Oil and Gas Software: Start with Problems, Not Solutions
We Need Oil & Gas Software Solutions – Or Do We?
The Harvard Business Review published an article by Bart Barthelemy and Candace Dalmagne-Rouge called, “When You’re Innovating, Resist Looking for Solutions,” that every decision maker should read before committing to an oil and gas software solution.
SharePoint for Upstream: Dashboards
SharePoint and Your Dashboard
Last week, I started a blog series based on my lunch and learn, “SharePoint for Upstream.” I plan to share a few strategies and best practices that people in Upstream can use to improve the visibility and control they have over their data.
SharePoint Consulting for Oil and Gas: Integrating GIS Maps
SharePoint Consulting Streamlines GIS Mapping
In our SharePoint consulting work, we see opportunities every day for oil and gas companies to streamline their operations and make information easier to find. For upstream companies, the insight that can be gained from geographic information systems (GIS) is well worth the effort of implementation.
Custom Software Application Provides South American Producer with Improved Inventory Tracking
Preventing Inventory Loss with Custom Software
Entrance has long partnered with Midstream service company TG Mercer to develop a custom software application, called SpreadBoss, that provides cradle to grave pipeline tracking. This past year, TG Mercer started working with one client in South America to provide better tracking of their inventory.
As they looked further into the project, TG Mercer realized that adding modules on to SpreadBoss would be the best way to provide the visibility this producer needed.
The first of these additions is the ability to divide large yards into zones, with a catalog of corresponding inventory in each zone. In addition, as employees check inventory into a given zone, they have the option to define a new item in the database, which was previously not possible.
See the picture to the right for an example of zoning in the application.
Quality Control Capabilities
An inventory reconciliation module takes this process a step further. On a quarterly basis, the customer can validate the complete inventory in a given zone. Employees scan every item, and when this is complete, SpreadBoss compares the expected inventory with actual inventory. Items that are lost or in the wrong zone can then be logged for action.
This quality control process will help TG Mercer’s clients to achieve better control of high value inventory. Particularly as the size of oil and gas facilities increase, this level of visibility will help prevent assets from hiding in plain sight.
For more on the benefits of custom web applications, check out this page. Read more about our partnership with TG Mercer here!
Data Management and the IT Service Model for Oil & Gas
Data Management and the Digital Oilfield
As we’ve covered in a previous post, when it comes to data management, more data isn’t always better. But more complete, real-time data can be a key differentiator if it is tied to notifications and actionable business intelligence.
I ran across an article in Venture Beat from last year discussing five trends in oil and gas technology. The first trend discussed a McKinsey report that described the digital oil field: ““instruments constantly read data on wellhead conditions, pipelines, and mechanical systems.
That information is analyzed by clusters of computers, which feed their results to real-time operations centers that adjust oil flows to optimize production and minimize downtimes.”
Proving Out Investments in IT
The article went on to say that while “total upstream energy IT support spending is about 25 cents per barrel of oil,” some analysts “believe digital oilfield technologies could increase the net present value of oil and gas assets by 25%.”
Even as the energy industry makes these investments in higher quality data from the field, returns of 25% or more are very dependent on management of data once it reaches the front office.
The Harvard Business Journal recently published a blog along these lines called, ‘Don’t Just Serve – Enable: A new Model for IT Organizations.’ As the author, Bill Franks highlighted, “Business users need increasingly fast, broad, and flexible access to data.”
Changing the IT Data Service Model
One hold-up to this access can be the IT process, which because it has to serve everyone’s needs can often seem to fill no one’s. Particularly for oil and gas, “IT must shift focus to enabling access to the range of raw data elements that go into” traditional views and reports so that users can “mix and match data as required for their specific problems.”
As Upstream companies work to get the most value from their investment in each and every well, better data management may be the key to increasing production without a matching investment in new wells.
Since traditional reports often don’t enable users to dig as deeply as they need to, Franks suggests creating discovery environments.
“Within a discovery environment, users can query a broad range of data, create output data (which is not typically allowed in such systems), and even load new data.”
