Discover the latest news, trends and happenings at Well Data Labs
Bridging the IT Divide – Part 2
This is a series of guest posts by author and industry-insider Jim Crompton. Crompton is an Energy Advisor for Rocky Mountain Innosphere and an independent consultant through Reflections Data Consulting LLC.
Getting to know IT
I hope that I am catching you before you have formed too critical of an opinion of your IT department. I know that the coffee pot conversations can sometime get pretty tough on IT. I can still remember when I was first transferred into the IT department (with a considerable promotion), and all I got from my former peers from earth science was skepticism, condolences and criticism. “What did you do wrong to get that job?,” they asked me. But IT is not that bad and the work they do is critical to the running of your company. So let’s talk about why they are not always on your side.
Big Data or Buzzword Bingo?
Published over a month ago, I just had the opportunity to read a fantastic article by Anya Litvak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and thought it was worth sharing. Titled “Shale companies turn to machines to crunch their drilling data,” Anya does a wonderful job of succinctly breaking down both the opportunities and the challenges of working with high-frequency, machine created data in the world of unconventionals. Included in the article are highlights of the work of WVU’s Shahab Mohaghegh, a major SPE contributor and industry data scientist, and the efforts of major E&P’s and service companies like Shell, Range Resources, Southwestern, and Baker Hughes.
What do you think – is ‘Big Data’ an overused buzzword in our industry, or the beginnings of a smarter E&P “corporate brain,” as Neal Dikeman of Shell describes it?
Bridging the IT Divide – Part 1
This is a series of guest posts by author and industry-insider Jim Crompton. Crompton is an Energy Advisor for Rocky Mountain Innosphere and an independent consultant through Reflections Data Consulting LLC.
Houston, we have a problem!
While it makes great material for Dilbert cartoons, the often strained relationship between engineering and business groups with their internal IT departments can be a serious barrier to the adoption of emerging technology. This challenge is more than just a common complaint around the coffee pot at work, but a potential rift that will limit just how successful and efficient both groups can be – and in today’s market, efficiency is king.
Downturn doldrums: Don’t just survive, thrive.
It’s no secret that our industry has its swings. Layoffs and downsizing worries become a common watercooler refrain in lean times, and few are spared the stress that this causes. $30 oil has a tendency to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the effects aren’t limited to office closures and consolidations. If it hasn’t happened already, you will eventually be put in a position where you have to fight for your current job, or be ready to compete for a new one. read more…
Welcome and Hello
Here in the Well Data Labs office, we regularly talk about how we can build software that helps petroleum engineers be better at their jobs. Our core goal with this blog is exactly the same – to give you, our reader, bite size pieces of quality content that can make you better at the work you are doing on a daily basis.