Gazprom Neft is extending its collaboration with IBM as part of the company’s “Electronic Asset Development (ERA)” project, directed at developing new IT instruments and software for optimising processes in geological prospecting, project management, field development and operation.
According to report by Gazprom Neft, the company has signed a memorandum of cooperation with IBM at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum covering the use of information technologies in exploration and production (E&P). The agreement outlines the key areas of technical collaboration, and the key principles behind this, as well as plans for the implementation of joint initiatives in the development of new technologies for optimising and automating oil production processes. The memorandum was signed by Vadim Yakovlev, First Deputy CEO, Gazprom Neft, and John Brantley, Vice President, IBM.
The companies will work together in developing strategies for optimising various oil production processes with the help of cognitive data analysis technologies (the search for trends and patterns in raw data), in machine learning (algorithms learned in the course of data processing), and high-performance computing (the processing of large volumes of data). The application of such technologies will allow the identification of new strategies for increasing effectiveness in field development, increasing the oil recovery factor (ORF), and reducing costs. An initiative for optimising the water-flooding process at mature Gazprom Neft fields, with the aim of increasing the ORF and reducing injection volumes, has been identified as a pilot project.
Vadim Yakovlev, First Deputy CEO, Gazprom Neft, commented: “Digital technologies are changing every aspect of our lives, including oil companies’ approaches to selecting options for field development and operation. Cutting-edge approaches to working with information allow greater efficiency in the use of field data, and allow the best-considered and thought-through decisions to be taken, on that basis. A key component of our Technology Strategy is directed at precisely this — optimising asset development through the application of cutting-edge information technologies.”
John Brantley, Vice President, IBM, added: “Initiatives in technological collaboration allow synergies to be achieved in the application of industrial research. Given Russia’s enormous scientific potential we are delighted to combine forces with Gazprom Neft in developing the latest IT solutions for the oil and gas industry.”
