The oil and gas industries operate in a complex regulatory environment covering every aspect of upstream and downstream operations. From testing and tracking drilling site samples to performing product analysis and conforming to environmental protection regulations, oil and gas producers and refiners face a plethora of rules and significant potential penalties for being out of compliance.
It’s no easy feat for the lab operations of any oil and gas company to keep pace with these requirements, whether they are based in a single state or have operations around the world.
In California alone, multiple arms of the state’s Air Resources Board as well as its Department of Conservation’s GEM division impose regulations on oil and gas drilling, processing, storage, and environmental impacts. The state also has recently granted cities and counties increased rights to oversight of the industry, resulting in differing requirements for wells and production in Los Angeles County versus Kern County, the state’s largest oil producer. Even in oil and gas friendly Texas, producers have to abide by rules set both by the state’s Railroad Commission and its Commission on Environmental Quality, and being out of compliance puts companies at risk of fines that range from $10,000 a day for pollution at a gas well to $200,000 a day for a gas pipeline.
The EU, for its part, implemented new regulations on methane emissions in 2024, with mandatory measurement, reporting, and verification requirements for both operational and non-operational assets. In serious cases of violation, member states can impose fines up to 20% of annual turnover. The regulations apply not only to oil and natural gas produced in the EU, but also to imported LNG.
Given the cost and possible loss of reputation associated with being out of compliance, companies throughout the industry have an urgent need to make sure their lab operations are efficient and accurate. That’s a major challenge when labs are responsible for testing and producing such a wide range data with big implications.
Labs can get bogged down performing manual tasks and data entry, leading to delays in reporting and increased costs of operation. It takes the lab team away from higher-value work, and as minutes of inefficiency multiply into days of delays, ROI suffers. The solution is to add automation, centralization, and management to the process with a comprehensive Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) – a solution where STARLIMS is an industry leader. We’ve built our system to make it easy for customers to enhance efficiency and minimize manual work, simplifying compliance and maximizing your lab cost savings.
WHAT STARLIMS Can Do For Your Company
STARLIMS delivers significant cost savings potential and increased efficiencies in the testing process, enabling oil and gas makers to take control of lab costs without compromising on performance or quality. STARLIMS automates key workflows such as:
- Sample tracking and lifecycle management
- Batch release workflows and documentation
- Quality control and audit trail documentation
- Alerts and escalations for non-conformances
Inefficiencies don’t just cause delays – they increase the risk for errors, compliance gaps, and missed deadlines. Automating these processes not only saves you valuable time, but it also actually reduces the risk of human error, whether in data entry or in transcribing to other files or systems. With a LIMS, your team will spend less time on admin tasks and more time getting quality products to market faster.
A key advantage of choosing STARLIMS is that we offer a wide range of out-of-the box (OOTB) solutions purpose-built to address the specific needs of oil and gas manufacturers. These OOTB solutions enable your oil and gas labs to rapidly automate workflows, minimize manual tasks, and reduce the risk of data collection and transcription errors. Using these pre-built, industry-specific workflows, you can easily and quickly implement automated processes and begin breaking down data silos and reducing costs.
Another key benefit of automating with STARLIMS is the ability to get a much clearer and up-to-date picture of costs in various parts of your operation. That data can help you understand where to focus additional cost-reduction efforts across your manufacturing process, while keeping both your performance and your compliance needs paramount. You’ll be getting a holistic view of your lab operations and spending to enable you to make informed decisions that transform your lab from a cost center into a performance enhancement engine that can help you increase ROI.
If you’re ready to optimize your lab operations and see your true lab cost savings, take the next step: Try our free ROI calculator and discover your potential annual savings with STARLIMS.