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Big Oil Goes Mining for Big DataAs petroleum production gets trickier, digital innovation becomes more crucial.

• By Jessica Leber on May 8, 2012

Mission control:ngineers vie! data "eeds "rom around t#e !orld at $#evron%s ne! real&

time drilling optimi'ation center in (e)as.

 (#e !orld isn%t running out o" oil and natural gas. *t is running out o" easy oil and gas.And as energy companies drill deeper and #unt in more remote regions and di+cultdeposits, t#ey%re banking on in"ormation tec#nology to boost production.

ata, in t#is case, really is t#e ne! oil. -*t%s pretty s!eeping, says /aul iegele,president o" t#e nergy (ec#nology $ompany at $#evron. -*n"ormation tec#nology isenabling us to get more barrels o" eac# asset.

il companies are using distributed sensors, #ig#&speed communications, and data&mining tec#niues to monitor and 3ne&tune remote drilling operations. (#e aim is to usereal&time data to make better decisions and predict glitc#es.

 (#e companies began to employ suc# tec#nologies more t#an a decade ago, partly to#elp its aging !ork"orce multitask remotely. But t#e tec#nologies #ave gained speedalong !it# t#e underlying trends4 c#eaper computing and communications tec#nology,and a proli"eration o" data sensors and analytical so"t!are.

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 (#e industry term is t#e -digital oil 3eld, t#oug# t#e biggest companies #avetrademarked t#eir o!n versions. At $#evron, it%s t#e -i&3eld. B/ #as t#e -5ield o" t#e5uture, and 6oyal utc# #ell likes -mart 5ields.

7#atever t#ese programs are called, t#ey%ll play a #uge role in t#e "uture o" energycompanies. (#e ones t#at are most success"ul at operating remotely and using data

!isely !ill claim big re!ards. $#evron cites industry!ide estimates suggesting 8percent #ig#er production rates and percent #ig#er overall recovery "rom a -"ullyoptimi'ed digital oil 3eld.

 (#at%s signi3cant, says iegele. espite advancing rene!able tec#nologies, t#e*nternational nergy Agency pro9ects t#at global oil demand !ill still be gro!ing by 20:;as more people use cars. And, as e)traction becomes more di+cult, almost

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Muc# o" t#e so"t!are innovation t#at%s key to t#e digiti'ation o" big oil is #appening atoil service contracting companies, suc# as >alliburton and c#lumberger, and big *(providers including Microso"t and *BM.

ot every problem #as been solved, #o!ever. *t%s still toug# to ensure reliablecommunications "rom t#e Arctic%s outer continental s#el", via 3ber optic lines or

satellite. Anot#er limitation is data transmission speeds to relay pressure andtemperature in"ormation "rom t#ousands o" "eet belo! t#e sur"aceEalt#oug# in recentyears, electrically -!ired drill pipes #ave been able to relay t#is data an order o"magnitude "aster t#an be"ore, at one megabit per second.

Already, $#evron%s internal *( tra+c alone e)ceeds 1.; terabytes a day. -(#e 3re #ose o" data t#at comes up every minute and every #our is incredible, says Jerry >ubbard,president o" nergistics, a global nonpro3t consortium !orking to standardi'e data&e)c#ange "ormats !it#in t#e energy industry.

ven startups are e)ploring t#e digital oil 3eld. -(#e code in t#e old so"t!are plat"ormsbeing used today, a lot o" it is 20 years old, says ?irk $oburn, !#o started urge, a ne!

>ouston&based energy so"t!are startup accelerator !it# a digital oil section. -(#istec#nology can still be massively moderni'ed.