SLB Digital Forum: Day One
Overview of day one of the SLB Digital Forum 2024.
Day 1 Event Highlights
We’ve been on the grid with engines roaring and tires hot for many months. Anticipation, excitement, adrenalin. In Monaco yesterday, the starting pistol fired, and a thousand throttles roared as the SLB Digital Forum 2024 officially began. Today, we’ve turned the Fairmont Hairpin and have pedal to the metal headed into plenaries, leadership programs, and product launches.
The industry at a crossroads
Olivier stressed the urgent need to deliver digital transformation at scale in the energy industry. He said the sector is at a critical juncture, facing rising global demandfor energy, increasing expectations for security and affordability, and the critical need to address climate change. He said digital technology’s ability to achieve higher performance, greater sustainability, and enhanced efficiency had been proven across numerous ‘proof-of-concept’ deployments. Achievements include reducing cycle times, enhancing productivity, derisking development plans, and improving capital efficiency. The potential for digital to redefine the industry is immense, and we must now transition to full-scale deployment of digital solutions for achieving a higher-value, lower-carbon future and turning potential into reality.
Navigating new frontiers
The theme of the SLB Digital Forum 2024 is Navigating New Frontiers and Olivier highlighted several key frontiers the industry must navigate:
- Industry frontier: Creating a resilient energy system with more energy and fewer emissions.
- AI frontier: Accelerating digital transformation by bridging the gap between science and data.
- Technological frontiers: Embracing new possibilities in digital operations and new energy forms.
The power of partnership
Olivier highlighted the importance of partnership in achieving digital transformation. At SLB, the commitment to open-source data ecosystems and collaboration has accelerated innovation. The expansion of the Digital Partnership Program, with over 30 active partners, exemplifies the power of collective effort. These partnerships, along with deep collaborations with customers, are crucial for unlocking joint innovation and ensuring cybersecurity.
Moving from Promise to Reality
To move from promise to reality, Olivier explained three elements the industry should focus on:
- Best-in-class digital infrastructure: Systems capable of supporting both on-premises and cloud applications, capturing data at the edge, and enabling rapid AI-driven decision-making.
- Open and secure platform-based ecosystem: Collaboration within a digital industry ecosystem that safeguards proprietary information while fostering innovation.
- Global deployment capability: Scaling solutions across regions and adapting to local conditions.
A fully autonomous production life cycle
But this was a visionary speech, and Olivier confidently predicted, full autonomy in production by 2030. “By the end of this decade, I expect that we will have closed the loop, achieving a fully integrated, autonomous production lifecycle—from subsurface planning to real-time operations,” he said,“This will enable us to optimize assets in real time, marking a significant step forward in recovery while maximizing performance and sustainability.”
In essence, this was an upbeat speech that praised the progress already achieved but called for an acceleration to the next level of digital transformation. AI was at the heart of the message; he called for its capability to be embedded in all operations, and its potential unleashed across our industry and called on the industry to “work together to shape the blueprint of our collective future and turnpromise into reality!
SLB launches AI-powered Lumi platform
The incredible new Lumi™ data and AI platform was launched during the plenary sessions and later presented in detail from the exhibition stage by Jamie Cruise, business line director, data, SLB. A packed audience heard that the platform unlocks access to high-quality data across subsurface, surface, planning and operations, increasing cross-domain collaboration and releasing new intelligence and insights to improve the quality and speed of decision making at enterprise-level. It is open, secure, and modular, and is embedded with the latest large language models (LLMs) and as industry-optimized domain foundation models, enabling customers to accelerate AI adoption at scale. Customers can train and deploy industry-specific traditional and generative AI models to transform data-driven decision-making, operations automation, and real-time optimizations across the entire energy value chain.
The Lumi platform is available on all major cloud service providers as well as on-premises, ensuring its availability to SLB’s global customer base.
“AI is changing everything, including the very pace of change itself.”
H. E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Group MD and CEO, ADNOC
H. E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE Special Envoy for Climate, Group MD & CEO of ADNOC, and Chairman of Masdar, addressed an influential gathering virtually. He highlighted the importance of SLB technology in ADNOC's mission to provide sustainable energy and emphasized three mega trends shaping the future: the rise of emerging markets, the energy transition, and the growth of artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Al Jaber noted AI's transformative impact, predicting it will add $8 trillion to global GDP by 2030 but also increase energy demand significantly. He discussed ADNOC's AI initiative, AIQ, which has grown into a $1.4 billion powerhouse, contributing to significant CO2 emission reductions and operational efficiencies. Dr. Al Jaber concluded by urging closer integration of tech and energy sectors to meet AI's energy needs and unlock its potential, aiming to build the world's most AI-enabled energy company.
Fireside chat: ENI and SLB CEOs discuss energy’s sustainable future
The first fireside chat featured Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB, and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of ENI. Olivier began by highlighting the significance of collaboration and networking among industry partners. Claudio discussed ENI's commitment to complete decarbonization by 2050, noting the challenges in reducing emissions due to development, demography, and industrialization. He said that over the past 20 years, USD 5 billion has been invested in environmental improvements, yet energy consumption and emissions have increased by over 50% and are forecast to double within around 20 years.
