Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud:
A Playbook for Digital Oil and Gas
GEOFFREY CANN AND RYAN CANN
The debate about whether digital innovations are material to the energy industry is now well and truly over. Capital markets increasingly demand meaningful action on energy transition, and the pandemic has forced the oil and gas industry to invent new ways of working with lightening speed. And it has succeeded, with virtually no widespread interruptions in energy supply throughout the pandemic. Prices are now rebounding with vigor as society accelerates out of its The question now is how to accelerate the implementation of digital capabilities and fully capture their impacts.
Geoffrey's latest book covers the state of the energy industry, the nine leading technologies behind the digital wave for energy, a dozen emerging new business models poised to disrupt the status quo, and the impacts on the most important resource—people. Backed up with 9 industry case studies and 180 reference sources, 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' is the go-to resource for digital transformation leaders in heavy industry.
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The global oil and gas industry is vitally important to our day-to-day lives, but we rarely give it a thought. Now, the pressure is on to transition to new energies, and to decarbonize all existing products as quickly as possible. Hidden in this call to action is the undeniable fact that our world will be dependent on fossil fuels and its spinoff products for decades to come. Thoughtfully written, deeply practical, and laser-focused on the things that truly matter, 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' sets out how all companies in the oil and gas value chain can secure their futures by accelerating their adoption of digital innovation. I particularly enjoyed the case studies that prove the point. Well worth the investment.
Paul Kurchina, SAP Community Evangelist
People need to really understand the immense opportunity that awaits the oil and gas industry if a digital future is fully embraced— Geoffrey Cann does a superb job breaking this down for the reader. His scientific and well-researched approach in making a case for how the energy transition can, and should, capitalize on digital assets is groundbreaking. He is one of the few thought leaders in this space, and I will continue to utilize this book in the classroom.
Ann Bluntzer, PhD, Associate Professor, TCU Energy Institute
Geoffrey Cann's next instalment in his series on how to digitize the complex world of oil and gas as it redefines itself to energy is captivating. Addressing the need for change is not just about the increased use of digital tools within traditionally manual processes, but also about the reengineering of an engineering-led operational construct built on a digital core. This is a must-read not just for the oil and gas engineer, executive, and team member, but for anyone who sees the opportunity to reengineer the energy industry from the ground up.
Nish Kotecha, Chairman, Finboot
The energy transition era requires oil and gas companies to reframe how they fulfill their role and responsibility in our world. Companies will need to leverage digital to transform their operating cost structures, human productivity, environmental surveillance, compliance to regulations, and safety standards to ensure sustainability. How they go about this journey calls out for guidance. 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' is the industry playbook to equip companies with insightful and concise direction on how to be digital to garner impactful change, not just to check a box. This is an eye-opening read that delivers a swift kick to the rear of any executive looking to avoid their company being left behind. Highly recommend this book.
Rob Fiorentino, P.Eng., VP of Operations and EH&S, Crescent Point Energy
'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' is more than a sequel to 'Bits, Bytes, and Barrels'. It exposes the powerful impact of the trifecta at the core of a brave new economic model—energy transition, decarbonization, and digitalization—and uncovers the trends and critical signposts for every industry leader, manager, and investor. The authors lay out a roadmap to the digital energy model, where oil demand reaches an apex, capital allocation is automated, and daily decisions in oil and gas are based on real-time data gathered by sensors and interpreted by machine algorithms. This is a survival guide for every industry executive in the sector developing a strategy to thrive by surfing the next wave of the digital tsunami.
Eduardo Rodriguez, President and Director, FlatStone Capital Advisors Inc.
Oil, gas, and energy companies pursue a bold vision to deliver safe, reliable, and sustainable energy products and services focused on the customer and enabled by innovation. 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' is a playbook for oil, gas, and energy companies as they streamline their transition to sustainable energy in the cloud.
Benjamin Beberness, Global Energy Industry Leader, SAP
Having worked in and with digital oilfield challenges since the early days and experienced both success and failure, Geoffrey has once again masterfully aligned the digital benefits message for the individual worker and the corporate business.
David Smethurst, Executive, Entrepreneur, Thought Leader—Energy and Technology
Geoffrey and Ryan have delivered a playbook that will serve as a valuable reference as oil and gas companies journey through the many distinct phases of digital transformation. The guidance provided breaks down the real challenges that organizations will face and the strategies to navigate these opportunities successfully. This book is a must-read for energy executives and board members alike.
