SUCCESS!
The Digital Oilfield; A Whole New Ballgame
November 13 - 14, 2017; Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Event Description: The new application of powerful digital technologies at the highest levels of the oil and gas sector has taken the world to the very edges of the surreal. The scale and velocity of change is underappreciated. Simply put, it has been the fastest and biggest addition to world energy supply - not just hydrocarbons, but all forms of energy - that has occurred in human history.
Event Scope & Aims: The conference focused on the leadership and direction of a new entrepreneurial culture and business model (aka, "the digital oil field") that is driving and redefining the entire oil & gas sector. Among the topics covered:
-
IT spending is improving operations, logistics, and asset management;
-
Information-centric technologies and nano-engineered materials are making it possible to manufacture better materials for exploration, production, and conversion;
-
New SaaS and IoT yield profoundly better real-time information, sensors, and controls;
-
And much more....
A summary of key themes covered at the "Digital Oilfield":
-
The global economy is growing at an average rate of 3.4% per year; 7.4 billion people on the planet and a process of urbanization adds a city the size of Shanghai to the world’s urban population every four months; the largest contribution to demand growth – almost 30% – comes from India.
-
Compared with the past twenty-five years, the way that the world meets its growing energy needs changes dramatically, with the lead now taken by natural gas, by the rapid rise of renewables and by energy efficiency.
-
Renewables are capturing two-thirds of new global investment in power plants, as they become, for many countries, the least-cost source of new generation.
-
Electricity is the rising force among worldwide end-uses of energy – the same share of growth that oil took for the last twenty-five years. Electricity makes inroads in supplying heat and mobility, alongside growth in its traditional domains, allowing its share of final consumption to rise to nearly a quarter. A strengthening tide of industry initiatives and policy support pushes projections for the global electric car fleet.
-
When China changes, everything changes: China is entering a new phase in its development. The president’s call for an “energy revolution”, the “fight against pollution” and the transition towards a more services-based economic model is moving the energy sector in a new direction - with the emphasis in energy policy now firmly on electricity, natural gas and cleaner, high-efficiency and digital technologies.
-
The US shale revolution turns to exports: A remarkable ability to unlock new resources cost-effectively pushes combined United States oil and gas output to a level 50% higher than any other country has ever managed; already a net exporter of gas, the US will soon become a net exporter of oil. The 8 mb/d rise in US tight oil output from 2010 to 2025 would match the highest sustained period of oil output growth by a single country in the history of oil markets. A 630 bcm increase in US shale gas production over the 15 years from 2008 would comfortably exceed the previous record for gas. Expansion on this scale is having wide-ranging impacts within North America, fueling major investments in petrochemicals and other energy-intensive industries. It is also reordering international trade flows and challenging incumbent suppliers and business models. By the mid-2020s, the United States will become the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter and a few years later a net exporter of oil – still a major importer of heavier crudes that suit the configuration of its refineries, but a larger exporter of light crude and refined products.
-
The era of oil and gas is not over: With the United States accounting for 80% of the increase in global oil supply to 2025 and maintaining near-term downward pressure on prices, the world’s consumers are not yet ready to say goodbye to the era of oil. Powerful impetus from other sectors is enough to keep oil demand on a rising trajectory; oil use to produce petrochemicals is the largest source of growth, closely followed by rising consumption for trucks (fuel-efficiency policies cover 80% of global car sales today, but only 50% of global truck sales), for aviation and for shipping.
We are grateful to our sponsors for helping support this important event: