Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Cyber key to oil drilling

A. Saye Sekhar

KEEPING TAB: The integrated real time operation centre.

HYDERABAD: Petroleum products are traded there. Rarely, it is a wild goose chase. Often, they hit upon a treasure trove. Experts in oil trading keep on negotiating prices on their desktop world phones. Somewhere else, another team can literally stop, start or change the course of drilling of an oil well, thousands of miles away in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Head honchos intervene in any conversation to help the executives clinch a deal. On the third floor, currently occupied by Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) petroleum division, of Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Centre (DAKC) on the Mumbai suburbs, this is a perennial activity.

Flat screen

As if to prove a point that technology has whizzed past human imagination by many folds, a wall-sized flat screen that can divide into 32 different screens or expand one visual onto the huge 20X3-metre TFT screen overlooks the 60-odd accountants. They keep a hawk's eye on the oil prices flashed on the screens of Reuters, CNN, CNBC-TV18, prices in the inter-continental exchange.

Be it petrol, diesel, jet or LPG in the US, Singapore or European markets, the techno-economic geniuses make the most of the opportunity to earn top dollar for their company. What's more, they watch the movement of vessels (indicated by redlines) supplying crude to other units of the RIL.

On the fifth floor of the DAKC, there is Durgesh Tyagi heading the integrated real time operation centre (iROC). He and his team passionately oversee the functioning of rigs at the RIL's offshore drilling sites. It's child's play for him to tell you that the rate of penetration of rig at K-G Basin D6-R1 well is 59.32 metres per hour.

The engineers can watch the swift rotations of the driller 4.06-km deep beneath the sea's surface in KG Basin. The core team anticipates problems 12 hours in advance and provides solutions to the field force.

Virtual reality room

The virtual reality room (VR) in the same floor is one of the world's most advanced facilities. Taking pride in mastering this technology, engineer Shashidhar says the spherical and cylindrical components of the concave 12X3-metre screen can reduce time and risk in drilling at right place, for working on paper sections is a passé.

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