According to a World Economic Forum report, digital transformation in the oil and gas industry could unlock approximately $1.6 trillion of value for the industry, its customers, and wider society while creating around $1 trillion of value for oil and gas firms.
Given the increased volatility and expectation of a lower crude oil price environment, companies are accelerating their digital transformation initiatives as a means to reduce operational costs and gain competitive advantage amid market chaos. The drive toward digitalization has gained further momentum through the adoption of the industrial Internet of things, which provides a missing link that moves hydrocarbon industries to a new level of connectivity.
All industries are embracing technology to reshape their operating landscape and reap the benefits of improved productivity, higher efficiency, and increased cost savings. The oil and gas industry is not a stranger to this and is progressing toward digital maturity.
Data is the foundation of every analytics and machine-learning application. Data is the raw material that feeds into analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and, in turn, enables data modeling to optimize processes, to predict machine failures before they happen, and to support decision making. Tagging operating assets with low-quality and noisy data at the start of the process is likely to generate inferior or inaccurate results downstream, reducing the value that can be extracted from the data. Therefore, ensuring robust technology infrastructure to store, manage, and contextualize data is a first step toward execution of digital transformation initiatives.
A good illustration is ADNOC’s Panorama Digital Command Centre, which provides operational visibility across the entire hydrocarbon value chain—from exploration to distribution of products—breaking down information silos and providing real-time operational insights based on a single, trusted view. This not only improves operational efficiencies but also uncovers new pathways to optimize performance.