Cameron Barrett, CEO Field Safe Solutions
'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' is so timely and pertinent for oil and gas and other energy companies focused on digital transformation and energy transition. It covers the full range of important themes that are being discussed daily within big energy companies. It is a fantastic resource that captures the richness of these discussions in one easy-to-read place and will serve as a thoughtful playbook for companies seeking to accelerate into the future in this world of energy system change. Highly recommended.
Sungene Ryang, Executive Director and CEO, GS Beyond
Safety and reliability in the oil and gas industry were reasons to avoid or slow-play digital transformation. The pandemic turned this assumption on its head. Now, can digital transformation help companies achieve cultural change and respond to decarbonization while still being profitable? 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' weaves a practical narrative with examples across the value chain. I highly recommend Geoffrey and Ryan Cann's reference-worthy material. Pro tip: the interview guide is a great starting place for energy execs to ask the right questions.
Heather Christie-Burns, Vice President, Transmission Pipeline Unit, Pembina Pipeline Corporation
Once again, Geoffrey Cann takes his readers on a swift journey through energy's extraordinary digital future. To avoid being left behind by the digital transformation and to thrive on this uncertain journey, energy executives everywhere need to put 'Carbon, Capital, and the Cloud' on their must-read list.
David Forsberg, Managing Partner, Ascent Energy Ventures
I am so fortunate to have discovered Geoffrey Cann's witty yet honest perspective at a major inflection point in my thirty-plus-year career in the oil and gas sector. As a follow-up to the informative 'Bits, Bytes, and Barrels', released in 2019, this playbook arrives with near perfect timing, just as the promised digital transformation is finally beginning to take hold in our industry. Geoffrey and Ryan Cann artfully leverage decades of thought leadership experience and practical use-case research evidence to guide us step-by-step through this critically necessary conversation. Their growth mindset adjusts for uncertainty while providing needed clarity by educating us about what we can do to create a more sustainable future for everyone. As a consultant seeking to influence adoption of digital innovations, I personally found the included glossary of industry and technical terms used in context an invaluable resource, informing and connecting the reader to the complex dynamics now shaping the energy transition.
Randell McNair, DBA, Information Asset Management Consultant
Bits, Bytes, and Barrels:
The Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas
GEOFFREY CANN AND RACHAEL GOYDAN
The oil and gas industry is at a crossroads.
Recent low prices, rapidly growing alternative fuels like renewables, the permanent swing from peak oil to super abundance, shifting consumer preferences, and global pressures to decarbonize suggest a challenged industry for the foreseeable future. Digital advances offer ways to lower costs of production, improve the productivity of the industry, reduce carbon emissions, lower the energy intensity of industry, and regain public confidence. Await-and-see attitude to digital innovation has failed many industries already, and the leaders of the oil and gas industry urgently seek guidance on how digital both disrupts and enhances their industry.
Bits, Bytes, and Barrels: The Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas sets out the reasons why adoption is slow, describes the size and scale of both the opportunity and the threat from digital, identifies the key digital technologies and the role that they play in a digital future, and recommends a set of actions for leaders to take to accelerate the adoption of digital in the business.
Written from an independent and expert perspective, Bits, Bytes, and Barrels: The Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas addresses the impacts of digital across the breadth of the industry—from onshore to offshore, from upstream to midstream to integrated—and outlines a roadmap to help the decision-makers at all levels of the industry take meaningful action toward promising and rewarding digital adoption.
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Geoffrey Cann and Rachael Goydan provide a highly accessible snapshot of the complex and fast moving digital world as it applies to oil and gas. Many oil and gas workers will feel that this is an area that it is all to easy to let new ideas and technologies slip by. The book provides with reassuring confidence a contemporary forward looking state of the nation of the digital world that will allow oil and gas executives, board members, engineers, business developers, researchers and strategists to assess areas to develop and focus, and also reveal blind spots.
Andy Doyle-Linden — Consultant & Corporate Strategy Lecturer, EMBA, Haskayne School of Business
Bits, Bytes, and Barrels is a balanced critique of the industrial digital technologies which can feel like a bewildering maze for organizations facing the digital transformation challenge. A must-read for Energy and Mining Executives and Board Directors seeking to set their organizations' strategic path towards a connected future.
