Canada’s oil and gas industry is just beginning to experience the effects of the next wave of technological advancements. Emerging, disruptive technologies are expected to reduce the number of workers required to perform certain tasks while increasing demand for other skills.

• At Suncor Energy’s North Steepbank oil sands mining site near Fort McMurray, Alberta, autonomous heavy haulers operate using GPS (global positioning system), wireless communication and perceptive technologies.
• At its Sarnia refinery in Ontario, Suncor is preparing to deploy wireless technology that uses wearable equipment to transmit near real-time data to improve workers’ safety and productivity on site.
• Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, are being deployed for several initiatives in Suncor’s operations to assist with equipment inspection and conduct surveying.
• At Shell autonomous gas detection robotics are at work, as are remote assistance monitoring and operations equipment, and 3D imaging to detect fugitive emissions.

The adoption of data analytics, cloud technology, wearable electronics, machine learning, blockchain and other technologies is creating new occupations and transforming existing roles.

New technologies range from automated systems that run oil and gas field facilities remotely from offices hundreds of kilometres away, to artificial intelligence (AI) that enhances or replaces human decision-making, to aerial and stationary robotics. These technologies are driving the next wave of efficiencies, safety, and productivity improvements.

Integrating technology is also changing the skills required across many oil and gas occupations.

• Field workers require more computer and analytical skills as paper documents are eliminated and more analytics are deployed to analyze and improve productivity
• Demand for skills such as creativity, critical thinking and analysis, and teamworking skills such as emotional intelligence is on the rise, while demand for physical skills such as manual dexterity and endurance is on the decline.

International exploration and production companies have automated offshore oil and gas production facilities – in some cases eliminating onsite operators – and have increased efficiencies in their operations using predictive maintenance. While low oil and gas prices have slowed investment in digital technologies in onshore operations, that is changing and is having an impact.

• One large Canadian oil sands company expects the integration of digital technologies to support its production growth of 15% soon without hiring any new employees.
• Precision Drilling, one of Canada’s largest drilling companies, reports reductions in crew counts on 60% of its wells drilled in 2018 due to automation and that number is only expected to grow as more rigs are equipped with digital technologies.
• The use of data analytics is increasing the speed of operations, allowing fewer workers to do more.
• Machine learning is becoming a skill of central importance to petroleum engineers, and demand is growing for big data architects, automation technicians and information technology project managers.

Skills in demand

Emerging skills required to support implementation of: ⁶

• Digital literacy
• Data analysis, including big data
• Robotics
• AI and machine learning
• Process automation
• Software and applications development
• Information technology
• Systems engineering
• Digital transformation
• Organizational development.

Occupations impacted by technology

Occupations most likely to be impacted by accelerated use of technology:

• Training
• Accounting
• Data entry
• Plant and field operations
• Maintenance trades

Although the types of jobs will change over time, many current jobs will still be required and provide transferable knowledge and skills for future jobs changed by technology with some training. Many of the skills necessary for working in LNG transfer into other industries including forestry and mining.