Collaboration on digital solutions

Photo courtesy of Ole Jørgen Bratland/Equinor.

EQUINOR AND SHELL HAVE SIGNED A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON DIGITAL COLLABORATION TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS AND METHODS together, through the exchange of expertise within areas like data science, artificial intelligence and 3D printing.

The collaboration is expected to entail co-innovation across the whole value chain, such as maintenance, production optimisation and supply chain management. “We are already collaborating closely in the Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) initiative and see many mutual benefits as both companies have applied cloud-based digital solutions as an approach to our industry’s digital transformation. Such collaborations are increasingly important to strengthen safety, reduce carbon emissions and realise value by applying digital technologies”, says Torbjørn F. Folgerø, Chief Digital Officer at Equinor.

Open innovation is key The agreement will be further detailed on a project basis. It will enable the companies an agile foundation to explore specific digital initiatives and projects. “Open Innovation is key to accelerating digital innovation across the energy industry”, says Alexander Boekhorst, Vice President for Digitalisation and Computer Science of Shell. “Collaborating and building on others’ strengths is critical to deliver competitive and affordable technology. We are excited about this opportunity to codevelop digital technology with Equinor.”

Improvement ambition Equinor recently increased its 2025 improvement ambition by 50%, from EUR 1.8 to 2.7 billion mainly due to scaling digital solutions across its global portfolio faster than expected contributing to increased production as well as reducing maintenance, drilling and facility cost. The speed of implementation of new digital solutions has already delivered a cash flow impact of more than EUR 360 million in 2019, mainly due to earlier start-up of Johan Sverdrup and increased uptime on assets connected to our integrated operations centre. “Forming new partnerships and working closer with our suppliers is critical to further deliver on our improvement ambition”, Mr Folgerø concludes.

Open Surface Data Universe (OSDU)

Equinor is an active participant and champion for the OSDU initiative that Shell initiated. The OSDU initiative is an international forum of oil and gas operators, cloud services companies, technology providers, suppliers of applications to oil and gas operators, academia, and other standards organisations working together to develop an open, standards-based, data platform that will bring together exploration, development, and wells data. As part of promoting innovation and learning, all sub surface and operating data from Equinor’s Volve field was disclosed and shared with OSDU. This was the most comprehensive Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) data release ever made.