Thought this might be an interesting topic after the lunch I had today. I work for a super-major and had lunch with our CFO today and learned about some really eye-opening technology that is already out there. I've always assumed automation of much of what we do is out there eventually but after this I really feel like it's much sooner than I expected.
Some of the things we have successfully accomplished this year through technology:
When wells trip offshore, it's obviously an issue, leads to downtime and lost production. Using a technology similar to IBMs Watson, a computer was able to predict 95% of well trips 4 weeks before they happened. Currently, that kind of predictive analytic work is done by production engineers. Additionally, because the computer learns over time their plan is to integrate with everything in the field development (subsea, platform, facilities etc...), not just wells, and they believe the computer will be able to produce a full life of field, optimized development plan. Creating field development plans is a process that can take months and spans the entire organization.
Second technology: we drilled two entire well hole sections (deepwater), completely automated. Not only was it successful, they were supposedly the fasted sections ever drilled offshore.
It's easy to go venture over to the politics board and see the debates about the $15 min. wage and automation replacing burger flippers but it's not often I ever thought it about it on this scale and it seems to be coming faster than I ever expected.
Some of the things we have successfully accomplished this year through technology:
When wells trip offshore, it's obviously an issue, leads to downtime and lost production. Using a technology similar to IBMs Watson, a computer was able to predict 95% of well trips 4 weeks before they happened. Currently, that kind of predictive analytic work is done by production engineers. Additionally, because the computer learns over time their plan is to integrate with everything in the field development (subsea, platform, facilities etc...), not just wells, and they believe the computer will be able to produce a full life of field, optimized development plan. Creating field development plans is a process that can take months and spans the entire organization.
Second technology: we drilled two entire well hole sections (deepwater), completely automated. Not only was it successful, they were supposedly the fasted sections ever drilled offshore.
It's easy to go venture over to the politics board and see the debates about the $15 min. wage and automation replacing burger flippers but it's not often I ever thought it about it on this scale and it seems to be coming faster than I ever expected.
