With Big Oil After Resource Maximization, Honeywell's Automation Boss Eyes Fresh Opportunities

Over the last 12 to 18 months, almost every chief executive at the helm of a major oil company has outlined an ambition to lower corporate break-even down to the $30-40 per barrel range, a sentiment that's unlikely to alter despite the recent relative strengthening of futures prices. And with'Big Oil' targeting throughput maximization via digitally underpinned performance enhancing levers, the landscape is getting more competitive than ever for vendors helping them reach that process optimization Alamo. Among the vendors toughing it out sensing incremental opportunities in the sector's new found preference for data analytics, cloud computing, automation, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) is Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS), the multinational company's automation and control solutions division. Vimal Kapur, President of Honeywell Process Solutions, says his company is busy demonstrating the value of cross-spectrum digitization and big data to oil and gas majors. Vimal Kapur, President of HPS, says the message from the oil and gas industry is clear – good times or bad, they want their margins to remain on positive turf with the aid of new technologies.