Chevron has agreed a seven-year partnership with Microsoft which will see the internet giant become the oil major's primary cloud provider.
Chevron says the move will "accelerate the application of advanced technologies including analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) to drive performance and improve efficiencies."
Chevron has a "digitization initiative," a multi-year effort to streamline information technology (IT) operations around a digital core connecting the company’s engineers and operations through nimble analytics and increased automation.
The oil major says adoption of Microsoft’s Azure platform will allow Chevron’s IT workforce to evolve from supporting infrastructure to one that enables more advanced technologies, as well as optimize exploration, reservoir management, production operations, midstream logistics and marketing operations.
“We embrace every opportunity that streamlines our workflows, gives us insights into more efficient operations and helps us compete,” said Joe Geagea, Chevron’s executive vice president of Technology, Projects and Services. “We already have a head start in digitizing our oilfields, but we want to accelerate our deployment of new technologies that position us to increase our revenues, lower our costs, and improve the safety and reliability of our operations.”
Bill Braun, Chevron's Chief Information Officer, says: “The volumes and velocity of real time data we obtain from the reservoir through refineries to the retail pump grows at a dramatic pace every year. Our Microsoft relationship will advance our high-performance computing, IoT, and help capitalize on innovation in data science and machine learning.”
The strategic partnership also extends to broader technical collaboration that will allow the two companies to focus on joint innovation from a technology and business process perspective. This will include identifying areas to influence Microsoft’s roadmap of future products and where Microsoft solutions can help solve Chevron’s business challenges.