Houston-based Flotek Industries and IBM have agreed to develop a cognitive reservoir performance system for the oil and gas industry. The new system uses IBM Watson Explorer technology to analyze Flotek’s proprietary oilfield chemistry research, oil and gas client-contributed data and publicly reported sources from completion and production to reveal insights and identify new approaches to enhance the performance of wells throughout their entire life-cycle. For example, this solution aims to enhance oilfields by enabling decision making using machine learning for better production performance to improve oil recovery.
“The digital age has brought a massive amount of insight-rich industry data related to well-depths and rock formations,” said Luq Niazi, global managing director, chemical and petroleum industries, IBM Consulting. “With IBM Watson Explorer, our clients will gain insights that can be interpreted quickly to understand exactly what is happening at a client’s well and deliver value to the core of the business.”
Flotek’s Reservoir Cognitive Consultant (RC2) is designed to enable better decisions using machine learning to maximize reservoir performance through the Watson platform. The service will allow Flotek data scientists and chemists to search and analyze troves of historical and experiential data from thousands of client wells in real-time.
“For years, our clients have communicated the need for predictive data related to well performance rather than reactive, backward-looking information available in the energy industry,” said John Chisholm, chairman of the board, CEO and president, Flotek. “Reservoir Cognitive Consultant will bring greater transparency to the oilfield by identifying specific challenges facing our clients through prescriptive chemistry technology designed to deliver measurable, transformative results.”