Oil & Gas 2018
Rio de Janeiro, September 26 – The speed of integration between the physical and the digital in business, in companies and in society is the 4th industrial revolution, according to experts who attended Rio Oil & Gas this Wednesday (26). “This phenomenon may be even greater, more intense and faster than the first three industrial revolutions”, said Cenpes’ sector manager, Gustavo Levin. But according to him, the oil & gas industry still has a long way to go, since only 19% of the sector relies on a mature 4.0 industry, while the average of other sectors reaches 31%.
In the opinion of the president and CEO of Siemens Brazil, André Clark, the industry 4.0 has had unique effects and great impact in several other segments and it is possible to use it in the oil & gas industry. “A classic example of high efficiency are the FPSO scans. This is a ‘born-digital’ concept, which means the company designs the entire project digitally, creating the so-called ‘digital genius’. This digital twin feeds on platform data and creates a virtuoso cycle of rapid and accelerated development”, said Clark.
The managing partner of Deloitte, Ronaldo Fragoso, informed that the digital journey is only starting in Brazil. According to a Deloitte survey, 44% of the emergence of new products and services in Brazil are generated by the industry 4.0. “Organizations will have to get ready for this new ecosystem that involves a lot of people and will bring many benefits”, he warned.
Impacts on logistics infrastructure in Brazil
In a special session on the expansion of the fuel market and the logistics infrastructure in Brazil, the impacts and bottlenecks in the current scenario were presented, as they hinder a closer proximity between supply and demand in the country. A survey presented by Ricardo Catran, director Superintendent of Ultracargo, highlighted the actions required to address the shortage of fuel supply and boost imports. Catran pointed out the immediate need for investments to increase the ports’ storage capacity, representing an additional 1 million mᶟ by 2030, 25% of which until 2023. The expected amount for a new infrastructure would reach approximately R$ 4 billion.
As a leverage for the growth of fuel imports, Ricardo Mussa, vice president of Logistics and Trading at Raízen, stressed the importance of resuming activities without government intervention. According to Mussa, this measure, adopted since the truckers’ strike, has contributed to increasing uncertainty, reducing investments and inhibiting free competition. He also advocated an efficient pricing policy, with international parity, to promote a smooth functioning of the market and to maintain an investment-friendly environment.
Felipe Cury, director of ANP, spoke about the importance of a joint action to create a regulation that will encourage investments and a growing fuel demand for the coming years. According to ANP data, there is an investment estimate of 20 to 30 billion reais, earmarked exclusively to this field. Cury also pointed out that only 16% of the 60 ports are eligible and qualified for import, generating a huge bottleneck for the industry. “Envisaging the market that we really want is the first step. We need to go back to rationality and work with predictability, because it is not possible to put a price on uncertainties. Only then will we have a concrete path ahead of us”, he concluded.