VR Is Changing the Energy Sector: Use Cases

Virtual reality is no longer just about video games: it can offer various solutions to a business from effective employee training to product development. While many mistakenly believe that VR will be effective only for innovative businesses, these technologies also help optimize business processes for companies in more traditional industries. The scope of the company implementing VR can be anything: from medicine to construction and logistics.

Virtual employee training is one of the most common cases of VR implementation in the energy sector. The work in the energy sector involves many complicated processes that is why the requirements and expectations for employees are quite high. Employees need a safe and high-quality training, which virtual reality helps guarantee. 

It is also important to prepare employees for emergency situations, which could be a threat to any company. VR emergency training helps teach your employees a set of actions that could minimize the possible losses.

Companies from the energy sector have to deal with heavy machinery, and transportation often comes as an issue. VR allows to demonstrate products in detail without the need to transport them, therefore, it saves the company’s budget. 

VR technologies help streamline the process of monitoring complex devices. Oil and gas companies often work with generators and compressors for drilling operations, which operate under high pressure. Monitoring is extremely important as any malfunctions can lead to serious consequences. VR applications are attached to monitoring systems using sensors and allow mechanical engineers to monitor equipment without physical presence at the location, and also provide quick and accurate diagnostics in case of failures.

Finally, VR technologies are used for seismic data visualisation (for example, Sketchbox offers such a solution). VR project allows to choose a better place for drilling a well. Drilling sites can be tested in VR before performing real operations, which leads to huge savings.

In this article we will take a closer look at such solutions as VR employee training and safety training as well as a showroom for product demonstration. The leaders of the energy sector have already implemented VR, and that is why you should, too. 

What are the disadvantages of traditional employee training? Firstly, the training involves the time of the manager himself, and his salary adds to financial costs. Employees come and go, so someone constantly should be able to train newcomers. If the company is big and hires a lot of people,  new employees will have to wait a long time for their turn. 

The work in the oil and gas industry often comes with risk. In some cases new employees are not even allowed to operate the machinery, and they only get a theoretical training. This leads to making all sorts of mistakes once they start working. 

In order to avoid such mistakes, Gazprom Neft decided to implement VR training. This project had two goals: to teach the new employees all the needed skills and to check the knowledge of the existing personnel. 

The pilot training was made on the Varwin platform, which allowed the client to make changes to the project without developers. Within the training, the worker had to complete a series of tasks, and the program evaluated his performance and gave a final score. All the tasks that an employee was doing in VR resembled the ones that he had to do later at the job. The tasks varied from signing in a safety journal to relieving well pressure. 

Such an approach allowed Gazprom Neft not only to save money and time on training new employees (since one project can be used for years) but also to make sure all employees get effective training. In order to complete a VR training, an employee had to successfully complete all tasks and gain a certain number of points. The program also allows to repeat a certain task multiple times if an employee struggles with it. 

Another important aspect of employee training is preparing employees for emergency situations. In cases of emergency, every mistake can turn out as losses for the company. VR allows to create a specific program for training a set of actions in emergency situations. Such program allows to check the stress resistance of employees and prepare them for any unexpected conditions.

Immerse studio developed a VR safety training for Shell, one of the world oil and gas leaders. In that scenario, a fire broke out because of the fuel tank overflowed. Employees had a task to minimize the risks in this situation.

During the training, a safety expert observes the actions of employees and evaluates their performance. In real life working with such scenarios is expensive, time-consuming and dangerous. VR allows to model emergency situations without any risks and with less costs.

The Russian company Teplocom creates equipment that helps account for energy resources, and automate the production, distribution and consumption of heat. Over 30 years of history, the company has implemented a lot of projects in Russia and abroad.

In order to demonstrate the products to customers and partners, they had to transport them first, and then install them in showrooms. Teplocom equipment weighs several hundred of kilograms, and transportation comes with a lot of costs for the company. 

Developing a VR showroom helped solve this problem. iVariant VR studio developed the project for Teplocom, which allowed them to demonstrate their products from any geographical point with the help of VR glasses. 

Boris Lapenok, Teplocom development director, emphasizes: “Although we work in a traditional market, we are aware of the importance of implementing new technologies. We used to bring our machinery to exhibitions, which was very expensive for the company. VR is an opportunity for us to significantly minimize the costs. ”

VR technologies not only save costs, but also help the energy sector further develop. VR changes the perception of the company in the market and allows you to build a training system that will develop together with the business. Technologies like Varwin, BrioVR and others streamline VR development and make sure the project reflects all the changes in business processes.

This leads to VR projects being used for a longer period of time. Last but not least, implementing VR results in a brand being perceived as innovative. This is especially important for companies working in the traditional industries.