Claudio emphasized the crucial role of digital technologies, particularly AI, simulations, and modeling, in improving efficiency and reducing time to market. He stressed the need for a balanced approach between globalization and localization, considering different regional needs and capabilities and explained that ENI has been focusing on digital transformation for over a decade, investing in renewables and sustainable practices while actively engaging with communities and stakeholders.
AWS CEO Matt Garman Unveils Vision for Energy Sector
Matt Garman, CEO of AWS, addressed the audience at the Digital Forum, presenting a compelling vision for the future of the energy sector, emphasizing the transformative power of cloud technology, data, and AI. Garman highlighted the unprecedented rise in global energy demand driven by the digital economy and generative AI, predicting a need for an additional 20 to 50 gigawatts of data center capacity in the next few years. By 2050, electricity demand is expected to double, with significant increases in oil and natural gas demand.
Garman stressed the importance of cloud technology in modernizing infrastructure and improving operational efficiency. He said centralizing data in the cloud enables better monitoring, decision-making, and operational efficiency.
AI, particularly generative AI, was a pivotal theme. Garman explained how AI-driven models and simulations could enhance environmental sustainability, optimize grid management, and improve worker safety. He believes generative AI will fundamentally transform every job and industry, including the energy sector.
Garman discussed the explosion of data as a byproduct of digital transformation and the importance of integrating data into a unified, cloud-based repository. Using frameworks like the OSDU® Technical Standard, companies can standardize and analyze their data, driving innovation and operational improvements.
Garman announced a new collaboration with SLB to bring their Delfi digital platform to AWS customers. This partnership will allow customers to access Petrel™ subsurface software and Techlog wellbore software applications within the AWS cloud. Petrel software enables geoscientists and engineers to analyze and gain critical subsurface insights from the entire production pipeline, from exploration to production. Techlog software brings a full range of wellbore data into one highly integrated application, providing advanced analytics and interpretation for domain experts like geologists and petrophysicists. He said the integration of generative AI with these applications promises to unlock new opportunities for innovation in the energy sector.
In conclusion, Garman highlighted the incredible potential of AI, data, and cloud technology to drive the energy sector's transformation, stressing the need for continued innovation, collaboration, and strategic investments to meet growing energy demands sustainably.
Panel one: Scaling digital Culture, AI, and partnerships the key to delivering digital at scale
The Digital Forum’s first plenary panel session on scaling digital was an insightful exploration into the pathways to achieving digital potential at scale. The discussion centered around the integration of digital technologies, the challenges faced, and the successes achieved so far. The panelists were:
Karl Johnny Hersvik has been CEO, Aker BP
David Bucknell, CEO, INEOS Energy
Roger W. Jenkins, President and CEO, Murphy Oil Corporation
A focal point was the agility and speed of digital adoption within operations, particularly during acquisitions. The implementation of an SAP system in just four months highlighted the rapid scalability possible with digital technologies. It was emphasized that fostering a culture that supports digital transformation is crucial, blending experienced professionals with new graduates adept in digital tools.
The broader impact of AI on the industry was also discussed, with AI likened to an engine, working in the background to enhance productivity and transform operations. It was stated that the integration of AI into data management and decision-making processes can lead to significant improvements in competitiveness and efficiency.
The consensus was that while digital transformation is complex, its successful implementation hinges on robust data management, strategic partnerships, and a culture that embraces innovation. AI and cloud technologies were identified as pivotal in shaping the industry's future, enabling faster, more efficient operations and fostering a more resilient and productive workforce.
Panel two: Pioneering a new future Data and collaboration drive innovation
The second panel second discussed the transformative power of AI and its implications for the energy sector. The panel began by noting how AI has evolved over the past two years, following the launch Chat GPT in November 2022, heralding a new dawn for industries globally. The panelists were:
Christian Klein, CEO of SAP
Nikesh Arora, CEO and Chairman of Palo Alto Networks
Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Cloud and AI Group
The energy sector, known for its vast amounts of data, stands to benefit significantly from AI. The discussion emphasized the importance of data as the fuel for AI, highlighting that the sector's extensive datasets, ranging from subsurface to structural data, are now better understood and utilized. It was noted that the adoption of cloud technologies has reached a tipping point, with nearly all organizations having transitioned significant workloads to the cloud, thereby setting the stage for AI-driven innovations.
Security concerns were addressed, particularly the challenge of securing data and ensuring transparency as AI advances. Efforts are underway to reduce the median time to detect and mitigate security threats to under ten minutes, leveraging AI to analyze vast amounts of data and identify anomalies.
The importance of partnerships and collaboration in driving AI innovation was another key topic. Emphasis was placed on treating technology providers as partners rather than vendors to foster better integration and problem-solving. The need for open standards, like the OSDU® Technical Standard to facilitate interoperability and innovation across the industry was underscored.
In conclusion, the panel expressed optimism about AI's future, urging organizations to remain vigilant and proactive in exploring new use cases and potential business transformations enabled by AI. While the immediate focus might be on achieving productivity gains, the real opportunity lies in discovering groundbreaking applications that could redefine industries.
