CLOUD TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION IN THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY

1. Cloud Technology is one of the most disruptive technologies in the present era. It has touched many traditional industries as well, and now the oil and gas industry is feeling its heat. The recent report estimate over 80% of the enterprise workload to be cloud-based. By looking at the current wave of cloud computing inside the oil and gas industry, we can say that it will include even more oil and gas industries’ transactions in the future.

2. What are leading large oil and gas companies to cloud computing? • Like other industries, oil and gas industries also have a massive load of data and transactions. The cloud technologies help these companies to: • Gather better data and extract useful insights quickly • Use advanced analytics for faster and better decision making • Shorten the time that one usually need to extract and process the data The above image demonstrates the current state of cloud usage across various industries. If we compare the cloud usage of utility in comparison to the past few years, we can see the dramatic increase in its usage. We can expect increased usage of cloud computing, combined with advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, internet of things, virtual reality, and more.

3. What is the starting point of cloud transformation? Moving to a cloud is not an easy decision for a corporation. Everything starts with a case to ensure there is enough value for the company to make a move. The business case must show how the implementation of cloud technology can bring down the IT infrastructure cost in the long run and deliver value to the organization. If we cannot use the primary data for developing the case, we can take secondary data or existing information for reference. After that, we should point out how advanced cloud analytics can help that specific company. It is wise to use financial models like budget, cash flow statements, profit and loss statements, and feasibility study based on other oil and gas companies’ reports. While creating a report, it is also essential to consider company culture and technical requirements like a computer, infrastructure, system capacity, and so on.

4. Big Oil and Gas Companies are already on a roll A lot of oil and gas companies are already reaping the benefits of the cloud-based systems. Some of the notable examples are Hess Corp and GRTgaz. Hess managed to optimize its cost by 40% and decreased its labor cost by 10-20%. In the case of GRTgaz, it improved its environment availability from a mere 54% to a whopping 90%.

5. What does it take to achieve a cloud transformation success? While cloud transformation is a beautiful thing, it is not always easy to achieve a successful transition. As per the iLand survey, over 50% of AWS users have not reaped the benefits of cloud adoption. The study shows that energy companies are still concerned about cloud security issues and are hesitant to go entirely to cloud systems. Despite many security concerns, it is not a wise thing to stay away from revolutionary cloud technology. Here are the steps that one must take to increase the chances of successful cloud transformation drastically.

6. Perform a feasibility study using architectural approaches and measure its business impact. • Create necessary blueprints, patterns, and detailed outlook to achieve the company’s target cloud architecture. • The company should carefully monitor projects to meet the company’s targeted outcomes within the budget, minimizing the risk. • The company must make sure that it has a qualified workforce for handling cloud migration. It is also important to continually improve the processes and to manage it. • Human Beings learn from their past failures. In the future, we will see more and more successful cloud transformation, along with massive growth in the cloud computing industry.