Paal Kibsgaard, Chairman & CEOThe question therefore arises, “What is holding them back from realizing this opportunity?” More than the technicalities, it is often the digital muddle that is deterring companies from achieving digital maturity. “Bringing change entails a new collaborative mindset, end-to-end systems knowledge, and redesigned business models that firmly establish and support new ways of working based on innovative technology and domain expertise,” mentions Kibsgaard. More importantly, the approach should push companies to embrace a long-term goal of transforming their core assets. “At Schlumberger, this is where our core competencies lie,” says Kibsgaard. Working in more than 83 countries, with a team of approximately 100,000 experts, Schlumberger offers the industry’s most comprehensive suite of leading-edge products and services for the E&P industry to thrive in a digitally-dominated world.
Over the years, Schlumberger has created numerous technology centers to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of technology and automation. In line with the company’s long history of working with research and engineering partners, Schlumberger’s innovation centers have formed strong relationships with an extensive network of leading digital technology companies, creating building blocks of expertise in areas such as cloud technology, data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. Through this ecosystem of extended knowledge, Schlumberger offers deeper access to the most advanced digital technologies and capabilities for oil and gas companies. “Together with our partners, we are developing avant-garde solutions that aim to redefine the traditional modes of operations in the oil and gas industry,” states Kibsgaard.
Bringing System-Level Optimization
When it comes to maximizing workflow efficiency and making informed decisions, ‘data’ is at the center of E&P development. Petrochemical experts working on exploration projects spend more than half of their time finding and preparing the data they need to make critical decisions. The subsequent data interpretation process is also time-consuming, and these interpretations drive important decisions for the reservoir’s development plan. However, according to Ashok Belani, executive VP of Schlumberger, “The oil and gas industry is yet to materialize the full potential of available data due to inefficient manual processes in place.” To add to that, most oil companies operate in silos, in various levels of isolation. Schlumberger’s digital enablement solution aids to integrate those fragments into one piece.
By understanding operational workflows unique to the company, and building greater connections between technical domains, Schlumberger puts “the right information, in the right hands, at the right time.”
When it comes to maximizing workflow efficiency and making informed decisions, ‘data’ is at the center of E&P development
The company achieves this through its DELFI cognitive E&P environment. As the first of its kind in the oil and gas industry, this secure, cloud-based environment harnesses data, scientific knowledge, and domain expertise to fundamentally change the industry’s way of thinking. The DELFI environment makes the applications and workflows accessible to every user. “Gone are the impenetrable silos, because in the DELFI environment, every stakeholder can build common workspaces for data, models, and interpretations while respecting proprietary information boundaries,” highlights Kibsgaard.
The DELFI environment leverages technologies such as data analytics, machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), and the Internet of Things (IoT), to maximize operational efficiency and deliver optimized production at the lowest cost per barrel. In fact Kibsgaard notes that Schlumberger is one of the early adopters of HPC technology in the oil and gas industry. Today, Schlumberger has a state-of-the-art HPC infrastructure on the cloud that runs thousands of central processing unit and graphics processing unit nodes. “It is one of the largest cloud computer clusters of its kind in the oil and gas industry,” emphasizes Kibsgaard.
He also notes that when they launched DELFI cognitive E&P environment, the company also deployed an E&P data lake on the Google Cloud Platform, which includes more than 1,000 3D seismic surveys, five million wells, one million well logs, and 400 million production records from around the world. This data lake, containing information from different sources, makes it easier for users to discover, access, and use the data to their advantage.
Reduce Uncertainty, Accelerate Decision- Making
The first step in the E&P development process is to create a digital representation of what is hidden below the Earth’s surface. To accomplish that, measurements and data from multiple sources are combined to create a model of the subsurface. Experts from multiple domains—geology, geophysics, and petrophysics—use their knowledge to further refine the model. This initial combination of measurements and data, along with expert interpretation, are fundamental to some of the most critical decisions about the reservoir. This is where Schlumberger’s Petrel E&P software comes into play. The Petrel software, which is also available on the DELFI cognitive E&P environment, uses a shared-earth approach to enable standardized workflow from exploration to production. As a matter of fact, this software—introduced in 2003—has become the industry standard when it comes to managing the lifecycle of the E&P processes.
Leading-Edge Offshore Rig Technology
Not all oil is accessible on land or in shallow waters; some oil deposits are buried deep under the ocean floor.
