Woodside Energy is making internet of things part of its formal technology strategy, having seen enough of its potential in earlier projects.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer said it had revamped and approved a new technology strategy in Q3 of this year.

Three out of four pillars of the technology strategy are new, and among them is a new “intelligent assets” priority that encompasses “developments in data science, IoT, robotics and artificial intelligence.”

The company has been doing work in all of these areas over the past several years. It piloted IoT at its Pluto LNG plant in 2016 and laid out intentions at the time to expand IoT across its operations.

More recently, the company has looked to clip magnetic sensors to equipment in the hopes of furthering its IoT efforts.

Technology vice president Sean Salter made clear that the company had seen enough from its efforts so far to keep investing in intelligent systems.

“We’ve been monitoring these trends and we’re now confident they offer sufficient opportunity value for us to actively engage with, rather than maintaining a watching brief,” Salter said.

Woodside said that formally adopting intelligent assets as a priority constituted a “significant shift for Woodside because they do not represent traditional areas of interest for an oil and gas company.”

It said it would have to enter more collaborative arrangements in order to realise future benefits.