Mobile Technology Enables Role Reversal

Mobile technologies are causing some interesting reversals for oil industry operational processes. Processes that inefficiently were managed in the field are now managed at corporate and processes that inefficiently were managed at corporate are now managed in the field. The results reflect examples of better information, faster execution, and better governance. Land-based oil exploration and production are increasingly adopting the complexion of “manufacturing” and with this a maturing mindset toward thinking strategically about how things get done. Mobile technologies are helping this happen.

Example #1 – I Need a Truck Right Now – Finding oil and producing it requires a lot of truck rolls. Truck rolls that take people, gravel, equipment, fluids, food, water, and spares to the planned well site and truck rolls that take all the same including, hopefully, oil away from the same location. A substantial portion of the well cost stems from logistical expense (15% to 20% of site prep, drilling and completion) for an event in the middle of nowhere that occurs one time (think of having to charter a plane to a remote location). Interestingly various logistics requisitions are managed in the field by (drilling foremen). The typical drilling foreman operates without the knowledge of the current logistical needs of other foremen around him and most times procures based on a personal relationship. By utilizing tools similar to Uber for oilfield, operators can develop a more holistic view of expected needs of several foremen and thus reduce the number of trips and number of miles in addition to aggregating purchasing.

Example #2 – I Know At least One of These Bills is Wrong – Wells are planned centrally and built remotely. In developing a well, there is regularly a material difference between what was planned and what occurred. When a need differs from the plan, the parties must find a way to accurately agree that a change occurred and this results in different set of charges. Historically this was all done on paper and many times the paper method did not fully appreciate the complexity of the change. This resulted in oil companies getting undercharged and overcharged by service providers. Recognizing that this was the case oil companies and service providers employ legions of auditors to prove one way or another who was wrong and who was right. The numbers were big. Electronic field ticketing put the paper method on tablets and dispensed with the high volume of errors. Corporate can now safely rely on a field process to produce an accurate result.

*Our second post from Guest Blogger and Geoforce Board Member, Chip Davis.