Growth has returned to the upstream industry following the disruption caused by the pandemic. However, some operators have been unable to take full advantage of new opportunities in the market because their overreliance on manual processes and outdated practices is preventing them from scaling their operations.

The industry has a long history of relying on armies of people to manually manage data and operations during the good times. However, following layoffs during the pandemic, many operators no longer have the people needed to quickly ramp up activity again. Geologists, engineers and analysts tell us they spend as much as 60% of their time on manual tasks, such as data entry, validation and reconciliation. The sheer volume of data—with historic files dating back as much as 50 years—makes it virtually impossible to extract the insights needed to make timely, informed decisions. Ultimately, business performance suffers as a result.

Upstream operators have an opportunity to break with this stop-start operating model and increase their scalability and resilience by automating the data-intensive processes that hold them back. Specialist data management software has an important role to play here, particularly when it comes to the longstanding challenges of data and IT fragmentation.

Data fragmentation and digital transformation

Over the last two decades, energy operators have made significant investments in hardware and domain-specific point solutions to analyze proprietary and third-party data. It is not unusual for larger companies to have hundreds of such applications—some of which may only be used by a few individuals.

Everyone talks about best-of-breed data and applications. However, different vendors' solutions are often standalone black boxes that don't talk to one another. Their vocabularies are unique, the way data is categorized and formatted is specific to each vendor, and different workflows are often required to access the data. As a result, users fall back on manual processes to transfer and manage data between individual applications.

This type of fragmentation is stifling digital transformation across the industry. At the same time, all of these tools consume valuable resources and require overhead to support and maintain them.

Enabling growth

An enterprise data management (EDM) solution can address these challenges and accelerate digital transformation by integrating data and synchronizing data updates across a heterogenous IT landscape—from drilling and field management to finance and risk management. Our own EDM for Energy platform increases operational efficiency, breaks down siloes and enables collaboration by automating data-intensive workflows and delivering trusted data for use in decision-making, including in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics applications.

Following a very profitable year in 2022, there is an opportunity for upstream operators to advance their digital transformation efforts and position themselves for growth by adopting a strategic approach to data management that allows them to scale their operations in 2023 and beyond.

Further reading:

• Generating ROI from digital transformation: here is what you need to know

• Optimizing data interoperability through alignment with the OSDU™ technical standard

• Empowering business users through streamlined integration with the OSDU™ Data Platform

• Learn more about EDM for Energy

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.