Frost & Sullivan: Need to Maximize Productivity Drives Adoption of ACS in Malaysian Oil & Gas Upstream Sector

-- Demand for real-time integration of data from fields makes open architecture control systems more relevant

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Escalating energy requirements in Malaysia are compelling heavy investments in the oil and gas sector. The consequent rise in the number of projects is giving the automation and control solutions (ACS) market for oil and gas a boost. Moreover, automation solutions have become an integral part of upstream facilities as they play a critical role in the monitoring and control of applications to maximize productivity.

As a result, ACS market revenues are expected to go up from US$77.5 million in 2012 to US$112.1 million in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 7.6 percent, according Analysis of the Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) Market in Malaysian Oil and Gas Upstream research from Frost & Sullivan. The study covers programmable logic controllers, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), distributed control systems (DCS), human machine interfaces, and manufacturing execution systems.

While energy demand in Malaysia is expected to reach 93.0 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2030, the country's oil production is declining as several reservoirs mature. To meet the target of a five percent annual increase in oil production till 2020, Malaysia is looking to enhance the production in existing fields as well as explore new deep-water fields.

"Higher bandwidth subsea-to-surface communication for sub-sea production operations has increased the production data available, and the real-time integration of this data with information collected from the rest of the plant is crucial for better plant analysis and smarter decision-making," saidFrost & Sullivan Industrial Automation and Process Control Research Analyst Vivek K Reghu. "This is fuelling the adoption of open architecture control systems."

As a result, the ACS market is growing steadily on the back of the booming Malaysian oil and gas sector, which enjoys huge profits due to climbing crude oil prices. However, this also makes it susceptible to volatile conditions in the future, as volatility in global energy prices can impact end-user investment sentiments and, in turn, affect the oil and gas upstream ACS market.

Security concerns about open architecture is another key challenge. The market could witness strategic partnerships between automation vendors and renowned IT organizations as the former try to address this risk.

ACS providers are also introducing virtualization support features in the DCS and SCADA portfolio to appeal to a larger end-user base, as the shift from multiple servers to a single server will be vital to bring down operational costs.

"It is important to have a good working relationship with key oil industry stake holders," advised Reghu. "This is especially crucial as companies are required to be registered vendors of companies such as Petronas in Malaysia to carry out operations in the upstream oil and gas sector."

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Analysis of the Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) Market in Malaysian Oil and Gas Upstream is part of the Industrial Automation & Process Control (http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/svcg.pag/AEIN) Growth Partnership Service program. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.