The Energy Consulting Group

Selected Excerpts from

Oil field of the future is digital -- and it's already here

By Brad Foss / AP Business Writer

HOUSTON -- Larry McCuan, a well analyst for Occidental Petroleum Corp., was at home in Bakersfield, Calif., Christmas Eve when a technician from the Elk Hills oilfield 22 miles away reported a pressure drop that threatened wells producing 7,500 barrels a day.

Because Elk Hills is wired with a remote monitoring system, McCuan was able to pinpoint the problem from a home computer, order a fix within a half hour and prevent any production loss. That's a big improvement from the "Dark Ages," McCuan said, referring to the late 1990s, when output might have slumped for several days.

....................changing the way people work.................................................................................

"We're moving the data to the people, rather than the people to the data," said William Severns, managing director of The Energy Consulting Group, Concord, Mass, and senior researcher for the "Digital Oil Field of the Future" study. "This allows oil companies to bring experts (by way of the Internet) into the field faster and more cheaply than they could in the past."

....................Mr. Severns provided examples indicating that around the industry .................................

Experts believe this high-tech evolution could reduce costs by 10% to 25% and boost production by as much as 7%

Full article