Middle East & Africa Digital Oilfield Market size is predicted to grow substantially from 2021 to 2027 on account of the increasing exploration & production activities coupled with growing investments in smart technology. Digital Oilfield conceptualizes a combination of business process management with digital technologies for workflow automation to maximize productivity. Favorable government mandates, tax rebates, and subsidies across the oil & gas sector along with rising private investments will foster the market revenue. Furthermore, ongoing technological advancements toward the integration of smart & AI-based technologies will facilitate substantial enhancement across the management and performance of oil & gas platforms.
COVID- 19 has impacted the production rates from oil fields across the world by dramatically accelerating the adoption of digital technology. Cost savings that digital technology can offer are critical to survival in today's low-cost environment as oil & gas companies seek to increase operational efficiency and boost productivity throughout the value chain. However, to take full advantage of these investments, oil & gas companies require the skills to harness and use the technology to its full potential.
The production optimization process segment in the MEA digital oilfield market will witness an upsurge during the forecast period, due to enhanced production routine operation coupled with the ability to overcome formation damage throughout the well construction. Increasing public & private investments for the development & redevelopment of oil fields to surge the total crude & natural gas production will drive the industry outlook. For instance, in 2020, Saudi Aramco announced to invest USD 110 billion to develop the unconventional gas field located in Jafurah.
Deployment of a wide range of enhanced oil recovery systems coupled with the rising number of mature gas fields will sway the technology adoption across the reservoir optimization industry. Moreover, the adoption of improved oil recovery solutions for reservoir optimization coupled with rising numbers of mature gas fields across the Middle East will fuel the adoption of this technology. Major companies are adopting AI platforms, such as FracDax, for improved production recovery rates of brown fields by integration of field data with the existing production management will propel overall production.
Growing applicability of smart wells, distributed control systems, security systems, and SCADA for production efficiency improvement and real-time data analysis will fuel the demand for instrumentation and automation solutions. Moreover, the information technology segment is projected to witness an upsurge on account of continuous yield tracking, ROI enhancement, and real-time decision support. In addition, ongoing technological advancements have augmented the improvement in recovery rate of many fields, which were declared non-profitable.
The Saudi Arabia digital oilfield market is anticipated to register significant growth rate through 2027, led by stimulation in offshore activities and operations along with increasing exploration activities across the oil & gas sector. For instance, in 2020, Saudi Aramco discovered two new oil & gas fields in northern parts of the country. In addition, National Oil Companies (NOCs) are focusing on optimization of business operations, cost cutting, and improved recovery rates of maturing fields.
Some of the prominent players operating in the MEA digital oilfield market include Schlumberger, Kuwait Oil Company, Honeywell, Sinopec Oilfield Service Corporation, Weatherford, Siemens, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Accenture. Ongoing mergers and acquisitions followed by inorganic growth ventures will foster the over industry scenario. For instance, in 2020, Saudi Aramco and Cognite announced a JV to optimize production, workforce digitalization, and predictive maintenance along with minimal ecological footprint of industrial operations.