When a few years ago media began calling data the new oil, it was because
some pretty direct parallels
could be drawn between Big Oil and Big Tech. These parallels had to do with
the increasingly enormous size and influence of the companies, and the
controversial nature of their business. In the post-2014 world, however,
digital technology and Big Oil have teamed up to bring in the era of the
digital oilfield, which just a couple of decades ago must have sounded like
science fiction.
Earlier this month, Schlumberger announced
it had struck a partnership with Rockwell Automation, a company specializing
in automation solutions for industrial applications. The two, Schlumberger
said, had set up the first fully integrated digital oilfield automation
solutions provider.
The company is called Sensia and will provide “measurement solutions,
domain expertise, and automation to the oil and gas industry. It will offer
scalable, cloud and edge-enabled process automation, including information
and process safety solutions. From intelligent systems to fully engineered
life-cycle management automation solutions, the joint venture will help
customers drive efficiency gains through measurement and data-driven
intelligent automation.”
This is simply the next step in a process that was kickstarted by the new
normal in prices after the 2014 collapse that taught companies, notably Big
Oil companies, how to do more with less after decades of lavish spending.
Digital tech, it turned out, could go a long way towards the accomplishment
of this goal.
Everyone is joining the digital oilfield party. Last year, Halliburton
showcased what it called “a
first-of-its-kind” offering dubbed Prodigi—a system automating parts of the
hydraulic fracturing process. More specifically, Prodigi uses algorithms that
analyze data about the well and then automatically adjusts the pump’s rate of
operation for best results. The purpose, of course, is higher fracking
accuracy and therefore higher yields. Related:
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This month, ExxonMobil announced it had forged a digital partnership with
Microsoft to use cloud technology to increase oil production and
profitability in its key growth area, the Permian. The partnership, Exxon said,
has the potential to expand Exxon’s production in the Permian by 50,000
oil-equivalent barrels a day by 2025.
“This is new territory for the industry,” Bloomberg quoted Scott
Gale, Halliburton’s strategic manager of fracking operations, as saying last
August. “We recognize that digital technologies are descending on our
industry, so expectations are high.”
This new territory is growing fast and everyone is staking a claim in it.
From better exploration technology that can uncover previously undetectable
oil and gas resources to improved drilling through automation and algorithms
often commonly but mistakenly called artificial intelligence, one of the most
conservative industries is embracing the digital age and that’s not just
because the oil industry is maturing in its understanding of digital tech.
it’s also because the digital tech industry is maturing in its utilization of
all that data that’s become the new oil.
Thanks to this process of maturation, companies have a clearer idea about
how to use digital resources. This can, as a recent story in Information Age
put it, “generate deeper insights from data to drive digital transformation
projects, to extend asset life; maximise return on capital employed and drive
additional profit.” In short, the new oil that is data can greatly help the
old oil ensure its long-term survival and profitability.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
