For many in the energy sector, it's not just potential
energy reserves which remain untapped, but also data reserves.
Highlighting that belief, Stephen Ashley of the Oil and Gas
Technology Centre recently asserted that companies in the oil and
gas sector stand to make significant savings if they can 'sort
out' their relationship with big data.
Addressing delegates at Aberdeen's ENGenious conference,
Ahmed Hashmi of BP also warned that 'fixed mind-sets' are
holding the industry back.
So, what are Stephen, Ahmed and others getting at – and is
the oil and gas sector really behind on the data revolution?
The argument goes that the industry is currently sat on a wealth
of data that isn't being utilised as best it could. Data
gathered in the process of exploration, well development and
production for example, produce huge volumes of data. And once a
well is established, the monitoring of equipment, as well as oil
and gas flow rates and pressures, produces important
