Thinking like a geologist in the age of AI
We’re all feeling a tension as geoscientists: Caught between an old way of working and a rapidly changing future dominated by Artificial Intelligence. As the dust starts to settle, another…
Technology
Crafting a software that is ready for the future
As much as there is a consolidation happening in the large operator landscape and the seismic acquisition space, the same applies to the subsurface software business. “Let’s face it,” says…
Seismic data on the workbench
“My goal is to equip explorationists with a toolbox containing all relevant algorithms to efficiently create optimal seismic volumes for interpretation and stratigraphical analysis,” says Anders, who hails from Sweden…
Why preserving a detailed facies reservoir model has everything to do with your graphics card
“Imagine a bulldozer,” says Vasilii Shelkov, CEO of Rock Flow Dynamics, from his office in Houston. “That is how you need to envisage the power delivery of the Central Processing…
The bit boy has gone
The Canadian oil sector has changed dramatically in a matter of 20 years. Back in the early 2000’s, vertical drilling was very much common good, but these days, you would…
The well listeners
Karol Jewuła. “ I recently gave a talk in Kuala Lumpur,” says geologist and pore pressure specialist Karol Jewuła, “for which I made an overview of drilling-related issues with wells…
How AI helps democratize seismic interpretation
“The times of gurus telling younger staff how to plough through a seismic volume and what to interpret is over,” says Herman van Nieuwoudt from Bluware. Herman started as the…
“You need some chaos to thrive as a company”
“Let’s get this straight,” Benoît Matha says at the start of our conversation on a Friday morning in February, “the subsurface upstream business is not a big data environment.” It…
“We’re in this weird time of pre-AI and post-AI”
A few months ago, I published some thoughts on how Norway has proven to be such a hotspot when it comes to new subsurface technology. Dan Austin, who has been…
How your WhatsApp call helps detect seismic activity
Our global telecommunications infrastructure consists of millions of kilometers of fiber optic cables. These include terrestrial and subsea networks that ensure that information travels across the planet. With the increased…
Can technology replace fieldwork?
At times of better access to digital outcrop imagery, drone footage and satellite shots, is it still worth going into the field to have a look at the rocks in…
Finding scribbles on the sides of composite well logs
It must have been in November 2018, as I chaired a session at the PETEX Conference in London, when Ronny Parr from bp gave a talk entitled “From Trash to…