GUEST EDITORIAL
Cognitive Computing: Augmenting Human
Intelligence To Improve Oil and Gas Outcomes
Scott Kimbleton, SPE, IBM, and John Matson, SPE, IBM
The severe downturn in oil prices over the past 3 years
has made business transformation complicated for the
upstream sector. Early in the downturn, companies were
focused on cutting costs and restructuring for future growth.
Many organizations are now taking advantage of grad-
ually increasing oil prices to launch digital transforma-
tion efforts.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC)
2018 Oil & Gas Predictions Report, by 2020, 80% of large
oil and gas companies will run their business with help from
cognitive/artificial-intelligence (AI) agents. The report found
that 62% of users say outcomes from cognitive initiatives
exceed their expectations.
Cognition quite simply refers to thinking—and cognitive
systems such as IBM Watson can understand, reason, learn,
and interact with us. Cognitive systems excel at understand-
ing natural language, pattern identification, and knowledge
location, and have endless capacity. This allows humans
to focus on interpreting, analyzing, and adjusting designs,
plans,  and activities, and make decisions based on the
data provided.
Scott Kimbleton, SPE, is an associate part-
ner in IBM’s Chemicals & Petroleum Center
of Competence. He has 15 years of experi-
ence delivering analytics and cognitive
solutions, with an emphasis on chemicals
and petroleum. He has authored multiple
white papers on data management, and his
responsibilities include execution of the
Watson for Natural Resources Innovation Program in the US
and cognitive enablement for key global clients.
John Matson, SPE, a petroleum engineer, is
an upstream oil and gas expert in the
Chemicals and Petroleum Center of Com-
petence.  He has 40 years of experience in
the industry. Prior to joining IBM, he worked
in progressively senior operational and
managerial roles with Mobil, Halliburton
and Berry Petroleum. He has authored
numerous publications on the digital oil field and is  a  former
board member of Louisiana Tech University’s Engineering and
Science Foundation.
14
For example, a company’s cognitive system can focus on
finding geohazards before drilling offshore. The system does
6–8 weeks of manual research in seconds, identifying spe-
cific geohazards buried within tens of thousands of pages of
drilling reports, and dynamically converts text into easy to
understand tables and graphs highlighting areas of interest.
The goal is not to eliminate humans but allow highly skilled
geoscientists and drilling engineers to spend time doing what
is most valuable—defining the safest, most cost-effective
drilling plan. This is why IBM prefers to reference AI as aug-
mented intelligence because it augments or improves upon
the expertise, capability, and potential of the decision mak-
ers and teams.
Cognitive systems differ from traditional programmed sys-
tems that provide predetermined outcomes based on specific
rules. They consume all types of information from structured
to unstructured and historical to real time. These technolo-
gies include but are not limited to:
◗ Natural language processing
◗ Predictive analytics
◗ Recommendation engines
◗ Robotic automation
◗ Machine learning systems
Cognitive systems are adding value to oil and gas com-
panies around the globe in multiple functions. Here are a
few samples.
Near-real-time analytics identifies underperforming
wells. A global oil and gas company set out to improve
its rate and phase calculations using analytics to optimize
oil production and maximize revenue streams. With near-
real-time data from well sensors, the analytics solution
rapidly executed a set of fluid rate and phase calculations
to detect subtle changes in pressure and temperature. An
imbalance/out-of-tolerance triggered an automated alert
to the operations center, allowing the company to make
adjustments, as necessary, quickly. This led to $11 mil-
lion uncovered in revenue opportunities, 99% faster execu-
tion of rate and phase calculations, and 97% accuracy in
detecting underperforming wells, allowing the company to
make adjustments.
System responds to natural language questions. An Aus-
tralian oil and gas producer tackled the challenge to make
JPT • APRIL 2018
30 years of project data available to employees using natu- ¨
ral language questions. The company had more than 30,000
documents relating to their historical projects, which would
take an employee over 5 years to read. The company trained Tough Thermoset Resins
the cognitive system on approximately 1,200 questions
across a wide variety of project and engineering-related top-
ics. When a junior engineer could not get the answer from
the senior engineer, he asked the system the same ques-
tion in natural language. “What is the maximum backpres-
Top
sure on the high-pressure flare line?” The system returned Cement Plug
a set of ranked answers and he found the answer in the top Casing
3, with supporting information/data—avoiding the need to Centralizer

run an expensive simulation. All employees can now access a

vast amount of knowledge, changing the approach and pace
Bottom
of learning. Cement Plug

Adding unstructured data increases model sensitivity.

A US oil and gas producer needed to reduce nonproductive
time (NPT) while drilling. The ability to predict trouble dur- Float
Collar
ing drilling could significantly reduce NPT. The team devel- Float
oped predictive models based on available structured data Valve

such as hookload weight and depth. Available unstructured

data such as drill reports were analyzed to identify concepts
that aligned with drilling events. The predictive model and
text insights were aligned in time series to improve the pre-
diction of the event. The model incorporating unstructured
data outperformed the model based only on structured data
with a modest improvement in accuracy and a more substan-
Guide
tial improvement in sensitivity. Shoe
Nose

Maximizing Investment
When it comes to accelerating their organizations’ digi-
tal transformation, companies are looking outside the nor-
mal one-off proof of technology or project approach. An For downhole tools in
approach gaining momentum is joining various consortia or harsh environments
innovation programs. Use where the need for drillability and
The technologies enabling cognitive computing are extended well length are critical to success.
advancing rapidly and many organizations are already see-
ing benefits. While many are starting their cognitive jour- • High-temp, high-pressure stability
ney, industry leaders are accelerating their pace. A recent
study found that 94% of oil and gas executives familiar with • Superior wear and crack resistance
cognitive computing expect it to play a disruptive role in • Faster, easier and less costly processing
the industry. JPT
• Light-weight

• Reduced downtime and costs

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JPT • APRIL 2018 15