IT Strategies in Upstream and Downstream Operations

As the Oil and Gas industry undergoes continued and accelerated consolidation, the need for a
flexible, extensible, scalable, and adaptable system is more important than ever along a firms
supply-chain. Integration of suppliers as well as customers and distributors is difficult in this
industry. Supply chains are highly inflexible both in terms of volumes handled and in terms of
product variation/customization.
Oil and Gas sector has so much uncertainty and to achieve robust predictability Technology is
the key. Exploration and production will benefit from simplifying and streamlining data
management and access, interlocking the experiences of regionally different workers, saturating
investments and operational decisions..
Upstream Supply Chain: Supply Chain Database (SCD) ,Geographical Information System
(GIS) and Data Interfaces help in Demand planning which includes demand forecasting ,
Integrated Planning which is Planning for the complete supply chain of the customer based on
demand numbers , Distribution Planning which helps in Generating operational plans for
distribution , Production Planning which helps in Generating operational plans for production.
Timely flow of accurate information can affect performance of the supply chain to a large extent.
Integration of demand chain information is critical . Process optimization is the key task for the
Information Technologies it is a method that unites the modeling, designing and monitoring of
engineering assets with scheduling, supply chain, trading a fulfillment via multiple flows of
information between stages in life cycle of products, bringing huge efficiencies. Customersegmentation strategies and effective demand management will lead to increased top line
revenues and reduced cost of sales.
Downstream Supply Chain: Different customers have different and sometimes unique
requirements and meeting these requirements may necessitate different approaches to supplychain configuration and coordination. Overall performance can be improved through effective
matching of what is produced, when it is produced and the quantities to be produced to the
specific customer requirement. Order management software helps in downstream supply chain as
it groups the customers according to priority and requirements.