Exoskeletons giving miners super-strength and endurance, “collaborative” robots to augment labour supply and sensors gauging workers’ health and wellbeing are some of the innovations set to change the face of the resources and energy sector, according to a new report.
Megatrends, from the Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association, forecasts unprecedented technological and other workforce adaptation, much of it driven by the net-zero transition.
“Megatrends ranging from generative AI to the energy transition are changing the world and the future of work,” AREEA CEO Steve Knott said.
“They’re driving innovation, investment and government incentives and regulation – and creating opportunities and challenges for the resources and energy industry.
“Traditional strengths such as gas will continue to play a crucial role in the energy mix. But only the right planning, capability and resourcing will ensure the sector remains robust and profitable moving forward.”
According to the report, the industry’s biggest megatrends include the materials revolution, the bio-revolution and the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution – with findings further informed by a survey of 20 senior resource and energy industry leaders.
The speed of transformation promises huge gains but also uncertainty – contributing to another megatrend: greater demand for trust and governance.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a high-tech strategy for the complete digitisation of industrial production,” the report says.
“Mining-related innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution include biomechanical exoskeletons, augmented reality-enabled maintenance, virtual reality training for high-risk scenarios, wearable sensors for measuring health and wellbeing, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag systems to automate reporting of malfunctioning equipment (and) collaborative robots for strenuous and repetitive tasks such as loading.
“In the oil and gas industry, new technologies include thermal imaging drone inspections of pipelines, virtual reality walkthroughs of offshore installations, drilling equipment with smart sensors to aid decision-making (and) pipelines with inbuilt smart leak detectors.”
The uptake of AI, automation and next-generation computing – increasing efficiency, productivity and lowering costs – is already rewiring the resources and energy industry, with international oil and gas companies projected to spend up to $12 billion a year by 2030 on cloud computing and analytics.
However, the report cautions the sector’s “cyber maturity” is relatively low: “A new trust architecture is required to defend against (cyber) attacks.”
The materials revolution will harness responsive and lightweight “nanomaterials” with outstanding magnetic, optical and mechanical properties for exploration and production.
While the bio-revolution, triggered in part by the COVID pandemic, will see a major upgrading of infrastructure and facilities to higher hygiene and biosafety standards.
Across the board, the report says the resources and energy industry must prepare for upskilling and restructuring aligned to four overarching themes: growing demand for specialised technology skills, changing workforce demographics, less demand for low-skilled, routine and on-location jobs and greater workforce expectations.
The Megatrends are:
- Climate change adaptation, net zero
- Fourth Industrial Revolution
- Materials Revolution
- Bio-Revolution
- Uncertainty
- Trust and Governance
- Disruptive IT trends
