The Digital Oilfield: Rising Bandwidth Demand, Consolidation and the HTS Puzzle

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., May 25, 2011--Recent discoveries in remote areas such as the Arctic are pushing the Oil & Gas (O&G) sector further away from terrestrial service, which drives satellite connectivity in the digital oilfield.  NSR heard three distinct messages at the Global VSAT Forum’s (GVF) 4th Annual Oil and Gas Communications Europe 2011 conference in Aberdeen on 17 – 18th May. The conference offered an opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of three clear trends affecting this market: O&G industry bandwidth needs are ever increasing, consolidation on the satellite service side has opened previously closed doors to smaller providers, and there are concerns over High Throughput Satellite (HTS) Ka-Band offerings.