With the advent of Digital
Oilfields, IT architecture must deal with tremendous volumes of data throughout
the oilfield lifecycle. With thousands of sensors, streaming data, the emphasis
has shifted from data acquisition and storage, to managing and leveraging the
information. Thus, it is not just about how much data you have; it is about
what you do with it? The current IT scenario has failed to exploit the benefits
of this data volume to the fullest.
In the meanwhile, computing world
has seen a revolution by the name of “Cloud Computing”. This buzzword has been resonating in
technology circles for the last two to three years. Some call it the third IT
industry revolution after the rise of Personal Computers and the Internet. But what actually is Cloud
Computing? Cloud computing refers to the processing and storage of your data on
computers and data centers based away from your own
premises. You are utilizing computing
power that you do not own, and which is located somewhere else, in “the cloud”.
Cloud computing derives its name from the fact that cloud shaped icons are used
to depict the internet on network diagrams signifying that the end-user does
not need to know the details of what is happening inside the internet (i.e. it
is cloudy) but still can be sure that the data transmitted will arrive at its
destination.
Imagine a world where software
applications are no longer constrained by hardware requirements, where you can
consume as much computing power as you need without having to buy a
supercomputer. More importantly, imagine a world where you pay only for the
computing power that you utilize just like you pay for electricity or any other
utility. You do not have to buy a power plant to get electricity; you just pay
for the amount that you use. And if you are still not fascinated by this idea,
then imagine a world where you can use
a reservoir simulator or any other computationally intensive software on your
mobile or any other handheld device that has a web browser. Cloud computing is
the concept that will be taking us into this world; if it hasn’t done so
already.
Cloud computing brings us into
the era of web applications banishing the desktop applications. A desktop
application is one which is installed on your PC and uses your computer’s
resources to run. A desktop application is constrained by your computer’s
hardware capability. A web application, on the other hand, is installed and
executes on a remote computer (a server) and you can access it through your PC
using only a web browser. The advantage lies in the fact that the application
is now running on the server, which is a much powerful computer than your PC.
Your PC acts as a terminal, just sending the inputs and displaying the outputs.
The major processing part is being done on the server. Thus, your PC’s
responsibilities are drastically diminished and so are the hardware
requirements.
Cloud computing is not an
outrageously new idea. In fact, it has been around, since the arrival of the
internet. There is good chance that you have already used some form of Cloud
Computing. If you have an e-mail account with a web-based e-mail service like
Hotmail, Yahoo, Mail or Gmail, you probably know that instead of running an
e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely
through your browser. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist
on your computer - it's on the service's computer cloud. What’s new is that
more and more software are now being written to be used over the internet.
There are web-based word processing programs like Google Docs, photo and video
editing programs like Pixlr and JayCut and more. In fact, you name a desktop
based application and there is good chance that you will find a web-based
counterpart, now or in the very-near future.
But, what has Cloud computing got
to do with the Oil and Gas Industry? The computing requirements of this
industry have always been high and will become increasingly higher with the
arrival of Digital Oilfields. The petroleum industry is dominated by demand for
data, high performance computing and collaboration tools. This requires
servers, networks, bandwidth, data storage, power and a place to house and cool
it. Additionally, staff is required for administration, maintenance and
support.
Construction of such on-premises
IT infrastructure saddles E&P companies with high pfront costs. The
maintenance of these facilities is also a concern. Cloud Computing provides a
solution for this problem, often called “Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)”.
IT industry giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM and others have built
huge data centers across the globe and offer this infrastructure to clients as
a service. This means that an E&P company can store all of its data in
these remote data-centers eliminating the need for an on-premises data center.
This also makes the data available anywhere, anytime thus facilitating advanced
collaborative environments. The client company pays only for the computing
resources it utilizes usually on an hourly or monthly basis which drastically
reduces the upfront cost.
Another advantage of IaaS is
scalability. Suppose that due to some new operation, the computing requirement
of the client increases. In a conventional setup, this would require purchase
and installation of new equipment which is both expensive and time-consuming.
And what if the computing demand decreases later on? The surplus capability
will be wasted. But with IaaS, the client can easily increase or decrease the
computing resources that it has acquired by merely a few clicks ensuring
efficient utilization of resources.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is
another attractive aspect of Cloud Computing. This stipulates that you no
longer need to buy expensive software and install it on a local machine.
Instead, the software is installed on a remote computer (in the cloud) and can
be accessed through a browser. The software vendor charges you on a pay-per-use
basis i.e. you pay as much as you use the software. If the need for the
software is eliminated, you cancel your subscription and stop paying. If a new
version of the software is released, you don’t need to buy it again. All you
need is to transfer your subscription to the newer version thus ensuring that
you have the latest capabilities at hand all the time.
The penetration of Cloud
computing in the Petroleum industry is encouraging but not as aggressive when
compared with its infiltration in other industries. According to IDC’s 2010
Vertical Group Survey, 10.3% of oil and gas companies are currently using or
implementing cloud computing and 7% have cloud computing on their technology
road map (Figure 3).
The main reason behind this
somewhat lethargic approach is doubts regarding data privacy and security. The
protection of trade-secrets and sensitive data such as well-logs needs to be
ensured to increase the confidence of upstream companies in investing this
technology. This has led to greater adoption by the oil and gas industry of the
“private” cloud rather than the “public” cloud. The private cloud is designed
for restricted access to a single enterprise. While this might be a viable
option for industry giants, the smaller companies must benefit from the public
cloud to avoid the high CAPEX associated with setting up a private cloud. A combination
of public and private cloud features, referred to as hybrid cloud, is another
option.
Software as a service is quickly
proving its worth for the E&P industry. iStore (The Information Store) has
developed the industry’s first Software as a Service offering by launching its
PetroTrek® Digital Oilfield Online solution. Baker Hughes is using Microsoft’s
cloud services to conduct complex computations such as well log processing and
in one case, has cut simulation times from nine months to less than 30 days,
according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Cloud Computing has also helped Baker
Hughes in its green-IT initiative aimed at reducing the impact of its IT
operations on the environment. Advanced Seismic Technologies, a seismic
processing software developer, has developed a cloud-based seismic imaging and
processing software called Oasis® that will eradicate the need for
high-performance computing clusters to be installed on-site. Oasis provides
velocity model building, graphical representation of seismic data, creation of
seismic data subsets, and other capabilities. Emerson has also tested its
reservoir modeling software Roxar RMS on Amazon EC2 (Amazon’s cloud offering).
Other high performance computing applications are expected to be deployed in the
cloud soon.
Cloud computing has enabled the
smaller independent operators to use the same state-of-the-art software
technologies utilized by the super-majors thereby leveling the playing field
and enabling the benefits of the digital oilfield technology - increased asset
performance, reduced cycle time, improved safety and enhanced business
decisions - to be exploited across the board.
WRITTEN BY: OSAMA HASAN KHAN
REFERENCES:
1.
“How Cloud Computing works?” howstuffworks.com
2.
“A roadmap for Cloud Computing in Upstream”, by Oscar
Teoh and Ben Parker
3.
“Cloud Computing Can Be Applied For Reservoir Modeling”
by Tyson Bridger, Emerson Process Management
4.
“Oil and Gas: Into the Cloud?” by Jill Feblowitz, Vice
President, IDC Energy Insights
5.
Microsoft Case Study: Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 –
Advanced Seismic Technologies.
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Tags:
Baker Hughes,
Cloud computing,
data privacy,
digital oilfield,
DIGITAL OILFIELD AND THE CLOUD,
oil and gas industry,
PetroTrek® Digital Oilfield Online solution