By Cheryl Ginyard-Jones, Managing Principal of Verizon’s Global Energy and Utilities practice

Study after study on trends in the energy industry report that the demand for oil and gas products are rising rapidly as developing nations grow and expand.  How will oil and gas companies continue to address the global need for energy faced with depleting oil reserves, reservoirs in more remote and challenging geographies, tighter environmental restrictions and regulation and a shrinking labor force? 

To address these concerns technologists have been working with oil and gas companies to develop innovative solutions to make upstream exploration and production processes more efficient.   Digital oilfield technologies, which encompass tools and processes surrounding data and information management across all upstream activities, have been in development for over a decade.   The digital oilfield “concept” in short involves capturing operational data though sensors at the well-head and other operation points, integrating thousands of points of data from disparate sources and transmitting that data in real-time through the company’s work flow processes to facilitate fast and efficient decision making.  In order for this to happen, information and communication technology plays a significant role.

Advanced sensor technology has been a big contributor to enhanced oil production, particularly in monitoring well-head and pipeline flow activity in detecting potential problems.  4-D technology provides enhanced visualization ability to allow operators to closely track changes in the reservoir during production, not only in the well site but also in the subsurface beyond the well.  This improved visualization capability also allows collaborators in different locations around the globe to view all aspects of the simulated well models and make decisions quickly.

One of the most compelling side effects of advanced digital technology use in oil field operations is the enormous amount of data that is produced, transmitted and stored.  Cloud computing is emerging as a useful supplement for data storage as data center capacity will surely be challenged through digital oilfield adoption.  The cloud not only offers solutions around data storage, but as the IT infrastructure increases in complexity with more software and technology products, it also provides an option for simplifying the IT footprint allowing the business to focus their time on finding and producing energy.

Verizon provides many of the technologies that will continue to enhance performance in oilfield processes including cloud, M2M, collaboration and mobility. 

Please join Verizon and other leading technology companies for insightful presentations and discussion on how these technologies enhance performance on-line at the Digital Oilfield Virtual Summit on October 18 and 19.   Click on http://oilandgasvirtual.intuitwebsites.com/to register for the conference and join the discussion.

Do you Think Forward?