Transforming oil & gas: Exploration and production will reap the rewards

Through advanced technologies based on open standards, Red Hat deliver solutions that can support oil and gas companies as they modernize their IT infrastructures and build a framework to meet market and technology challenges. Taking advantage of modern, open architectures can help oil and gas providers attract new customers and provide entry into markets where these kinds of services were technologically impossible a decade ago.

Recent IDC research sponsored by Red Hat uncovered that an open platform makes it easier for an Oil & Gas company’s technology infrastructure and investment to align itself quickly with existing and predicted market conditions. Oil and gas companies should take an open platform approach to achieve an open business platform vision in order to:

• Deploy the connected industry ecosystem
• Implement solutions are ethical, reliable, more secure and compliant
• Uncover new business insight
• Automate business and engineering operations

Here is what Kevin Prouty, Group Vice President, IDC Energy and Manufacturing Insights has to say about the value of open platforms for oil and gas organizations.

The oil & gas industry is transforming the way it does business in response to dynamic market challenges. Oil & gas companies are re-evaluating every aspect of their business operations. They are streamlining Exploration and Production and digitally transforming the business to reduce costs and drive efficiencies and productivity. Moreover, companies are implementing new strategies for applying innovative technology to develop a business transformation road map.

The entire value chain of oil & gas companies is impacted, but upstream E&P is especially in need of transforming. Here are the reasons:

• E&P is where the long-term value and differentiation of oil & gas companies is seen by the market and shareholders.
• Engineers, management, and field-workers need real-time information about well activities' costs, production volumes, and financials to deploy projects on time and on budget.
• The massive amount of data generated by E&P operations is a potential gold mine, provided companies are willing to invest time and money to develop a platform and cloud networking solution for managing Big Data and analytics in the oilfield.
• Upstream E&P companies are expected to dramatically increase budgets for onshore U.S. drilling and production of oil, especially in shale plays.
• A solution that fosters an E&P knowledge environment and information sharing and access to immediate, accurate operational information, to ensure data clarity, consistency, and confidence for the workers and stakeholders involved, is needed.
• Oilfield applications and systems must be connected to realize a holistic view of operations and to gain a better understanding of oilfield activities and dynamics to improve collaboration and decision making between engineers, IT, and the business team.

Here are the top four drivers considered by oil & gas business leaders to be pushing companies to transform and innovate:

1. Optimize organization's business processes
2. Increase organization's productivity
3. Increase organization's revenue
4. Meet compliance requirements

Oil & gas companies are unusual businesses, because customers aren’t a primary focus—core activities revolve around operations and resources optimization. Just to be clear, optimization is not just labor. It's about making the best use of labor, assets, and a reservoir.

Key to achieving greater productivity from operations and resources is building systems and business processes based on open and agile technology that can rapidly develop and deploy enterprise solutions. IDC believes having such a platform-based system will help oil & gas companies access and manage critical data about the oilfield, enabling engineers, geoscientists, and field workers to run meaningful analytics, foster better collaboration, and improve decision-making.

For the full story on how oil & gas companies can use an open platform approach to develop and support innovative business processes, download the IDC infographic, “Using Open Systems to Align Oil & Gas Companies with Market Conditions,” sponsored by Red Hat.

We also invite you to sign up for the IDC webinar, “Open Systems and Building an Agile Oil & Gas Company,” brought to you by Red Hat.

Kevin Prouty is Group Vice President for IDC Energy and Manufacturing Insights. He is responsible for managing a group of analysts that provide research-based advisory and consulting services that will enable energy executives in oil and gas and utilities to maximize the business value of their technology investments and minimize technology risk through accurate planning. Kevin's research specialties are Utilities, Manufacturing, Enterprise Applications, and Product Innovation research.