After a wild ride in 2020, when prices momentarily went negative, the oil and gas industry rebounded throughout 2021. Bank of America expects Brent Crude to reach $120 per barrel by the end of June 2022. This prediction illustrates an industry in transition that is still trying to process the shockwaves from the global pandemic.
The pandemic exposed a massive vulnerability; as global storage capacities were reached, it became clear that extracting, transporting and processing oil and gas can’t just be turned on and off like a faucet.
Companies know they have to build resilience and rely on technologies to ensure new assets are deployed on-time and within budget, maximize the lifetime of existing assets and operate more assets with the same or fewer people. Between 2020 and 2025, global CAPEX spending is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.4% across the oil and gas upstream, midstream and downstream value chain.
So what does this mean for Information Management in the Oil & Gas industry in 2022? Here are my top predictions:
Continued acceleration of cloud adoption
The cloud allows oil and gas companies to scale data management and storage, driving greater flexibility in infrastructure costs. In my previous blog, I talked about cloud adoption growing by nine times from 2020-2030, and I fully expect adoption to accelerate through 2022. Cloud will become the preferred option as companies continue to breakdown information silos and equip team members and suppliers with the right information at the right time to ensure sufficient supplies.
Continued integration of content services
Content is king for oil and gas, and more companies will look to integrate content services with other core business applications such as ERP, EAM, HRIS and more. Content fuels collaboration and unlocks productivity for the intelligent asset lifecycle. The integration of Content Management platforms such as the industry specific solution Content Cloud for Energy from OpenText, enable easy and relevant access to information to boost the productivity of staff and assets.
Supplier optimization with EDI
With the recent supply chain disruptions due to covid-19, oil and gas companies will focus on optimization and risk reduction.
Using EDI, companies can increase efficiency by connecting their supply chain systems with those of their vendors. Eliminating manual rework of paper-based orders, field tickets and invoices reduces transaction-processing time and shifts the enterprise-vendor relationship from transactional to one focused on value and outcomes.
Asset optimization with IIoT
I see companies retaining a strong focus on asset optimization. Deploying IIoT devices, oil and gas enterprises will look to their equipment- and field-service vendors to help them increase asset uptime. The ability to properly capture, manage, analyze and share real-time sensor information is vital, so I expect more investments in secure IIoT networks that not only share sensor information with vendors but also make that information more contextual to more efficiently and safely deploy and maintain new assets
The connected remote worker
As we emerged from the pandemic, Gartner made this one of its top 10 oil and gas trends for 2021. As a former oilfield service engineer who performed operations in remote and offline environments, this trend resonates a lot with me and I fully expect it to continue through 2022. As more mobile devices approved for hazardous areas are deployed, field and plant personnel will have access to the information they need to keep assets running, whether onsite or remotely connected.
Reliance on AI
EY states that 50% of oil and gas executives have already begun using AI to help solve challenges at their organizations. Companies are beginning to look beyond the role of AI as building faster, more automated processes to advanced problem solving and decision making. I think 2022 will see AI more widely adopted across the industry as we face a growing realization that meeting the energy needs of an exploding global population requires new, more innovative and radical approaches.
Learn more about OpenText solutions for the Oil & Gas sector.
