THE IMPACT OF DATA IN THE

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Worldwide demand for oil and gas is growing; it’s expected
to reach over 94 million barrels per day by the end of 2015.1
In response, most companies in the oil and gas industry
plan to invest the same amount or more in digital
technologies now and in the future.2 Digital technologies
can help companies reach remote sources of oil and gas at
efficient costs, while continuing to enhance environmental
safeguards, operational safety, reliability, and security.

Sensors deployed
888 EXABYTES throughout oil and gas
companies’ value chains
generate massive amounts of
IDC predicts that usable data data that enable faster and
generated in the oil and gas smarter decision making.3
industry will grow from 52
exabytes total today to 888
exabytes in 2020.4

10101011101101010101
010101011101101010101
0101011101101010101
One well can
010101011101101010101
generate up to 15
011101101010101
terabytes of data
010101011101101010101
01011101101010101
per week. 5

101101010101 The world contains about 2 million

010101011101101010101 miles of oil transportation
pipelines—enough to wrap around
the Earth 80 times. GE estimates
every 30,000 miles of pipeline can
The Benefits of Data in generate 17TB of data every day.6

the Oil and Gas Industry

1 Increases Production:
Data analysis assists with interpreting
geology, drilling and connecting new
wells, and optimizing drilling
techniques. Bain & Co. estimate that
better data analysis could help oil and 2 Accelerates Workflows:
gas companies boost production by
6% to 8%.7 Cloud data management centralizes
datasets. Geoscientists, engineers, and
business decision makers can all
collaborate using the same data, saving
time and cutting down on
3 Enables Remote Collaboration miscommunication.
and Mobility:
Remote visualization through the cloud
enables rapid collaboration between a
well site and remotely located experts
to improve the safety, speed, and
accuracy of reservoir decisions. With
enterprise mobility solutions, oil and
gas companies are seeing a 63% 4 Ensures Compliance
increase in cost savings and a 51% Data centralization helps companies
increase in productivity.8 ensure compliance with international
data sovereignty requirements, while
providing them access to information
they need.
5 Improves Security and Control:
Centralizing data eliminates the need
for multiple copies. Fewer data copies
means fewer security risks and fewer
challenges to data quality, allowing
experts to maintain a “single source
of truth.”

The Global Impact of Digital

Technologies in the Oil and Gas Industry

Business
The use of digital technologies reduces the cost of finding and developing energy and
positively impacts the global economy.

In the Eagle Ford region in North America, improved drilling techniques

and technologies are enabling oil rigs to produce oil 65% more
efficiently now than in 2013.

Oxford Economics estimates that Internet of Everything adoption by the oil

and gas industry can increase global GDP by up to $816 billion by 2025.3

Health, Safety and Environmental Risks

Digital technologies are helping oil and gas companies have a positive impact.

Having detailed data about every part of the production process empowers
companies to identify and prevent potential accidents before they happen,
which in turn helps them protect the environment.9

Remote visualization and mobility solutions make it possible for companies

to have fewer workers on site at wells, reducing employee safety risks.

SOURCES
(1) https://www.iea.org/oilmarketreport/omrpublic/currentreport/

(2)https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-digital-energy-survey-2015-accenture-microsoft.aspx

(3)http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/energy/docs/OilGasDigitalTransformationWhitePaper.pdf

(4)http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=253478

(5)http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-07-11/better-fracking-through-sound-sensing-fiber-optics

(6)http://www.intelligentpipelinesolution.com/industrialpipeline/download/GE-IP-Infographic.pdf

(7)http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/big-data-analytics-in-oil-and-gas.aspx

(8)https://www.scoopmae.com/how-enterprise-mobility-benefits-the-oil-and-gas-industries/

(9)https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-digitizing-energy-analytics-powered-performance.aspx