Petroleum industry consortium lays out plans for 2009
The Oil and Gas RFID (OGR) Solution Group, a consortium dedicated to promoting the growth of RFID usage in the petroleum industry, has laid out its strategy for 2009. The group, with a membership including energy company executives, academics and RFID industry experts, has added new members, is opening a lab facility, and hopes to expand its operations to major oil production areas such as the Middle East.
New members of the group include representatives from BP, Dow Chemicals, Oracle, and Texas Instruments. They join a list of founding members with credentials from industry leaders including Shipcom Wireless, Avery Dennison, EPC Global, and a number of universities and petroleum companies.
The group also announced the opening of a 52 acre live-lab facility, which includes simulated petroleum and petrochemical environments for testing field equipment and RFID applications. The environments include production facilities, storage tanks, rigs, pipeline, rail cars and various other scenarios common in the industry.
In addition to expanding the group’s operations into the Middle East, OGR plans to address the changing role of the petroleum industry in 2009. With fluctuations in gas prices and the generally deteriorating global economy, the consortium believes the time is right for the cost-saving aspects of RFID applications to make headway in the industry. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
