Between 20th and 22nd March, Louisa Jones and Eleanor Oldham attended the Third EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition. The conference was very well attended, with over 400 attendees making the trip to London’s ExCel centre.
From the Merlin Datawise perspective, Louisa explored how other companies are tackling the challenges posed by ever increasing amounts of data and how these data can be clearly identified for re-use. From the geoscience perspective, Eleanor focused on the innovations being made to de-risk G&G workflows, both for hydrocarbon assets and CCS sites.
The theme of the conference was Technology Driving Innovation for the Future and a lot of discussion focused on innovative de-risking technologies. This theme nicely encompassed the importance of making data easily accessible (so it can be used to make better decisions) as well as speeding up workflows via automated interpretation. Unsurprisingly, AI, and its significance for improving efficiency throughout the value chain, was discussed in almost every session.
Another buzzword to come out of the conference was collaboration. A fast pace of development is necessary just to keep up in a world where new data is created at record rates. New, innovative technologies are required to extract value from these vast datasets, however, developing these technologies comes with risk. Collaborative joint ventures help to share development risks, benefitting everyone. In this new era, there is an urgent need to re-think who our real competitors actually are!
As with all modern energy conferences, a key topic was the Energy Transition. CCS themes were carefully examined during the conference. Current workflows for CCS have been adapted from hydrocarbon exploration and require reimagining from the CCS perspective. As the CCS industry matures, more efficient, bespoke CCS workflows are expected to evolve – we may even find these improve the operational efficiencies of traditional hydrocarbon assets.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the EAGE Digital conference and would like to thank the EAGE Digital 2023 Organizing Team for such an interesting and though-provoking range of talks. Join us in 2024 when EAGE Digital comes to Paris!
