This news is classified in: Traditional Energy Oil and Gas
Aug 20, 2018
Since its formation, through the merger of Det Norske Oljeselskap BP Norge, just over four years ago Aker BP has become one of the largest independent oil companies in Europe. “We have enjoyed growth in production at Aker BP over the four years, which has mainly been achieved through acquisitions,” Gro Haatvedt, EVP exploration at AkerBP, said. “We have used the downturn in a very constructive way to build the company with the ambition to create the leading independent company.”
The company has secured a balanced portfolio within exploration that Haatvedt believes allows it to contribute to the growth and to value creation as well as mitigate against the production decline on some of AkerBP’s aging assets. “Our ambition is to find 250 million barrels of oil in the period 2016 to 2020,” She adds. “We are well on track for that.”
Nurturing competence
AkerBP have established a new competence center in-house working on seismic processing and imaging. “We have discovered that to have the best data and information about imaging can give us more opportunities,” Haatvedt added. “To invest in excellent data and work with the data is crucial. Digitalization is only a vehicle to drive down costs and increase efficiency. I think that's something that we are still focusing on.
“We have been digital for very many years. I remember I started to work in the very early '80s and there was digitalization at that time, mainly for time compression. We had been doing that for years. We must be both cost-leading now in the future and still deliver world-class technology advances, and we are now in the process, I believe, to transform our business model.”
Set data free
One standout challenge that AkerBP face and something that is their focus at ONS later this month is data sharing. They call it ‘Data Liberalisation Front’ and they are calling for data of all shapes and sizes to unite, breaking down the company and department silos. “Not using the data and not being able to share all the date we have in Norway does not help anyone extract maximum value,” Haatvedt added. “Staying competitive on costs is a pre-requisite and our ability to exploit the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Our opinion is that a deal on data, on the NCS, and across borders both in Denmark and UK, could create some new ideas for us.
“If we manage that then I think we can create high-value barrels for the companies and their partners. The existing applications that we use as an industry today and the architecture means we are working in silos with applications and systems not connected to each other. This is important, having a data layer that links to the application with the core system in the most flow-efficient way as possible.”
Making data bigger
When it comes to talking of Big Data and analytics, Haatvedt begins by questioning what Big Data is for Norway and AkerBP. “I think the critical thing here is really to make sure you have enough data. If you look at the so-called Big Data in Norway, then companies like Google laugh at us. This is not big data. I think the NCS is too small; it's too small in a big data concept. That's why we must also depend on each other and across borders.
“It is essential to produce affordable energy in the future. We must be competitive with the other forms of energy that we are competing with; if we manage that I think we could have a long-term strategy for our business. Successful exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf requires the utilization of current infrastructure and but it requires a different way of thinking.”
