SmartOil: Blockchain and smart contract-based oil supply chain management

Abstract: The traditional oil supply chain suffers from various shortcomings regarding crude oil extraction, processing, distribution, environmental pollution, and traceability. It offers an only a forward flow of products with almost no security and tracking process. In time, the system will lag behind due to the limitations in quality inspection, fraudulent information, and monopolistic behavior of supply chain entities. Inclusion of counterfeiting products and opaqueness of the system urge renovation in this sector. The recent evolution of Industry 4.0 leads to the alternation in the supply chain introducing the smart supply chain. Technological advancement can now reshape the infrastructure of the supply chain for the future. In this paper, we suggest a conceptual framework utilizing Blockchain and Smart Contract to monitor the overall oil supply chain. Blockchain is a groundbreaking technology to monitor and support the security building of a decentralized type supply chain over a peer-to-peer network. The use of the Internet of Things (IoT), especially sensors, opens broader window to track the global supply chain in real-time. We construct a methodology to support reverse traceability for each participant of the supply chain. The functions and characteristics of Blockchain and Smart Contract are defined. Implementation of Smart Contracts has also been shown with detailed analysis. We further describe the challenges of implementing such a system and validate our framework's adaptability in the real world. The paper concludes with future research scope to mitigate the restrictions of data management and maintenance with advanced working prototypes and agile systems achieving greater traceability and transparency.