Data Science in Oil and Gas Industry

1. In Real-time and Highly Cost

Effective
Data volume in the oil industry grows with rapid speed and
handling a large amount of data efficiently becomes very
important. Oil companies have always been generating extreme volumes
of data at a very high rate on a daily basis. Traditionally, large volumes of
data can be very expensive for both oil and gas producers. Such huge costs
can significantly impact the financial performance of the company.

With the use of big data, companies can not only cut costs but also
capture large data in real time. Such use of analytics can help in
improving production by 6%-8%. However, the role of big data in the
industry of oil and gas goes beyond efficiency and analyzing large volumes
of data in real time. Near-real-time visualization, storage of large data sets
and near real-time alerts are considered the most important advantages in
big data analytics.

2. Reduction of Risk and Better

Decision Making
Geographically speaking, layers of rocks vary across regions, even though
they may be similar structurally. Lessons usually learned from one
area can be applied to similar areas. Traditionally, unstructured data
is stored in different databases or any storage facility, which requires a lot of
time and effort. Data science can help in reducing risk and help in
learning more about each subsystem thereby increasing the
accuracy in decision-making.
3. High Accuracy in Drilling Methods
and Oil Exploration
The search for new hydrocarbon deposits demands a huge amount of
materials, manpower, and logistics. With drilling a deepwater oil well often
costing over $100 million, no one wants to be looking in the wrong place. To
avoid this issue, Shell uses fiber optic cables (created in a special
partnership with Hewlett-Packard for these sensors), and the data is then
transferred to its private servers, maintained by Amazon Web Services
(AWS). This gives a far more accurate idea to engineers of what
lies beneath and saves a considerable amount of time and effort.

New oil drilling locations and new ways to stimulate shale oil are
only some of the benefits of applying big-data analytics in the oil
industry. Seismic software, data visualization, and pervasive
computing devices are some of the modern analytical tools that are
currently being adopted by the oil firms.

4. Ensures efficient performance of

machines
Oil drilling is a continuous process and machines have to work for
long hours under severe temperatures and conditions. Big data is
used to ensure that machines are working properly and are not
damaged due to breakdowns or failures. Machines are fitted
with sensors that collect data about its performance. This
data is then compared to the aggregated data ensuring that parts
are replaced in an efficient manner and downtime is minimized,
further reducing additional expenses.
1) Automating tasks:
The oil and gas industry is highly labour-intensive and these
workers are employed in a highly precarious condition. According
to a study by McKinsey, which observed the changing trends in
the oil and gas industry, emerging technologies like AI and ML
can automate 60-90 per cent of the routine tasks while
identifying the best practices. By doing so, the lesser number of
people are prone to danger while the employers have a larger
benefit of reducing human error and increasing efficiency.

2) For Hydrocarbon production:

By leveraging the capabilities of autonomous bots and
drones, industry players want to replace humans while
accessing extreme environments or high-risk regions.
In a 2013 challenge, a French oil and gas company, Total opened
up a competitionfor the public to design an AI-powered
autonomous surface robot which could meet the specific
needs of hydrocarbon exploration and production activities.
The primary requirement from the bots was to create a smart
report.
3) ESP monitoring:
To maximize output, most offshore pumps use electric
submersible pumps (ESPs), which considered to be one of the
most efficient ways of extracting oil from deep within the earth.
To optimize its functioning, Siemens recently rolled out a product
which coupled AI and cloud for real-time monitoring of these
ESPs, that are mostly installed in harsh condition and are prone
to corrosion from seawater and deep water pressure.
By deploying the technology, the AI systems could detect
anomalies by flagging off deviation and by sending alerts to
the operators.”An anomaly in the data source detected by the
AI system can reveal a potential failure several days before
the actual failure of the ESP mechanism,”
4) Production Optimization:
The application of AI cut across various verticals of the oil and
gas industry. As oil pricing is highly fluctuating, the need for
companies to optimize their production is important. Further, it
is managed through enhancing an oil well’s life, which is in turn
affected by factors like flow rates and pressure, among other
things. Thus by using AI and ML, the algorithms can collect
data from numerous sensors and other devices to give a real-
time update thus providing the optimum operating
environment.“The value of AI and ML can be applied in a
different statistical model, which can help in improving asset
management decision.