OTC 2026: Offshore operators look to close surveillance blind spots as assets age and crews shrink
By Ariana Hurtado, Editor-in-Chief, Offshore
As offshore facilities become increasingly automated and, in some cases, unmanned, operators are rethinking how they maintain situational awareness across aging assets.
Reduced crew sizes, longer inspection intervals and legacy infrastructure are creating new operational blind spots, particularly around safety, security and early‑stage equipment issues.
Many offshore sites now operate with skeleton crews or are completely unmanned for periods of time, explained Darren Alder, head of energy at Synectics, during a pre-OTC interview with Offshore.
“Combine this with aging assets, where existing equipment is arguably most at risk from degradation, and you have a significant risk of faults, safety issues or security breaches going unnoticed until they escalate," he said. "This leads to blind spots.”
That combination is driving a shift in how operators view surveillance, not as a standalone security function but as part of broader operational awareness. The emphasis, Alder said, is on earlier risk identification and better decision‑making, even with fewer people offshore.
“Operators are looking to update incrementally—protecting the value of existing infrastructure while introducing capabilities such as analytics, thermal monitoring and remote monitoring capabilities in a phased, controlled way,” he continued. “The goal is proactive awareness: using integrated systems to identify risk earlier and support faster, more informed decisions, even with reduced headcounts.”
Incremental modernization over wholesale replacement
Rather than rip‑and‑replace upgrades, many operators are taking a cautious, stepwise approach to modernization. That approach reflects both operational realities and concerns about introducing complexity offshore. Surveillance technologies must work within constrained environments, where reliability and maintainability often outweigh feature density.
There is also an increasing cybersecurity dimension to that calculus. Legacy surveillance systems, particularly those no longer supported or regularly patched, can introduce vulnerabilities that are not always visible in day‑to‑day operations.
“Many legacy surveillance systems simply weren’t designed for today’s cyber threat landscape,” Alder said, noting that unsupported systems can sit “outside day‑to‑day operational visibility but still pose a very real risk.”
This has reinforced interest in upgrades that improve resilience while minimizing disruption, particularly those that can be layered onto existing infrastructure rather than rebuilt from scratch.
Practical pathways for analytics offshore
Despite growing interest in analytics‑driven surveillance, operators remain cautious about adding new digital layers offshore. Harsh environmental conditions and limited tolerance for failure mean any new capability must clearly demonstrate value without increasing risk.
“Offshore environments are unforgiving, so anything new must prove it won’t introduce additional risk or complexity,” Alder said. “Simplicity and practicality are ingredients for making AI‑driven risk detection viable offshore.”
Operators are increasingly favoring use‑case‑led deployments, starting with narrowly defined challenges and expanding only once confidence is established. According to Alder, applications such as detecting PPE non‑compliance or identifying activity in restricted areas are often early entry points, before broader analytics adoption.
As offshore assets continue to age and workforce models evolve, visibility gaps are becoming harder to justify.
"Closing these gaps—across safety, security and operations—is now essential for performance, not just protection," he concluded. "This is where modern surveillance solutions deliver real value.”
Synectics will be exhibiting at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) at booth 2623.
Offshore is an official media partner of OTC 2026.
About the Author
Ariana Hurtado
Editor-in-Chief
With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.