Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

Oil is used by some nations to project influence and power, and is a national security concern for most others. I can see digital playing increasingly into the geopolitical world of oil and with unpredictable effects. If you don't pay that much attention to the shadowy world of oil politics, here's a short primer of the kinds of things that international oil analysts consider, with the changes digital can bring to the table. 

Duration: 11m 46s

What if a sensor could not only record purely visual activity in the real world, but could also interpret and then take action based on what it sees? Could this capability be exploited in oil and gas? Where would such visual analytics find a home in oil and gas? I see the key benefits in improving safety and compliance at lower cost, improving operational effectiveness at lower cost, and increase the productivity of the workforce. 

Duration: 10m 34s

The oil and gas industry is clearly into digital innovation, but if this was like a baseball game, what inning are we in? I was invited to address ARC Financial's CEO Summit on the impacts of digital innovation in oil and gas. They asked me how I would compare the adoption of digital innovation to a baseball game; well, I know a thing or two about baseball, so game on!

What is the future of oil and gas in an increasingly digital world? This technology paints an exciting and teasing future, but we need to embrace several difficult changes laid out in front of us. In today's podcast, I will present a keynote address that I gave to the Alberta Internet of Things Conference in Calgary this past week. In it, I talk about where IoT fits in to the Oil and Gas landscape, and what needs to change for it to really transform the industry. 

Read the transcript on my blog - Keynote Address at the Alberta IoT Conference.

What can small and medium-sized upstream oil and gas companies do to take advantage of a more digital world, if anything? Digital innovation is often portrayed as the purview of only very large oil and gas concerns, who have the big budgets, large teams and ample resources to devote to digital. It's time to challenge that image.  

Duration: 10m 46s

Digital innovations are upending some of the most deeply held and long standing orthodoxies of our modern life. Uber is just one example but there are many more. Many of the orthodoxies in oil and gas are ready to tumble too. 

Duration: 10m 39s

When I was growing up, I always wanted to get behind the controls of some piece of earth moving equipment. I also recently watched training videos featuring augmented and virtual reality, and concluded that the training simulator in the video above has it backwards now. It teaches humans how to manipulate the arms of the machine, rather than having humans teach the machine how to dig for itself. AI and automation are the future. 

Duration: 10m 8s

Once a week (it seems), someone asks me how they can transition their oil and gas career into digital. The upturn in prices has not translated into more jobs or industrial expansion the way it used to. By marrying your current deep know-how and skill set in oil and gas with the scarce skills of digital, you can create a unique combination.

Duration: 10m 51s

This week I sit down with Brad Raabis, VP of Pipeline Enterprise at Metegrity Inc. Metegrity specializes in quality and asset integrity management solutions from the wellhead to the shipping terminal. In this episode we discuss the kinds of challenges facing the pipeline industry and some of the solutions that the industry needs. 

Duration: 39m 13s

Along with my co-author, Rachael Goydan, I've written a new book about the impact of digital on oil and gas. Called "Bits, Bytes, and Barrels: The Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas", it is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca . It's already been recognized as the #1 Best Seller on Amazon.ca in the Energy and Mines segment. 

This podcast is a summary of the book, what issues it addresses and who should find it of interest.

Duration: 11m 27s