How asset tracking solves oil and gas equipment issues

Every morning, your operational footprint is spread across thousands of miles of remote basin geography. When a service crew arrives at a site only to find a critical asset is missing, misallocated or broken down, it creates immediate non-productive time, delays production timelines and erodes project margins.

Managing these sites and their necessary mobile equipment is a constant headache for operators already squeezed by rising equipment costs, production demands and labor shortages. Compounding these hurdles is a growing security threat: sophisticated criminal networks are increasingly targeting high-value machinery and products on unmonitored sites.¹

To manage this machinery and equipment, make better use of it and protect it from thieves and misuse, operators are adopting oil and gas asset tracking. This software replaces manual check-ins and fragmented spreadsheets with a centralized view of equipment location, utilization and health.

Implementing a robust oil and gas fleet tracking platform allows operations managers to address their largest equipment challenges that are impacting uptime, productivity and equipment costs.

Overcoming blind spots across remote acreage

The challenge: Managing multi-million-dollar support assets across sprawling basins like the Permian, Bakken or Marcellus has always been an administrative challenge. However, a decade of headcount reductions and internal restructuring has fundamentally “diluted internal capability, leaving teams smaller and less experienced."³ Understaffed crews simply do not have the bandwidth to manually track gear across a wide range of coordinates, creating costly operational blind spots.

The solution: Fleet management tools help lean teams by consolidating inventory into a centralized dashboard. Using a live map, teams have nearly instant tracking of every generator, light tower and transport asset across locations. This centralized visibility eliminates the frantic phone calls traditionally required to locate tools, stops equipment from vanishing into remote acreage  and helps prevent unnecessary rentals or duplicate capital purchases.

What’s the best fleet management software for oil and gas? Compare the features that matter most for oil and gas operations.

Securing remote equipment against theft and misuse

The problem: Oilfield assets are deployed in isolated, unmonitored environments, making them prime targets for sophisticated criminal networks. In Texas, annual statewide losses from petroleum and infrastructure theft at a staggering $1-$2 billion.¹ Increasingly sophisticated groups are targeting remote site infrastructure—including trucks, mobile generators, storage tanks and pipelines—and have been so active lately that the state is developing a new task force to manage the the threat.⁴ 

The solution: Using the active security features in oil and gas asset tracking software, managers can establish geofences around precise site coordinates and configure instant alerts for unscheduled engine ignitions. The moment an expensive generator or fluid tank is activated or moved outside of authorized shift hours without permission, managers receive immediate notification. This also allows teams to pinpoint a compromised asset, enabling fast coordination with local law enforcement and recovery before the machinery can be stripped or moved across state lines.

Networks of organized thieves are targeting remote oil sites for oil and equipment theft. Neutralize the threat to your oil and gas fleet with fleet management software.

Keeping critical equipment running longer as replacement costs rise

The challenge: Upstream and midstream operations run on heavy-duty, expensive equipment that is difficult and costly to replace because it requires specialized steel, aluminum and copper. Due to geopolitical instability and supply chain disruptions, pipe and accessory costs have gone up 40% nearly overnight, causing infrastructure investments to stall.² This puts additional pressure on operators to keep equipment healthy and functional.

The solution: Forward-thinking operators are moving away from reactive repairs and arbitrary, calendar-based maintenance schedules. By leveraging oil and gas fleet telematics data like automated engine-hour tracking, mechanical teams can execute preventive service based on true physical strain rather than guesswork. Capturing live diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) directly from active field machinery allows crews to isolate minor mechanical issues long before they escalate into a costly field breakdown.

Don’t let field friction turn into non-productive time. Learn how asset tracking supports uptime.

Making better use of already owned equipment 

The challenge: Oil and gas operators are under constant pressure to do more with existing resources. U.S. crude oil production hit a record 13.6 million barrels per day even as active rig counts fell by 5%, highlighting how much the industry depends on efficiency gains.⁵ Yet without dedicated oil, gas and mining fleet management, many companies still struggle to understand how equipment is being used across the field. When utilization is unclear, assets may sit idle on finished pads, wasting cash flow and allowing production to fall behind more agile operators. 

The solution: To maintain a competitive edge, every piece of iron must actively pull its weight. Deploying an asset tracking platform replaces guesswork with near real-time utilization metrics. By monitoring live locations and engine hours, supervisors can see exactly where machinery is sitting idle. Managers can then reduce unnecessary rentals and move underutilized equipment to crews or sites where it's needed most.

Get more value from the equipment you already own. Download our efficiency eBook and slash field waste.

How 3C Oilfield Services tracks inventory across the Bakken

Managing heavy inventory across the 9,000-square-mile expanse of the Bakken Oil Field is a significant logistical challenge. 3C Oilfield Services supports 24/7 rig operations using heavy trucks and massive winch trailers designed to move high-value oilfield equipment through remote, poorly marked lease coordinates.

In the open space of the patch, maintaining safety and operational visibility is essential for oil and gas fleets.

"We leave equipment in remote places and lots of high-dollar equipment likes to walk off," says Andy Maxwell, president of 3C Oilfield Services. "We’ve had some trailers go missing, too."

Beyond theft, the company faced the daily problem of locating and deploying equipment across vast distances, tracking mechanical wear and tear and capturing accurate usage data to remain competitive when bidding for new contracts.

To eliminate these blind spots, the company deployed Verizon Connect fleet management and asset tracking. Instead of burning labor and fuel on long-distance hunt-and-seek trips, dispatchers use live mapping to pinpoint exact trailer locations and adjust schedules on the fly.

"If something comes up that we weren’t planning for, I may have a couple of guys in that area that I can put on it right away," Maxwell says. "That’s where knowing where everybody is with the live maps really helps us. I was tired of asking those questions. I want to know answers."

What to look for in an oil and gas asset tracking provider

These challenges are exactly what oilfield service companies face when equipment is constantly moving between remote sites. Visibility, utilization and security have become priorities across the industry. Realizing those benefits depends on choosing a platform built for remote, equipment-heavy operations.

Verizon Connect consolidates fleet tracking, heavy-duty asset monitoring and integrated video  into a single, unified dashboard. This allows teams to monitor machinery, trailers and other assets from a single platform instead of switching between multiple systems. 

The right provider must deliver:

• Connectivity and API integrations: Software that can connect with other management software to unify business management processes.
• Rugged hardware options: Weatherized tracking units with long-life battery engineered to withstand the dust, vibration and extreme temperature swings of remote lease sites.
• Robust implementation support: Dedicated deployment assistance to ensure hardware is properly configured without disrupting active field schedules.

At the end of the day, operators are not looking for more software to manage. They are looking for an actionable, centralized system that keeps equipment where it needs to be, keeps understaffed crews productive and eliminates the costly surprises that stall production.

Ready to eliminate field blind spots and maximize machine uptime? Download our comprehensive buyer’s guide for advanced asset tracking to find the right hardware configuration for your operation.

Sources

¹ Elevated oil prices cause thefts of oil to burgeon, Odessa American

² 2026 Oil and Gas Industry Outlook, Deloitte

³ Oil & Gas in 2026: Staying Focused in a Disruptive Environment, Bain & Company

⁴ Rising Oil Prices Fuel Crude Oil Theft in America's Largest Oil Field, SOFX

⁵ U.S. crude oil production rose in 2025, setting new record, U.S. Energy Information Administration