Dawn of a new energy era in Mexico
I have recently returned from beautiful Mexico City, where I had the distinguished honor of keynoting the first-ever Energy Mexico 2016 Oil, Gas, and Power Expo and Congress. As I reflect on my experience there and the inspirational people who I met, it is clear that Mexico is front and center of a new revolution for the oil and gas industry.
Mexico as a country is going through reforms in energy and they are looking to become more self-sufficient, productive and efficient. This transformation has been in the making for a number of years, and it is interesting to see how the recent historic reforms to the Mexican energy sector are generating opportunities in the market, despite the downturn in the industry and the dramatic drop in oil prices. What’s happening in Mexico’s energy sector is energizing, not only for the industry, but for the world.
I was pleased to join the many international energy and regulations leaders and visionaries at the event to discuss not only how Mexico’s reforms are transforming every aspect of the industry, but how technology can enable new opportunities as well.
Driving transformation in the energy sector
We know that our customers are trying to extract more value from their existing assets rather than investing in new ones in today’s world of $30 USD oil prices. “Sweating the assets” is the name of this new game. When I talked to attendees about what Microsoft is doing in oil and gas, the ecosystems we are creating, and how almost every major technology player in the industry is moving assets, solutions, and services to the Microsoft platform, people were blown away.
Microsoft is able to help companies find oil faster and cheaper while enabling them to have a more productive and efficient workforce. And with $400B USD of capital expense investments being cancelled due to the downturn in the industry and dropping oil prices, everyone I spoke with was pleased to hear how Microsoft offers companies a way to reduce capital expenses through strategies like pay-as-you-go cloud subscription models.
Our partner Schlumberger is taking advantage of this kind of model on Azure for assets including Intersect for cloud scale reservoir simulation, Avocet for production, Olga for flow modeling and simulation, OFM for production surveillance visualization, and Mangrove for the optimization of simulation design in a reservoir-centric environment.
Now on the cloud and with our Internet of Things (IoT)-related and machine learning capabilities, we are also able to provide things like more precise reservoir modelling and monitoring capabilities in the up-stream, mid-stream and down-stream parts of the operation, as well as in field development planning with a lot more drilling precision and accuracy. This kind of innovation uses Azure to help optimize Rate of Penetration, minimize safety risks on drilling, streamline pipeline operations, and save on energy costs while reducing environmental footprint, such as the work we are doing with OSIsoft.
With the introduction of directional and horizontal drilling, LWD/MWD (log while drilling, monitor while drilling) capabilities, we can significantly improve the chance of tapping into the pockets of hydrocarbons to achieve maximum recovery. The cloud provides the required compute power and IoT capabilities to collect information from a set of diverse sensors and then take action in near real time.
We also do work with Halliburton to utilize historical data to enable the best field development plans that deliver the highest return while minimizing the chance of dry holes and increasing the ability to accurately predict hydrocarbon locations. We are able to offer companies unique ways to rethink retail in energy in terms of payment systems, customer loyalty, and cross-sell and up-sell in order to increase the average revenue per customer. This can be seen in the work we are doing with P97 Networks to disrupt retail gas stations leveraging the power of Azure Cloud Services.
With Accenture, we are offering significant savings in storage and processing of seismic data. Companies are able to gain valuable insights into their data because it is available readily instead of being stored on tapes or disks that could take weeks to access. We enable companies to get value out of their data faster, cheaper, and better. We call this seismic platform-as-a-service.
We also partnered with Rockwell Automation to build a completely new IoT platform on Azure that helped them connect and monitor all assets in the up-stream, mid-stream, and down-stream. As a result, they are able to monitor all assets, minimize downtime, and predict and avoid failures. We are also working on replacing paper-based systems with automation.
It’s more than a business transaction
Customers I spoke with at the event were enthusiastic about the assets we, along with our partners have, as well as the assets we are building to help them transform their businesses. On a personal note, I found that for people in Mexico, business is not only about business. They are incredibly warm and welcoming people and they truly bring their hearts to work. Every meeting I had felt like the start of a new, long-term professional relationship. They want to have a relationship with a trusted partner, not just execute a transaction.
And this is where Microsoft is uniquely positioned.
With the industry losing 75% of revenue as oil prices have declined, we understand the difficult situation customers are in. When we talk about the savings, the accelerated time to value, the productivity and efficiency gains, and the strong business results that Microsoft can provide to businesses in these challenging times—people are ready to take action with a partner they can trust.
Security, compliance and data privacy are job #1
Microsoft is exceptionally capable of delivering on its promises. When it comes to security, compliance, data privacy and transparency, our policies and technology capabilities position us very uniquely; we are not confused that those things are job number one.
We have third-party evidence that the Microsoft platform is as secure as it gets and when it comes to compliance, we make sure we comply with standards and certifications at global, regional, local, and even industry level, where it makes commercial sense.
The Microsoft platform is not only secure and compliant, but it also offers unmatched choice, flexibility, and ease of integration, and therefore it offers lowest cost of ownership and fastest time to value.
We are pleased to be working with our customers, prospective customers, and partners in Mexico. There is great opportunity for true transformation through the power of technology and the people in Mexico are ready to embrace what lies ahead.
Twitter: @Caglayan_Arkan
