Drone aircraft increases the efficiency of the oil industry

Today, unmanned aerial vehicles are often used in the industry, including the oil and gas field. UAVs show high efficiency in photometry, when creating 3-D models of industrial buildings and structures, geological exploration, as well as during technical inspection of entire plants and individual units (cooling towers, flare installations, pipes and tanks). If equipped with the appropriate equipment, the drone can detect a leak of the same natural gas much faster than a man, as well as assess its severity.

The use of drones is part of the modernization of the oil industry. BP and Shell are recognized leaders in the pace of implementation of this technology. However, Russian companies are also actively using UAVs. For example, Gazpromneft uses unmanned vehicles to deliver samples to laboratories on-line, while Rosneft monitors the condition of oil pipelines in real time and monitors compliance with the checkpoint regime.

Given the geography of Russian oil and gas companies, it is of great importance for them to constantly monitor the state of the area for the development of soil subsidence, which pose a threat to the destruction of pipelines.

One of the best technological solutions for this task is the use of UAVs with lidars (active optical range finders with laser emitters), inertial measurement modules and high-resolution cameras. This hardware system allows to record the smallest details of even the most complex geological structures, track the dynamics of their changes, and create detailed 3-D models of natural objects or industrial structures.