Discovery Moves the Needle on Data Management
These discovery environments, says Franks, have been a big success factor for many large companies. The big reason for this is that it’s easier to experiment “since they are already working within the scalable systems that will be used to deploy their findings, it is much easier and faster to move from prototype to final product.”
For an E&P company, this could mean iterating and making improvements to the process of drilling after only five wells instead of ten. Over time, these efficiencies could make a huge difference in production.
It can be difficult to challenge long-standing methods of looking at data. Oil and gas companies can’t afford to do anything less if they are to keep up in such a competitive industry. As Franks remarks, “Why wouldn’t you want people empowered to freely search for the next great business-changing analysis?”
For more strategies on making data a benefit, not a burden, for oil and gas, check out this post…
Energy Software Reporting: Surfacing Production Data with SharePoint
Energy Software Reporting
Production reports, even with the help of sophisticated energy software, are nothing new for the oil and gas industry. Enabling access to these reports and keeping them up to date can be an issue, however.
Data Management for Oil and Gas: More is (Almost Never) Better
Management of proliferating data
90% of the world’s data has been generated over the last two years. As a result, data management has become increasingly complicated. Nowhere is this truer than in the upstream industry, where the pace of Shale drilling has more than doubled in recent years.
Energy Software and Production: Three Reasons to Commit Today
Energy Software and Optimizing Production
Amidst reports that Texas production has grown to account for 34.5% of total US figures, energy software is becoming more important for drilling optimization than ever.
E&P Data Management: Data versus Information
The past few weeks, we’ve been blogging about some interesting topics related to data management from PNEC’s annual conference. This week, I’d like to share what we learned from a Petroleum Engineer at Saudi Aramco, Omar Akbar. His presentation was called, “Before We Begin to Discuss E&P Data Management: Do We Speak the Same Language?” It was of interest because here at Entrance we talk about data and information a lot, but there is always some confusion about what the difference is. Akbar did a great job laying out the differences, in addition to giving some great pointers on how to make data management work in the E&P space.
Data Management: Presentation Matters
At the PNEC conference two weeks ago, one of the sessions, “Information Management in Shale,” by Fred Kunzinger, senior principal, Noah Consulting, highlighted some interesting ideas about data management, and how presentation matters as much as the data itself.
Data Management and Growth for Oil and Gas
Last week, several of Entrance’s software consultants attended PNEC’s 17th Annual Conference, “Petroleum Data Driven Decisions for Higher Returns.” There were a number of interesting sessions covering how oil and gas companies can use data management to improve their bottom line. Entrance will cover a few of them over the next few weeks.
Energy Software Could Make a Difference for Chesapeake Suit
The Houston Business Journal posted an article yesterday about Barnett Shale owners suing Chesapeake Energy over mineral rights. The dispute involves 4000 acres of land, and “the complaint says Chesapeake allegedly violated lease agreements by underpaying on royalty payments from gas produced on the plaintiffs’ land in Tarrant and Johnson counties.”
Oil and Gas Software Isn’t Keeping Up with Industry Technology
In a recent feature in the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) Winter 2013 magazine covering oil technology, one of the key points highlighted is that although oil and gas companies are successfully searching for and implementing technology that will make hydraulic fracturing profitable in the long run, there is a significant gap between that and the oil and gas software they have at their disposal.
Oil and Gas Software the Key to Optimizing Industry Growth
I’ve discussed in a previous post the impact that the oil and gas industry has on jobs in the United States. I took note this past week of an article in the Oil and Gas Financial Journal regarding the testimony of Daniel Yergin (author of The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World) to the US House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. His statements regarding the oil and gas industry’s contributions to the economy are worth highlighting:
- Oil and gas production currently supports 1.7 million jobs, with growth to 3 million by 2020.
- Even in areas where there is no activity, long supply chains mean jobs are created everywhere. For example, in New York, where shale gas development is banned, at least 44,000 jobs have been created by the industry.
