Using cloud technology to help change the oil and gas industry

By Grant Caley, Chief Technologist of NetApp in the UK & Ireland

Although the oil and gas industry is often criticised for its impact on global emissions and climate change, it remains a crucial component of energy security. Cloud solutions can help oil and gas companies optimise their operations, reduce downtime, and make data-driven decisions that improve their carbon footprint.

The industry is projected to spend up to $12.4 billion per year by 2030 on cloud computing and analytics, as cloud solutions are showing stellar popularity in the sector. Cloud provides a secure, scalable, and cost-effective way to manage and store data. Furthermore, cloud solutions can have a significant impact on an organisation’s carbon footprint, which many people may not know. Despite the challenges, the oil and gas industry must reduce its emissions and play a significant role in mitigating climate change.

The industry must reduce its emissions by at least 3.4 gigatons of carbon-dioxide equivalent

(GtCO2e) by 2050, compared with “business as usual.” Choosing the sustainable cloud can be one of the most cost-effective ways in reaching this mammoth goal.

Choosing a sustainable cloud provider

As oil and gas companies work toward reducing their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly, many are turning to the cloud to achieve their goals. According to Gartner, by 2025, carbon emissions from cloud computing providers will be one of the top th ree criteria that businesses consider when choosing a cloud platform. This increased focus on sustainability is driven by the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and by the increasing number of organisations that are investing in sustainability initiatives. Prioritising sustainability when selecting a cloud provider means companies can make leaps in their green efforts and demonstrate their commitment to a more sustainable future.

Strategise cloud implementation in four steps

Oil and gas companies can move their data to the cloud efficiently through four simple steps.

STEP 1: ASSESSING

The first step is to assess how all your IT resources, both on premises and in the cloud (if you have some in the cloud), are being used today. Using a tool which gives you visibility across the stack, on your premises and in the cloud.

STEP 2: ANALYSING

The second step is to analyse how your data is being used, including where it sits and how active it is. We’d advise using technology which helps your company understand what data you have and how it is being used. A whopping 68% of data is cold data. Cloud Data Sense can identify that data so that it can be moved to more sustainable cloud-based.

STEP 3: MOVING

The third step is to move appropriate data to the cloud through migration, backup, and tiering. Public cloud provider data centres are significantly more energy efficient and sustainable than traditional data centres are. By using a service which allows you to migrate your workloads to public cloud, means you can take advantage of sustainability at scale.

STEP 4: STORING SUSTAINABLY

The final step is to use energy-efficient storage for the data that remains in your data centre.

Move toward a greener future today

Moving to the cloud is an effective way for oil and gas companies to lower their emissions and become more environmentally friendly. Cloud data centres are significantly more energy efficient than traditional data centres are. Data analytics tools, like NetApp’s Cloud Data Sense, are used to efficiently clean up data in the cloud (and OnPremises) that is unused or unwanted, swiftly.

Taking advantage of that efficiency with a methodical process like the one discussed above: Assess, analyse, move, and store data in a sustainable manner, will not only reduce your organisations carbon footprint, but you also reduce costs.

CIOs and CTOs should follow these four steps to take advantage of the sustainability that cloud offers all while reducing costs and improving their carbon footprint.