Decarbonization, digital transformation, and technology innovation have accelerated significantly in the past five years. The global energy industry is experiencing an unprecedented transition, and this change is bringing exciting new growth opportunities to the oil and gas (O&G) sector.

Digital technology and new business models are driving the optimization of O&G, including critical areas like process efficiency, decarbonization, safety, sustainability, and user experience. Opportunities arising from the digital transformation of O&G include maintaining operational efficiency, supporting an aging workforce, enabling predictive maintenance, driving profitability, and supporting the achievement of sustainability goals.

This study lists and evaluates the top 10 growth opportunities that Frost & Sullivan has identified for the digitalization and automation of the global O&G industry in 2024.

Automation technologies are becoming increasingly important in O&G. In 2022, the global O&G automation market reached a value of $17.78 billion, driven by the popularity of transformative digitalization trends and the urgent need to improve worker safety. The market is anticipated to steadily grow at a CAGR of 7.61% from 2022 to 2030, reaching a market value of $32.08 billion by the end of the forecast period.

Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and robotics will dominate the market, as they enable full operational automation. The prevalent applications will be predictive maintenance, remote site monitoring, data and asset management, and energy management; in turn, this will pave the way to cleaner and innovative oil and gas procedures, including the creation of subsea facilities, autonomous drilling operations, and virtual training and exploration.

Finally, automation technologies will play a major role in achieving both digital and energy transition in O&G, becoming an essential tool for meeting and complying with net-zero objectives by 2050.