Clearing the Digital Minefield for Optimized Oilfield Production

The success of any digital oilfield project is predicated on the quality of the data structure, acquisition, communication, validation, storage, retrieval, and provenance of the data. Therefore, the mission of the digital oilfield architect is clear: Deliver the right data to the right users at the right time. This task is becoming more difficult because of the sheer variety of sensors, the multitude of data formats, challenges with data communication and synchronization, and the potentially large volume of data produced. While the advent of data analytics has increased the importance of designing fast and efficient data management systems, it is a multifaceted minefield to gather and process data to ensure production is optimized and risk is minimized in both conventional and unconventional operating environments.