One Digital Well, how do we get there?

McKinsey Digital, presented in 2016 a study illustrating the low level of digitalization in the oil industry. When compared to other major sectors in world economy, the difference is striking. In 2024, almost a decade later, the story is much of the same, but there is progress and solutions available.

The vision of a futuristic oilfield clashes with the current inconsistent operational performance, organizational unpreparedness, and low level of digital maturity. The oil and gas sector ranks among the least digitized industries, according to McKinsey's findings. This indicates a significant scope for digital transformation and presents excellent opportunities for the implementation of new technologies.

In this text we will look at some of the challenges and pathways, identified by the industry, when adopting and maturing digital solutions.

In a 2024 interview with Molly Smith, VP of Drilling and Completions at Murphy Oil, she emphasized,

“I think there are three things the industry needs to focus on with data;

• First, standardization needs to improve so that we can reduce the time we spend engineering data and increase the time we spend analyzing data.
• Second, we need to invest in innovating machine learning and artificial intelligence methods so that they can fit with more industry-centric datasets and workflows.
• And third, we must improve the efficacy of our data-modeling methods so that they can give us a more comprehensive understanding of our operations.”

At Stimline Digital, we believe that Murphy Oil has the right vision to enable their digital journey. At the forefront of our solutions, IDEX collaboration platform is the tool that is currently used by Shell to standardize their operations. It provides their experienced engineering workforce the necessary time to dive deep into their data and analyze, optimize and perform.

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A matter of survival

With all the current market uncertainties, companies have a golden opportunity to boost their automation levels, as survival increasingly hinges on operational efficiency. Each strategic move towards enhancement promises greater savings, improved diagnostics, and improved operations overall.

Referring to McKinsey's chart, climbing the ladder in digitalization yields multiple benefits. However, it's crucial to consider the internal human factors during this transformative journey.

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Unfortunately, the adoption and advancement of the digital technologies at the necessary scale is a rare sight in many oil and gas companies. McKinsey's research reveals that, despite numerous digitalization projects, a whopping 70 percent haven't progressed beyond the pilot phase.

Man vs. machine

Surprisingly, the issue isn't usually the technology itself. Many pilot projects succeed, meeting or surpassing their technical goals. The real issue lies in three significant cultural and organizational barriers.

• Firstly, technologies and use-cases often fail to showcase clear value, either because they don't address fundamental problems hindering better bottom-line performance or because project teams can't demonstrate the impact of these solutions.
• Secondly, even if managers are keen on digitalization, convincing employees can be a challenge. New technologies demand staff to develop new skills, adopt new processes, and change established work habits – a transition that requires the right incentives and support.
• Third, many companies view digitalization as separate projects, fine during the pilot phase but problematic to scale. To truly thrive, any new digital approach must seamlessly integrate with the organization's broader infrastructure. Otherwise, it is setup for failure before it even starts.

In response to these challenges, the IDEX Collaboration platform emerges as a solution tailored for oil companies. It's open, flexible, and ready to seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, communicating effectively with in-house or third-party software. Its role is pivotal in helping organizations plan, execute, and analyze the journey towards One Digital Well with consistency and transparency. A vision that originated from industry pains, inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

Summary

The journey is still long for mature digitalization in the oil industry, but when you can leverage tools like IDEX you are poised to observe a more purposeful workforce and new levels of performance that has never been achieved before.