Why stakeholders harp on importance of data authenticity in oil sector

Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have harped on the importance of authentication of data in the industry as the use of artificial intelligence becomes imperative in oil and gas operations.

Speaking during the Nigeria international conference and exhibition organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council in Lagos, the Permanent Secretary of the Petroleum Resources Ministry, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, stated that  artificial intelligence would help engineers to make safer and more accurate decisions with additional supports from created intelligence.

“It is prescribed that oil and gas companies need to embrace digitisation to attract the capacity and the potential of the industry by 2040. Therefore, data has intrinsic value because it is of no value until that value is discovered.

However, before the value of data can be determined, it is pertinent to first of all ascertain its authenticity. Hence, the question arises, how truthful is our data, and to what extent can we rely on it?”

She further stated that on changing the future of the oil and gas industry, artificial intelligence most certainly would impact on the sector in numerous ways.

“Therefore, the proliferation of the artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry will lead to the development and revolutional transformation of applications and tasks such as precision drilling, production optimisation reservoir management inspection and oil and gas station monitoring amongst others,” she said.

On his part, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, said “no doubt, artificial intelligence is key in today’s world, no doubt but how much data you have and how you collect it and what we do with the data also matter and should also be addressed.

• Farmcrowdy announces unified portfolio

“We operate in an industry where source of data is in question, you are also not sure whether this data is a real time data or not. Every data we throw at the industry to our stakeholders is questioned. That means there is something we need to do as partners. We have to do something to correct that.

“Today, we talk about reserves, but you can’t do this without technology. We keep talking about raising our reserves to 40 billion barrels proven reserves for many years. This time we are determined, we will work together so that we deliver on this because there are so many things we can do together.

“Efforts to bring new legislation have not worked. It is a big challenge but this time we need to make it work. Today, NNPC is challenged by the reality of our environment. Though we have data,  it is very bad. You don’t need to go digital before you know that all our refineries are very bad. Because our refineries are not operating optimally, not at all, we become net importer of petroleum as a nation that is a shame on us. But as professionals, we can give any excuse, today it is a shame that we are net importer of petroleum products as at today but we are going to change that.

“The way to do it is in two ways, one, NNPC needs to organise itself. Of course, there are other initiates, which include Dangote Refineries. We will support Dangote to ensure it comes to reality. We will work with all private refineries to achieve this. I know their fears. They want to know their transfer price at the point of the refineries. We will see to that. There will be clarity of basis of production so that people can throw their money at it.”

“Today, I don’t want to quote any data because I don’t trust the data myself. Nobody trusts us with this data. We are unable to deliver gas to our market not just because of pricing, but we are not sure of what will happen to our investment.”

He ended that he will work with all stakeholders to deliver value by using the right technology and policies to reduce cost of production and increase investments.