Similar to most industries, digital transformation is being used increasingly to assist the Upstream Oil and Gas (O&G) industry with reducing its operating costs and making operations ‘smarter’, more efficient and subsequently driving more value.
This may sound elementary, however it requires a robust strategic roadmap to realise significant gains. Strategic roadmaps are essential in assessing every operation and identifying areas that can be made more productive with the introduction of technology. Choosing the right technology is crucial as investing in technology that is non-scalable or delivers marginal benefits will only cost more in the long-run.
This article highlights the importance of a strategic roadmap in the success of digital transformation in the Upstream O&G industry and references Deloitte’s Digital Operations Transformation (DOT) model to showcase the steps that such a strategic roadmap might entail.
In their article called ‘From bytes to barrels’, Deloitte refer to a DOT model which is a strategic roadmap that encompasses a digital journey of 10 key milestones outlined as follows.
Physical to digital phases:
- Mechanise. This entails using control systems to preempt conditions and prepare for unusual conditions and failures.
- Sensorise. Here, information is captured by sensorising equipment and transmitted using IT networks which enables businesses to control operations remotely.
- Transmit. This milestone breaks operational silos between disciplines and transmits data to various networks.
Digital phases:
- Integrate. Here technology and data is standardised and integrated to discover hidden cost savings and productivity gains.
- Analyse. Data is examined and insights are drawn to identify new areas of value creation.
- Visualise. Here data is used to advance usability of technologies and mobility of employees.
- Augment. Insights are used to predict and prescribe the best operational strategies.
Digital to physical phases:
- Robotise. Facilities are robotised to improve precision, quality, reliability and HSE.
- Craft. This milestone transforms the supply chain and advances material-design thinking.
- Virtualise. Once the ‘physical-digital-physical’ loop has covered an asset it can be used to pioneer new operating, capital and business models.
Similar to the strategic roadmap shared in this article, Cubility has developed tailored Digital Strategy Framework and Operations Readiness Models which assist resourcing companies with their Operational and Digital Transformation initiatives. If your company needs assistance in this regard, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you.
