Full Report
Heritage Petroleum Company used Cogent DataHub software to integrate new IoT-enabled well-monitoring devices.
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: Heritage Petroleum Modernizes SCADA with IoT Integration via Skkynet DataHub
## Summary
Heritage Petroleum Company successfully upgraded its legacy SCADA system by integrating new IoT-enabled sensors using Skkynet's DataHub software, allowing for data ingestion via MQTT from LoRaWAN devices directly into their existing AVEVA environment without a full infrastructure replacement. This case study highlights the capability of flexible middleware to bridge legacy operational technology (OT) with modern Industrial IoT (IIoT) protocols, yielding significant cost and time savings.
## Key Details
- Date: October 03, 2025 (Publication Date)
- Companies Involved: Heritage Petroleum Company, Skkynet (DataHub), TOSL Automation and Technology Limited (TATL), AVEVA, Incentro S.A., Soati, HiberHilo.
- Category: Case Study (Technology Implementation/IIoT Integration)
## The Story
Following its formation in 2018, Heritage Petroleum inherited an outdated SCADA system. The modernization project, led by TATL in collaboration with AVEVA partners (Incentro, Soati), focused on two phases: upgrading the existing AVEVA InTouch, Historian, and Web Client, and integrating remote sensor monitoring via IoT. The team opted for an upgrade over a full replacement to leverage existing assets. A critical need emerged for an MQTT broker to handle data from new HiberHilo LoRaWAN sensors. Skkynet's DataHub software, specifically its Smart MQTT Broker, was selected for its proven compatibility with both AVEVA and the MQTT protocol used by the sensors. The implementation required complex custom scripting within DataHub to convert various JSON data formats from the sensors into a usable format for the AVEVA suite via OPC. Furthermore, the team engineered a robust, redundant switchover mechanism using DataHub scripts to monitor data quality streams from dual MQTT servers, ensuring continuous connectivity even when sensor servers failed to report.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **Heritage Petroleum:** Gained modernized dashboards, improved analytics, better alarm management, increased system stability, and scalability for future sensor additions (onshore expansion planned). Significant cost savings were realized by reusing existing hardware and avoiding a full infrastructure overhaul, saving an estimated six months of work.
- **TATL, Incentro, Soati, Skkynet:** Demonstrated successful collaboration on complex OT/IT convergence, validating the DataHub platform's versatility in bespoke industrial environments requiring protocol translation and redundancy engineering.
### For Competitors
- **SCADA/HMI Vendors (e.g., Siemens, Rockwell):** Competitors selling full-stack replacement solutions may face pushback if clients see viable, cost-effective pathways to modernize existing systems using adaptable middleware like DataHub alongside incumbent platforms (like AVEVA).
- **IIoT Platform Providers:** This validates the necessity of robust middleware that can handle protocol translation (especially JSON/MQTT) and integrate deeply into existing proprietary OT systems, rather than forcing a full migration to a cloud-native IIoT stack.
### For Customers
- **Improved Reliability and Visibility:** Customers benefit indirectly from more stable and granular operational monitoring, which should translate into better asset uptime and more efficient oil and gas production.
### For the Market
- This case validates the "Brownfield Digitalization" trend, proving that high-value IoT integration can be achieved on legacy systems without massive capital expenditure on "rip-and-replace" projects. It reinforces the ongoing value of protocol-agnostic integration software in industrial settings.
## Technical Implications
The core technical achievement was the successful bridging of **LoRaWAN $\rightarrow$ MQTT $\rightarrow$ JSON Translation $\rightarrow$ OPC $\rightarrow$ AVEVA SCADA**. Key innovations included:
1. **Protocol Conversion:** Custom scripting within DataHub to normalize diverse JSON payloads from different sensors.
2. **Redundancy Engineering:** Utilizing DataHub's monitoring capabilities to create a sophisticated, automatic failover mechanism based on a quality-of-service parameter check between two parallel MQTT sources.
3. **Integration:** Seamlessly feeding real-time IIoT data streams into an established HMI/Historian platform.
## Strategic Analysis
- **Market Positioning:** Heritage is positioning itself as a modern O&G producer, successfully adopting IIoT capabilities while maintaining fiscal responsibility by optimizing existing assets.
- **Competitive Advantage:** Heritage gains a competitive edge through enhanced operational efficiency derived from real-time sensor data integration, which supports better decision-making and predictive maintenance capabilities.
- **Challenges:** The reliance on custom scripting for JSON conversion, while successful, introduces maintenance complexity that requires specialized internal knowledge (which Skkynet is addressing via training). Future scalability depends on maintaining this specialized middleware expertise.
## Industry Reactions
- **Analyst Opinions:** Analysts specializing in Industrial Automation will likely view this as a prime example where integration layer flexibility (middleware) provides superior ROI compared to proprietary, closed ecosystems.
- **Expert Commentary:** Experts emphasize the necessity of solutions that can handle the messy reality of industrial data (multiple protocols, varied formats) rather than requiring perfect theoretical network designs.
- **Market Response:** A success story like this often spurs increased interest in DataHub and similar integration platforms from other companies facing similar legacy modernization pressures in sectors like utilities, manufacturing, and energy.
## Future Outlook
- **Predictions and Expectations:** Heritage is expected to continue expanding this architecture to more onshore units, potentially utilizing the scalability afforded by DataHub acting as a centralized broker for future sensor deployments.
- **What to watch for:** Further case studies detailing the specific ROI derived from the improved analytics and alarm management mentioned.
## For Security Professionals
This implementation underscores a crucial security consideration in OT modernization: **securing the integration layer.** While DataHub enables connectivity, the introduction of MQTT brokers and external JSON processing scripts expands the potential attack surface. Security teams must ensure the custom scripts are audited for integrity and that firewall rules strictly control data flow paths, particularly across the newly established MQTT connections, especially in critical infrastructure like an oil and gas operation.