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Big Data Now Used By Oil Firms

Big oil companies obviously rely on their tank gauges to keep their equipment in good order, and now they are using big data to maximise their profits.

Companies have started to collect data using sensors attached to the drills in order to find out more about the pumping pressure, heat and rotational speed of the drill bits.

It is hoped that the data collected from these sensors will help the industry to make significant savings on the energy they expend drilling

While the industry has previously spent a lot on finding out where to drill to get black gold, this recent move is the first time it has used big data to find out more about the way its machinery works, and how money could be saved there.

It is hoped that by using the information on the sensors the pressure on the drill bits can be adjusted, sometimes remotely, in order to improve the speed and energy efficiency of the drilling.

A survey last year of 75 large oil and gas companies found 68 percent of them had invested more than $100 million in data analytics in the past two years.

While there is a great deal of investment in the technology it is thought that any savings may still be a while off.

"There is a huge amount of data prep, data sanitization and data extraction needed for big data to be totally disruptive," said Kate Richard, chief executive at private equity investor Warwick Energy.