Splitting the team between land and sea demands new work processes, which together with ICT is the two main focus points for IO.
Reviews of the application of Integrated Operations can be found in papers presented in the by-annual society of petroleum engineers Intelligent Energy conferences.
[1] A focus on the whole production chain is also seen in debates about how to organize people in an IO organisation, with frequent calls for breaking down the Information silos in the oil companies.
Since 2010 major mining companies have become implementers of Integrated Operations, most notable Rio Tinto, BHP Biliton and Codelco.
[7] Common to most companies is that IO leads to cost savings as fewer people are stationed offshore and an increased efficiency.
Lower costs, more efficient reservoir management and fewer mistakes during well drilling will in turn raise profits and make more oil fields economically viable.
[8] On a longer time-scale, working onshore control and monitoring of the oil production may become a necessity as new fields at deeper waters are based purely on unmanned sub-sea facilities.
Moving jobs onshore has also been touted as a way to keep and make better use of an aging workforce, which is regarded as a challenge by western oil and gas companies.
More comfortable onshore jobs together with "high-tech" tools has also been fronted as a way to recruit young workers into an industry that is seen as "unsexy", "lowtech" and difficult to combine with a normal family life.
The increased integration of the offshore facilities with the onshore office environment and outside collaborators also expose work-critical ICT-infrastructure to the internet and the hazards of everyday ICT.