Real-Time-as-a-Service Increases Efficiency, Agility and Consistency

Abstract

Oil and gas operators use data collected from well operations for real-time monitoring, performance analysis and remote operations. Service providers typically operate real-time data systems from local data centers. They manually provision capex-heavy IT infrastructure and applications for each operator and rig. This may lead to overcapacity and inconsistent performance operating at scale. We commissioned a public-cloud, real-time-as-a-service solution which increased performance and consistency of real-time data access for a Norwegian operator. It also improved the service provider's operating efficiency and ability to accelerate the pace of innovation. A distributed architecture reduces failure points and enables horizontal scaling. Cloud provides elastic scaling to provision the right amount of compute resources to meet demand. Open-source technologies lower maintenance cost and reduce the technical debt accumulated maintaining the proprietary incumbent system. Close collaboration between the operator and service company enabled successful commissioning on six rigs. Real-time data feeds were previously collected by six independent IT systems hosted in a regional data center. The live data streams were successfully transitioned during active drilling activities, without interruption to remote operations. Real-time performance increased by more than 83%. The operator also observed a significant improvement in service and data quality. During the transition period, minor updates were deployed with zero downtime and no impact to the operator. Shortly after rollout, the support team remediated a performance bottleneck in just minutes. Prior solutions would typically require procurement and configuration of network hardware, taking months. In contrast to proprietary software solutions, an open architecture facilitates easy integration of existing software investments. Application programming interfaces simplify the development and connectivity of new real-time applications. Finally, cloud-native solutions accelerate the pace of innovation. Access to cloud services like analytics platforms enable continual integration of digital capabilities with real-time data.