SandApps designs mobile and web applications for the people who find, produce, move and refine hydrocarbons. We focus on field data capture, production surveillance, pipeline integrity, safety and emissions reporting, built to work at remote sites with little or no connectivity.
The oil & gas value chain
Oil and natural gas travel a long way between the reservoir and the end user. The industry is usually divided into three segments, each with its own equipment, regulations, economics and data.
Exploration and production (E&P). Geoscientists use seismic surveys and well logs to locate reservoirs. Operators then drill, complete and produce wells onshore and offshore, using artificial lift such as pumpjacks, gas lift or electric submersible pumps to keep fluids flowing as reservoir pressure declines.
Gathering systems, gas processing plants, compressor stations, pipelines, rail terminals, storage tanks and marine terminals. Natural gas can be liquefied into LNG for export by ship. Integrity management, leak detection and scheduling are the core concerns.
Refineries separate and convert crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and feedstocks for petrochemical plants. Products are then blended, stored and distributed to terminals and retail stations. Margins depend on crude quality, refinery configuration and demand.
Oil sands are deposits of sand, clay and water saturated with bitumen, a very heavy and viscous form of petroleum that will not flow at reservoir temperature. The largest deposits lie in the Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River regions of northern Alberta, Canada, and similar extra-heavy crude is found in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt.
Because bitumen is so thick, it is either upgraded into synthetic crude oil or blended with a lighter diluent (producing "dilbit") before it can move through pipelines to refineries.
Where deposits are close to the surface, overburden is removed and the oil sand is dug up with shovels and haul trucks. Hot water separates the bitumen from the sand, and the remaining tailings are managed in ponds and reclaimed over time.
Most oil sands reserves are too deep to mine. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) uses paired horizontal wells: steam from the upper well heats the bitumen, which drains to the lower well and is pumped to surface. Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) uses a single well.
Steam-to-oil ratio, well-pair temperatures and pressures, water recycling rates, tailings volumes, land reclamation progress and greenhouse gas intensity are tracked continuously, and much of this data starts on a tablet or a handheld in the field.
Energy companies run on data collected at wellsites, plants and pipeline right-of-ways, often far from reliable networks. SandApps focuses on practical, offline-first tools that get that data where it needs to go.
Mobile forms for operator rounds, gauge readings, tank levels and inspections that work without signal and sync when a connection returns.
Dashboards that bring together well tests, SCADA readings and allocation data so engineers can spot declining wells and downtime early.
Right-of-way patrols, cathodic protection surveys, dig records and in-line inspection follow-ups captured against the right asset and location.
Permits to work, job safety analyses, hazard observations and incident reports that crews can complete at the job site.
Leak detection and repair (LDAR) surveys, flaring and venting logs, and the records needed for regulatory emissions reporting.
Work orders, equipment histories and preventive maintenance checklists for pumps, compressors, separators and heaters.
Benchmark oil and gas prices, price and production forecasts, and industry terms in multiple languages, on iPhone and Android and ready to use offline at remote sites.
Explore the appProducers around the world are working to cut the emissions intensity of every barrel and every cubic metre of gas. The work is operational as much as technological, and it depends on accurate measurement.
Our guides to how the business of oil and gas works, followed by authoritative sources for market data, statistics, engineering knowledge and regulation.
Upstream finds and produces oil and gas, midstream processes, transports and stores it, and downstream refines it into fuels and petrochemicals and sells them to customers.
Oil sands are mixtures of sand, clay, water and bitumen. The bitumen is too thick to flow on its own, so it is recovered by surface mining or by heating it underground with steam. Read more in our oil sands guide.
Two horizontal wells are drilled a few metres apart. Steam injected through the upper well heats the bitumen until it flows, and gravity carries it down to the lower well, where it is pumped to surface.
Bitumen is too viscous to pump over long distances. Blending it with a lighter diluent such as natural gas condensate lowers its viscosity so it meets pipeline specifications.
SandApps designs mobile and web software for oil and gas operations, with a focus on field data capture, production surveillance, pipeline integrity, safety and emissions reporting.