Drillers Turning to Big Data in the Hunt for Cheaper Oil

Schlumberger, the leading oilfield services company, is working to increase oil output and cut the industry’s costs. The Schlumberger Software Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) located in the heart of Silicon Valley, is to apply big data technologies, pioneered by Google, Facebook and Amazon, to oil exploration and production. STIC, is focused on “ innovative applications of software technology that will lead the industry's cloud platform transformation, supporting efficient, reliable and predictable real-time end-to-end workflows accessible from anywhere at any time”. Essentially, the oil and gas industry is creating new business opportunities for information technology, artificial intelligence, big data processing and analytics providers. This application of big data analytics could be just as disruptive and transformative as it was for the Internet.