Having developed a fascination with computers at an early age, programming became a hobby for Ibex Aegis founder and CEO Jesse Sprague. While working in the oil and gas industry on drill rigs, first as a Mud-Man, then as a Geologist, then as a Data Scientist, he discovered the opportunity that Ibex Aegis has been formed to capture. The company was created in Sprague’s garage together with a group of co-founders and honed to perfection with real-world application. With a vision to transform data into actionable intelligence, Ibex Aegis provide new levels of insights and perspective to instill the knowledge to make better decisions, while also increasing safety and revenues.

Ibex Aegis’ spatial intelligence solutions have been instrumental in assisting the oil and gas industry reduce environmental risks to their assets. Ibex Aegis’ flagship product, ASIO, modernizes right-of-way surveillance for the oil and gas industry using a combination of the most advanced research and development in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. ASIO enables customers to increase their profit while protecting the environment, the integrity of their assets, and their reputation as top-tier operators and good environmental stewards.

“We believe in better stewardship of our planet, so we leverage technological advancements in from the DoD to Silicon Valley to protect and enhance our natural resources,” explains Sprague. The funding received from the National Science Foundation, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, and the Department of Homeland Security has enabled Ibex Aegis to carry out extensive research and understand challenges in monitoring pipelines in the oil and gas sector. The problem-oriented approach adopted by Ibex Aegis has led it to develop solutions that enable customers to lower the risk of pipeline failure by continually evaluating the condition of pipelines and detecting leaks, erosion, or problems caused by vehicular activity. This also improves the functioning of its client companies and minimizes waste, which reduces downtime and remediation costs.
Modernizing pipeline surveillance has been the sole purpose of Ibex Aegis. Ibex Aegis has introduced remote sensing and deep learning methods to build and maintain a data record and improve the monitoring and management of pipeline corridors. The company also delivers high-resolution, always-current base maps and a curated hazard detection report to aid in informed asset management. The web-based maps and reports are created after the data is collected and analyzed using AI, which recognizes changes in vegetation, vehicle activity, tire tracks, movement of equipment and the like, down to the size of a baseball. Potential risk of leaks can be discovered by analyzing the imagery collected during regular monitoring.

Ibex Aegis’ automated surveillance proved highly beneficial in monitoring corridors for one of its first and still largest clients. Airborne patrols outfitted with camera systems monitored pipeline corridors and collected high resolution imagery. Machine learning, AI, and a final review by expert human analysts enabled Ibex Aegis to detect activity, including the tracks of vehicles turning off access roads and driving onto the right-of-way, which would have remained untraceable to the human eye as the activity occurred between scheduled airborne surveillance flights. Subsequent on-the-ground investigation revealed a construction company had been preparing to break ground in the area. Ibex Aegis’s timely alert ensured the safety of the client’s equipment and pipelines by allowing intervention before any digging occurred.

Moving forward in oil and gas industry, which records continuous technological advancements, Ibex Aegis aims to improve its range of offerings to meet a broader range of customer demands.