Modernizing oil and gas operations with IIoT stalls at the wellhead because most field equipment is 20 to 30 years old, lacks digital outputs, and runs on inaccurate documentation. According to Jonathan Morgan, COO at Jay-Bee Oil & Gas, sensor data at legacy brownfield sites is frequently missing or unreliable, making IIoT retrofits far more complex and costly than anticipated.
Why Do Legacy Systems Block IIoT Adoption in Oil & Gas?
Legacy oil and gas infrastructure blocks IIoT adoption because field equipment is typically 20 to 30 years old, built on long amortization schedules, and never designed for digital output. As Jonathan Morgan of Jay-Bee Oil & Gas stated, ‘What we might think is commonplace now didn’t exist then,’ meaning sensor data at these sites
How Does Poor Documentation Delay IIoT Rollouts?
Poor site documentation is a direct cause of IIoT project delays in oil and gas. During one sensor rollout discussed at IIoT World Energy Day 2025, operators found that pipeline diagrams did not match real-world layouts, forcing costly on-site inspections.
What Makes Retrofitting Oil & Gas Equipment So Complex?
Retrofitting older oil and gas equipment is technically complex because many legacy systems have no digital outputs at all. Todd Slind of TRC explained that this forces teams into manual tagging, custom connectors, and data normalization before any IIoT value can be achieved.
When Does an IIoT Retrofit Make Financial Sense for?
For marginal and low-output oil and gas wells, IIoT retrofit costs must be weighed against thin production economics. Jonathan Morgan of Jay-Bee Oil & Gas stated that for some wells, ‘$5 a month for something might not seem that outrageous, but it might actually be what tips them into non-economics.’ Operators must prioritize retrofits where the economic case holds.
Smart operations require more than smart tools. They demand a foundational layer of accurate, accessible, and standardized infrastructure data—something that many brownfield sites still lack. Until that gap is closed, true automation at scale will remain out of reach for much of the sector.
This article was written based on insights from the “Smart Operations in Oil and Gas: Leveraging IIoT for Efficiency” session, presented during IIoT World Energy Day 2025.
Related articles:
- Exploring Sovereign Datacentre’s with Scaleway
- The only Industrial IoT platform you’ll ever need
- The Industrial Data Maturity Model