Azad Hessamodini — President, Strategy & Development, Wood
For many of us in the oil and gas industry, the path from the old way of doing business into the new frontier of the digital world can be daunting and confusing. It's difficult to find practical and actionable advice and insights on how best to make this transition. Rachael and Geoffrey have broken down this journey into understandable steps and provided a clear and thoughtful way for us to make this important change.
Mushahid Khan — CEO and Board Member, APS Plastics & Manufacturing
This is a timely, well researched, practical and insightful book that plugs a much needed gap in the market. If you are looking for a one stop shop that brings together key digital themes and ideas in Oil & Gas in one place, then this is it – highly recommended.
Dr John Pillay — Global Digital Transformation Director, WorleyParsons
Geoffrey Cann and Rachael Goydan's Bits, Bytes, and Barrels: the Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas is a handbook of how to develop digital strategy and culture and get IT and operations engaged. The book is both interesting for those familiar with oil and gas, and easy to understand for those who are not. A great resource.
Dr Soheil Asgarpour — President, Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada
Digital solutions will inevitably transform the energy sector. Bits, Bytes, and Barrels provides an excellent roadmap for energy executives to get started on the digital path. Geoffrey and Rachael bring a global perspective, drawing on successful models from around the world and from other sectors, along with pragmatic advice on how to engage with emerging technologies. I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in the energy sector.
Marty Reed — CEO Evok Innovations
Peak oil, scarcity and rising prices? No, the energy industry is in a new era of abundance and price pressure. In Bits, Bytes, and Barrels, the authors give valuable context and advice on how digital technologies are mandatory tools for progressive energy leaders to turn disruptive challenges into a generational opportunity.
Peter Tertzakian — Executive Director, ARC Energy Research Institute
This new book is an essential road map for oil and gas executives and boards to navigate the new world of digital enhancement of their business, avoid false starts and mis-steps and unleash new sources of value. The book brings much-needed clarity to a topic which can be confusing; and makes it relevant to the real world of oil and gas at every step.
Andrew Slaughter — Executive Director, Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions
The perspectives in Bits, Bytes, and Barrels define the white spaces that people are considering when they think of the Digital Oilfield. It validates many key points on the topic of what Digital Transformation is, and provides true insight for those seeking some reasonable understanding of how hydrocarbon development needs to be digitized as the demand for oil continues to increase.
David Smethurst — Chief Technology Officer, Energy Sector, Hitachi Vantara
Bits, Bytes, and Barrels comprehensively lays out the issues and opportunities for digital technologies in the energy business. The book is full of examples where digital is making a bottom line impact for companies and it provides pathways for how companies might proceed with their own digital strategies. The authors have taken a very technical and complex subject and made it very clear and understandable – a great handbook for executives and IT professionals alike!
Brian Truelove — former SVP and CIO, Hess Corporation
Technology, innovation and business model changes are impacting industry at a rapid pace – yet in some cases, not fast enough. Bits, Bytes, and Barrels is an excellent primer on existing and future innovation levers that the energy sector can incorporate to improve adaptability and competitiveness. Important reading for Boards, the C-suite, and those looking to understand how technology can move the needle or stand-up effective internal innovation. I highly recommend this book.
Samantha Stuart — Vice President Strategy & Corporate Development, TransCanada
This practical, easy-to-read book provides a concise guide to the current state of digital innovation in the oil and gas industry and where to expect the leaders to take it next. A must read to ensure your firm stays competitive.
Judy Fairburn — Board Director, former EVP & Chief Digital Officer for a large energy firm
Machine Learning and Data Science in the Oil and Gas Industry
PATRICK BANGERT (editor)
The Business of AI Adoption
Chapter by GEOFFREY CANN
Machine Learning and Data Science in the Oil and Gas Industry explains how machine learning can be specifically tailored to oil and gas use cases. Petroleum engineers will learn when to use machine learning, how it is already used in oil and gas operations, and how to manage the data stream moving forward. Practical in its approach, the book explains all aspects of a data science or machine learning project, including the managerial parts of it that are so often the cause for failure. Several real-life case studies round out the book with topics such as predictive maintenance, soft sensing, and forecasting. Viewed as a guide book, this manual will lead a practitioner through the journey of a data science project in the oil and gas industry circumventing the pitfalls and articulating the business value.
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