DSDE: In the Industry

YPF’s data analytics experts are eagerly seeking partnerships with oilfield operations experts who can help blend elegant data analysis with the messy reality of oil production.

The two companies have entered into a partnership to develop the oil and gas industry’s first methodology for qualifying the integrity of digital twin technology.

The $43-million deal with Saipem will utilize a wireless underwater intervention drone and an ROV for intervention work on the Njord field in the Norwegian North Sea. Equinor said the contract is the first ever from an operator for advanced wireless drone services.

The signed framework agreement would have GHGSat use its satellite-based sensors to monitor greenhouse gases coming from select Shell facilities.

The planned collaboration is expected to provide analytics-ready data from IHS Markit that would be directly accessible from the GAIA platform.

The OOC Oil and Gas Blockchain Consortium, whose members include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Equinor, and Royal Dutch Shell, has awarded a contract to Data Gumbo to pilot the technology for water handling services in the Bakken shale field in North Dakota.

The company’s new approach is designed to cut the time required to generate optimal subsea field layouts.

The pilot used sensor technology originally deployed by NASA for the Mars Curiosity Rover to collect methane emissions data live-streamed from a drone. BP said it plans to deploy the technology to all of its North Sea assets, including ETAP and Glen Lyon, in 2020.

The company has proposed the Probabilistic Digital Twin to close the gap between digital twins—used increasingly by operators to manage the performance of their assets—and risk analysis still largely conducted manually before assets enter service.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem and the oil and gas industry are not a perfect match, but the industry has made strides in recent years to attract the startups developing innovative technologies that could usher it into a new era. How are companies bridging the gap?