Analytics Magazine Analytics Magazine, March/April 2014 | Page 35

Drilling data often isn’t saved. It is simply discarded, foreclosing any opportunity to look for patterns that could enable earlier problem detection and point the way toward better practices. what data is required to realize that value, and which analytics tools are best suited to your goals? Only when those questions have satisfactory answers can an enterprise move forward with confidence. Many E&P companies have already embraced business intelligence and other analytics tools in their back offices, particularly for financial management and enterprise resource planning. But they are significantly further behind in operations technology. Many are using only rudimentary IT in the operations that define their industry: exploring for oil and gas, developing reserves and managing production for maximum lifetime value. Drilling data, for example, is routinely gathered in real time so that the rig can be shut down if key measurements such as torque on the drill pipe and bit, or pressure in the mud circulation system, move outside of established limits. But this drilling data often isn’t saved. It is simply discarded, foreclosing any opportunity to look for patterns that could enable earlier problem detection and point the way toward better practices. So the starting point must be to identify gaps in data capture and plug as many of them as possible. The next challenge is to minimize, or at least significantly reduce, data fragmentation. Typically, exploration, development and production departments have maintained separate data repositories, each with its own data types. These repositories may be further fragmented geographically, for example, if companies organize and store data on the basis of M A R C H / A P R I L 2 014 | 35