DETS Newsletter
IS THERE A FUTURE FOR
A PETROLEUM ENGINEER?
JIM CROMPTON, REFLECTIONS DATA CONSULTING
Believe it or not, I get this question all the time dur-
ing talks I give on the Digital Oilfield 2.0 or Petroleum
Data Analytics. Given all the interest and the hype
on these topics, sometimes it seems like the emerg-
ing digital technology will be able to do it all, leav-
ing little left for us humans. People think that oilfield
automation will replace all humans out in the field,
and that AI and data-driven models’ predictive
ability will replace all the petroleum engineers in the
office. Not so fast!
Reports in the media about the increasing capabil-
ities of robots (like self-driving cars and drones) and
the growing use of Alexa, Siri, and other helpful
chatbots can make you feel that humans are being
replaced by machines. Add to that Ambyint’s algo-
rithms for artificial lift optimization, Shell’s AI design
for a smart well, Equinor’s and Aker BP’s fully auto-
mated offshore production platforms, and Rio
Tinto’s autonomous mining operations, and you
may feel that your petroleum engineering job or
profession is in the crosshairs of the unrelenting pro-
gress of technology.
While I am an evangelist, of sorts, for the digital oil-
field, maybe even I have gone too far down the
hype road myself and need to talk more objec-
tively about the future if I am prompting such fatal-
istic questions. No, I don’t think technology will re-
place petroleum engineers, but I do think that most
engineers (petroleum, chemical, electrical, civil,
etc.) need to brush up on their understanding of
statistical techniques and maybe even take a pro-
gramming class to stay competitive – not with ma-
chines but with other humans.
I am reading a book titled “Human + Machine:
Reimagining Work in the Age of AI,” by Paul Daugh-
erty and James Wilson from Accenture. They have
a very optimistic message about humans and ma-
chines cooperating together in the future of work.
This new partnership brings human strengths like
creativity, improvisation, dexterity, judgment, and
social and leadership abilities with the machine
Digital Energy Technical Section Newsletter Q2 2019
strengths of
speed, accu-
racy (as long as
you have good
data to input),
repetition, pre-
dictive capabili-
ties and scala-
bility.
I started talking
about the digi-
tal engineer almost six years ago, and the need to
enhance the digital literacy of the workforce even
longer than that. It is clear that the industry needs
to up its game in productivity, doing more with less
to deal with fluctuating and uncertain oil and gas
prices and ever-tighter regulations. I can foresee a
future where AI and human experts work side by
side, but not one that is fully automated. In the
model suggested by Daugherty and Wilson, hu-
mans help machines in training, explaining, and sus-
taining, while machines help humans by amplifying,
interacting, and embodying. To learn more, get
their book (though an AI interface with Amazon, of
course).
The biggest challenges are that the reservoir (our
factory) can never be fully known, and most meas-
urements are indirect. The reservoir behavior is dy-
namic, pressures change all the time, and our data
is noisy at best. There are other significant barriers to
adoption of digital technologies: inefficient access
to poor-quality data, and a conservative and cau-
tious organizational culture that resists too much
change, just to mention two.
Advances in computing power (high performance
computing and cloud computing) are allowing us
to process more data and build bigger models. Ad-
vances in sensors and edge computing are allow-
ing us to perform remote surveillance (and mainte-
nance of critical equipment) and limit travel to re-
mote oilfield locations. Advances in automation
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 DETS Newsletter
and control systems allow us to take repetitive, well
defined tasks and let robots or algorithms take over
jobs we don’t really want to do in the first place. All
these trends build upon what digital technologies
do best: process lots of data very fast. But there is
more than processing speed in running an oilfield.
The role that our “coworker” AI allows humans to do
is to focus on better decision making and recogniz-
ing the right investment opportunities in well inter-
vention, logistics, and reservoir management.
When you can completely define a work process,
you can automate it (with tools like RPA = robotic
processing automation). However, the dynamic
and uncertain nature of the oil patch involves com-
plex decisions, patterns you haven’t seen before,
and fundamental cause and effect questions, not
just the correlations among all the different data
streams. It is more than just “what happened?” Why
did it happen? What should you do about it? What
will the future bring? AI cannot answer such ques-
tions.
There is no doubt that digital technology is en-
croaching on the traditional roles of field operators
and engineering departments. You can see that as
a threat, or you can see it as an opportunity to grow
your skills for higher value contributions.
Digital Energy Technical Section Newsletter Q2 2019
At the recent Davos Economic Conference in Swit-
zerland, the CEO of Google said that AI would have
a greater impact on society than fire or electricity.
Come on, man, really? That is going a little too far,
unless you believe that the movies 2001 A Space
Odyssey; I, Robot; and Terminator are an accurate
portrayal of the future. I am still rooting for humans
and the unique role their innovation, creativity, do-
main expertise, and field experience will play.
There is no doubt that computer technology will
continue to evolve, and that many jobs doing re-
petitive, manual, and dangerous activities will be
replaced by some form of technology. But who will
build and maintain the models for the algorithms
and robots? Who will put constraints (both physical
and ethical) on the behavior of the algorithms and
robots? Who will make the difficult decisions?
I didn’t say this was going to be an easy transfor-
mation, but as Elbert Green Hubbard (American
writer and philosopher, 1856-1915) said, “One ma-
chine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No ma-
chine can do the work of one extraordinary man.”
I am rooting for the extraordinary men and women
who want to become petroleum engineers and
make a difference in our future!
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