The AI Advantage
A New Era for Digital Standards in Oil and Gas
By Karine King and Arnab Ghosh, Accuris
The oil and gas industry encompasses a wide breadth of regulations and standards. Nine federal agencies govern the industry within the United States, in addition to further compliance rules imposed at the state and local level. As the consequences of non-compliance can be detrimental, keeping pace with changes to standards and regulations is of the utmost importance.
Oil and gas regulations change frequently, and it can be challenging to manage the constant influx of new mandates. To ensure compliance, engineers and compliance managers must be on alert for new standards and regulations from multiple agencies – a highly tedious (and expensive) process. Fortunately, there is a solution: AI.
We recently held a webinar to explore the various standards challenges organizations within the sector are facing in the oil and gas sector and how AI tools can help combat such complexities.
Stay compliant with changing regulations and standards
In the first section of the webinar, we discussed how AI can help engineers keep track of changes to industry standards and regulations. Industry standards change frequently, for a variety of reasons:
- Regulatory and policy changes
- Technological advancements
- Industry feedback
Keeping track of all the changes and updates to standards is a full-time job — a job that AI can assist with. AI tools can create automated alerts whenever a standard changes and enable side-by-side comparisons of historical and active documents, so you can understand exactly what changed and how it will impact your project. This will also decrease your risk of safety incidents, operational shutdowns and legal liabilities.
Maximize process efficiency and improve safety
Our second topic of discussion was process engineering, a critical segment of the oil and gas industry. Improving safety and efficiency is always on the forefront of process engineers’ minds.
Process engineers work in dangerous environments where safety is paramount. Reliable, safe and efficient operations are crucial to help reduce unplanned, costly shutdowns. Process engineers also play a crucial role in creating a greener and more sustainable future.
Staying up to date with new industry developments can help you make decisions with confidence and meet desired efficiency and safety goals. You can ask an AI-powered research assistant a question about your process and it will search all relevant industry standards before leading you directly to the answer in a standard. This enables the quick resolution of problems and improves engineer efficiency in challenging environments.
Stay on-budget and on-time with complex engineering procurement & construction projects
Last, but certainly not least, the third part of our webinar explored project management: one of the most challenging intricacies in the industry. Adhering to allocated budgets and set timelines for projects can be difficult, especially when many initiatives involve a host of different internal and external stakeholders. Effective project management is critical to avoid delays, increased costs, contractual disputes, loss of credibility and project failure.
Engineers can leverage AI tools to learn from past experiences, collaborate with project stakeholders, and uncover the digital thread of insights. AI can help create new, higher quality concepts faster. Uploading previous design plans and blueprints to AI algorithms can allow you to quickly pinpoint possible development approaches based on the analysis of past data.
Want to learn more about AI tools and see an in-depth demo of our Engineering Workbench platform? Watch the full webinar recording here:
Meet the Author
Karine King, Sales Engineering Associate Director, Accuris
Karine is an experienced geoscience data management professional with over 20 years in the oil and gas industry, she has supported geoscientists in both office and field environments across various parts of the world. Passionate about implementing new tools and processes to improve efficiency and productivity, she has a proven track record of success in solving challenging technical problems.
Karine has assisted scientists and engineers in using measuring instruments in exploration and production activities to obtain data indicating resources such as metallic ore, minerals, gas, coal, and petroleum. Her educational background includes Petroleum Engineering Technology, Geological Applications Technology, and Geophysical Applications Technology.
Currently residing in Ottawa, Canada, Karine is a Sales Engineering Associate Director at Accuris, where she continues to leverage her extensive experience and expertise to drive innovation and excellence in the industry.
Meet the Author
Arnab Ghosh, Worldwide Sales Engineering Leader, Accuris
Arnab is the Worldwide Sales Engineering Leader at Accuris, where he primarily serves energy customers in the Middle East, Africa, and India.
With over 25 years of industry experience, Arnab specializes in AI & ML based industry solutions, focusing on Standards Management, AI Search, and related workflow solutions within the Engineering and Research domains. Arnab holds a Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, a Master's Degree in Computer Sciences, and a Postgraduate Degree in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Texas, Austin. Throughout his 25-year career, Arnab has dedicated much of his time to strategizing and implementing digital standards management and AI based engineering knowledge discovery solutions for major International Oil Companies (IOCs) and National Oil Companies (NOCs), including ADNOC, Saudi Aramco, SABIC, GE Energy, Repsol, KOC, QP, and IOCL.
Arnab's extensive experience and expertise have made him a valuable contributor to major industry societies, including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the Project Management Institute (PMI), and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He frequently participates as a speaker and moderator, sharing his insights and knowledge with industry peers.
