When Water Bites Back: How Oil and Gas Learned to Respect Its Most Overlooked Resource

Water is the unsung workhorse of the oil and gas industry. It's instrumental for generating steam, driving b, lubricating drill bits, flooding reservoirs, and separating oil from oil sands. Historically it's been cheap, plentiful, and overlooked. As climate pressures mount and scarcity becomes real, water is now emerging as one of the industry's most critical resources.

Water isn't just another utility, like power. It's a highly interconnected system. A quick fix in one unit can cause downstream failures, regulatory breaches, or environmental harm. Unlike power, water can be reused. Companies are now wise to the fact that traditional, siloed approaches to water management no longer work.

One solution lies in building holistic, site-wide digital twins of water systems. These models bring together flows, chemistry, capacity, compliance, and infrastructure data into one view, enabling operators to troubleshoot more effectively, run "what if" scenarios, and align operations with ESG commitments.

In this episode, I speak with Gil Maron, a project engineer with FTD Solutions, about his journey from refinery process engineer to water management specialist, why water is local and unique to every site, and how digital twins are helping oil and gas companies cut costs, meet sustainability goals, and avoid costly mistakes.

👤 About the Guest

Gil Maron is a Project Engineer at FTD Solutions, where he focuses on industrial water management, treatment, and analytics. With a background in refinery operations and pharmaceuticals, Gil brings deep expertise in troubleshooting complex process systems. At FTD, he works with oil and gas, semiconductors, and other industries to help clients adopt holistic, data-driven approaches to water use and sustainability.

🔗 Connect with Gil on LinkedIn

🔗 Learn more at FTD Solutions

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The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.