The oil and gas industry has always been an early adopter of satellite communications technology. The industry has a fundamental need for high quality connectivity in remote locations from exploration sites in jungles and deserts to offshore drilling rigs in oceans. This connectivity has to be highly-available, robust, secure and reliable.
Oil and gas has an industrial footprint that goes far beyond drilling rigs and exploration bases. Refineries, pipelines and distribution networks are also central to industry operations and these are also often in remote locations. Think of pipelines that traverse sparsely populated landscapes but still need to be maintained or storage tanks that have to be monitored and it’s clear to see the value satellite connections offer to the industry both from safety and operational security perspectives.
It’s not just the infrastructure that needs to be addressed. Valuable assets are routinely deployed in support of these operations which need to be located and secured. Worker safety is a paramount consideration so tracking, monitoring and resilient, mission critical communications are essentials. Don’t forget that compliance with health and safety and environment regulations is an essential part of this industry and companies are committed to ensuring their workers and the environment are fully protected.
The only option
Achieving that demands consistent connectivity regardless of location and oil and gas organisations have to ensure they can connect a growing number of devices to meet these requirements. That means everything from personal devices to enable communication and tracking to connectivity to support edge devices and manage pipeline maintenance needs access to satellite connectivity to ensure operations can proceed. Satellite is often the only option.
The need is growing. Global energy thinktank Ember has released research which has revealed that 29% of global on-shore oil and gas is produced in challenging-to-monitor regions. With many areas outside of cellular coverage, the industry, which is set to see its installed base of wireless devices grow from 7.8 million to 18.8 million in the period 2023-2028 according to Berg Insight, needs to manage a growing base of industrial equipment across tanks, pipelines and transportation tankers.
In addition, more granular data is being collected and analysed in real-time from drilling rigs and production wells. These data can be complex and involve significant volume so data flows cannot be well-supported by low power wide area private networks or LoRa networks. Even with edge computing being adopted to reduce the need to communicate, oil and gas companies still need to reduce latency and make faster decisions to ensure downtime is minimised and the performance of costly assets can be maximised.
Reliable connectivity
In oil and gas, the stakes are high. By their definition, production environments come with significant risks and the consequences of lack of visibility can have enormous impacts including environmental damage, danger to workers and populations. The wider infrastructure and equipment the industry relies upon also needs to be maintained, secured and optimised. Satellite uniquely enables this across the surface of the planet and, with recent innovations making the technology more accessible than ever before, the industry is increasingly relying on satellite.
Read on to learn how Globalstar is supporting oil and gas organisation with high-quality satellite connectivity to support their operational goals: https://www.iot-now.com/2025/11/19/153879-unlock-always-on-connectivity-for-rem
George Malim