Compliance as an Opportunity
Last week I wrote about what makes compliance a dirty word in Oil and Gas, as well as the drivers behind its current urgency in the industry. As we dive deeper into compliance, what’s interesting is that everyone agrees on the goals behind compliance – protecting our safety, the environment, royalty owner interests etc. In fact, the real issue seems to be in the implementation.
While implementing a compliance plan can seem daunting, I believe joining the conversation and planning for compliance creates specific opportunities for Oil and Gas companies:
Eagle Ford Sweet 16: Technology Can Make a Difference!
The Houston Chronicle reported today that the years of activity in Eagle Ford are expected to be a sweet 16 at least, particularly as drilling capabilities improve. There has been a lot of active investment in the 400 mile long shale formation in the last year, although uncertainty continues as to how long drilling will go on in the area. Entrance is actively protecting clients’ interests in Eagle Ford, helping solve some of the driving issues as the play matures and activity changes from proof-of-concept to optimization and repetition.
In an interview for the article, Harold Hunt, a research economist, stated that, “current estimates suggest 20,000 wells will be needed to produce the oil and gas available in the Eagle Ford. With about 1,250 wells capable of being drilled a year, it would take about 16 years to reach that capacity.”
Nate Richards Speaks on Lease Compliance at Shale Conference
Nate Richards, President of Entrance, presented a case study on lease compliance at the conference, “Managing Regulatory and Legal Issues in Shale Plays” in Houston, Texas. Nate shared the innovative solution implemented for one shale E&P client. He explained how the platform allows proactive notification about lease compliance and is protecting key assets in multiple domestic shale plays from potential lease jeopardy by improving administration of common shale lease language. The case study included an explanation of industry drivers that are causing a new set of pressures on compliance.Read More
Shale Industry Helps Make Houston a Great Place to Invest in Business
The Houston Business Journal reported recently that compared to other cities within the United States, Houston is a great place to invest in a business. In fact, Houston never suffered the same losses as other areas around the country. And although we might like to attribute this to being especially lucky, analysts say this is largely due to the presence of oil and gas companies. And now that things have really begun to heat up here in the last six months, Houston Entrepreneurs Organization board member Mark Martin remarked that “overall job growth is being fueled by the energy industry. The shale plays in South Texas keep everyone spinning.”
HBJ asked Entrance president, Nate Richards to weigh in on the topic. “For us, the shale boom and domestic energy exploration is a big driver. Shale production is so new that the old technology for drilling does not fit that well. This creates a need for us to fill, and that is driving growth.”
How do we effectively manage data during mergers and acquisitions?
When I received a notification that Robbins & Myers and National Oilwell Varco had announced a merger, it seemed like perfect timing to talk a bit about Mergers and Acquisitions from a data management perspective. “Mergers and Acquisitions are the lifeblood of growth” (Mike Gorsage for INC. Tech) but “companies that approach such an [IT] integration hastily are often unpleasantly surprised by the complexity..or the cost it will add to the transaction.”
Think about how complicated your company’s data systems already are, and then imagine adding another organization’s functionality that’s equally complex. Especially in Oil and Gas, everyone has invested in different platforms, software, hardware and data models, and those systems are integrated specifically to meet the needs of the company they are supporting. So adding all of those connections together can result in a tangle of connections that just creates a huge mess to clean up. At Entrance, we’re able to turn that headache into a seamless transition. We work to understand and document the processes represented by those digital assets, and then consolidate the intricacies of two companies worth of information into a system of systems that makes sense.
The Information Lifecycle of a Well
Using Linear Data for Ad-Hoc Decision Making
In E&P information about an asset is usually set up to flow directionally as that asset moves from being an identified prospect through to drilling and production. But while the development process is linear, information needs are not. For example, information gathered while drilling a well (mud logs, for instance) could be useful for Geology when either identifying another prospect or creating a drilling plan at a later point in time. Another example of needing data from across the asset’s lifespan might be putting actual production numbers into perspective with the geology data that originally made that prospect look economically feasible. Unfortunately, in many cases all of that great information that’s been gathered over the lifetime of a well is usually locked into siloes and can be difficult or even impossible to use to quickly make decisions.