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E X E C U T I V E C O N V E R S AT I O N

Toward a Greener Future:

Digital Transformation
in the Energy Industry
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 E X E C U T I V E C O N V E R S AT I O N

In this Executive Conversation, thought leaders from TCS and Halliburton

Landmark discuss digital transformation in the oil and gas business and
describe some of the cutting-edge technologies that are helping the industry
solve its most pressing problems.

The oil and gas industry is no stranger to downturns; price wars and supply chain disruptions have occurred through-
out its history. The current slump, caused by an extreme imbalance in supply and demand, was already underway
before pandemic-related business closures pushed it into overdrive.

But this time, additional forces are exacerbating the downturn. An increase in stakeholder demands to reduce emissions,
declines in capital investment, the growth of renewables, an industrywide need to reduce costs, and shortages of the
in-house technology skills needed to improve operations have all combined to create extraordinary pressure.
To succeed in this challenging, rapidly changing environment, energy companies must make adopting digital tech-
nologies an urgent priority. Digital tools can dramatically improve productivity, agility, and cost savings in the near
term. Over time, they will revolutionize efficiency through advanced automation and help companies transition to new
business models that include green energy.

In this Executive Conversation, Manish Sharma of Tata Consultancy Services explains how digital transformation,
automation, and cultural change will work together to solve the industry’s most pressing problems. Nagaraj Srinivasan
of Halliburton Landmark continues the conversation by describing specific technologies that are transforming the
industry, including cloud-based collaboration, digital twins, and AI-directed equipment.

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BRINGING A SPIRIT OF with Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Malaysia’s national oil and
INNOVATION TO THE OIL gas company. The platform, known as DOVE (for Drive Optimization
AND GAS INDUSTRY Value for Enterprise), collects data about downstream operations —
Manish Sharma | Business Head the transformation of crude oil into gasoline, plastics, and other fin-
of Energy and Resources in the ished retail products — and combines it with financial data about
Americas | TCS product sales, market conditions, and competitors.

As oil prices decline and the world With the insights obtained from these analytics, Petronas can, for the
begins a shift to renewable resourc- first time, accurately forecast retail demand for its oil. The DOVE plat-
es, the oil and gas industry is expe- form makes AI-based recommendations that optimize the timing of
riencing extreme disruption. At Tata Consultancy Services, we believe downstream oil deliveries, allowing managers to quickly adjust retail
that addressing that disruption with technology will lead the industry prices as market conditions shift.
to its most transformative period ever. Digital technology can breathe
new life into energy companies, moving them away from traditional, In October 2020, we began collaborating on a similar platform for
siloed processes to an agile environment that encourages innovation. Equinor, Norway’s largest oil and gas company. To help the company
achieve data democratization across its core operations, we’ve begun
Technology solutions for the industry cover a wide spectrum, allow- conducting an analysis of complex data sets from subsurface opera-
ing companies to revamp operations from bedrock to boardroom. tions, the results of which the company will use to improve hydrocar-
Advanced data modeling and real-time information collected from bon recovery rates and lower extraction costs.
an internet-of-things-connected infrastructure support better and
faster decision-making. Automation can cut costs dramatically while Improving Asset and Resource Management
improving safety and efficiency. Combining data from disparate parts Managing and maintaining the vast infrastructure of wells, rigs,
of the business generates insights that can lead to new products, part- pipelines, trucks, tanks, and other assets that make the energy in-
nerships, and business models. dustry function is a gargantuan task that’s complicated by aging
wells, platforms, and equipment. Older infrastructure requires more
But success with digital transformation requires more than just tools. frequent maintenance, but because inspection and servicing are
Leaders must reexamine their cultures and encourage experimenta- costly, labor intensive, and sometimes hazardous, companies often
tion. One good way to begin that effort is by seeking additional value put off that work.
hidden in the data they already collect.

Integrating Data to Improve Operations — and Insights

Energy companies gather mountains of data across broad ranges of “With the power of high-speed computing,
operations, but — as many of those companies’ executives know all too
well — much of that data often remains stuck in silos. Today’s technol-
companies can create digital models
ogy can integrate this information to provide a better picture of how for extracting harder-to-reach oil. They
business units interact, allowing leaders to make decisions that boost can use drones and IoT sensors to bring
the bottom line. Analyzing digital information has the potential to cre-
real-time information about infrastructure
ate $1 trillion of additional value for oil and gas companies, according
to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
and equipment conditions directly to
managers’ desks.”
At TCS, helping companies capture value from their data is a corner-
stone of our business. For example, we codesigned a software platform

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“The world’s energy needs are enormous

Industrial technology company ABB estimates that suboptimal
maintenance procedures cost refiners $60 billion per year globally and growing. Industries and consumers
in unscheduled downtime. For example, a single pump breaking will continue to rely on oil and gas for many
down on an offshore rig can lead to $100,000 to $300,000 per day
decades to come, but those resources will
in lost production.
exist as part of a mixed-energy system.”
In addition, oilfields themselves are aging. More than 70% of global oil
and gas now comes from mature fields, where production and quality As automation presses forward in the coming decades, the oil field
are declining. To operate economically, companies must find more will become a smaller place. Companies will no longer need to expend
efficient ways of extracting oil from depleted reservoirs. enormous amounts of capital hiring tens of thousands of employees.
Far fewer will be needed, and the machines they control will be smart-
Digital technology can help solve both problems, while also improv- er and more efficient.
ing safety.
Autonomous systems are also transforming oil companies’ office oper-
With the power of high-speed computing, companies can create digi- ations. As just one example, TCS’s cognitive automation product Ignio
tal models for extracting harder-to-reach oil. They can use drones and finds, fixes, and predicts IT breakdowns ranging from overheated
IoT sensors to bring real-time information about infrastructure and servers to software bugs. It can solve problems in minutes that might
equipment conditions directly to managers’ desks. take an IT team weeks to diagnose and resolve. Autonomous systems
can also analyze millions of business transactions at once and uncover
IoT sensors — wearable, handheld, or head mounted — also protect instances of fraud that have slipped by auditors.
employees, warning them when unsafe conditions, such as overex-
posure to hazardous chemicals, arise. Workers also receive stream- Transforming the Culture
ing data from equipment. Some companies provide employees with To succeed in the future, oil and gas companies must change not only
IoT-connected glasses displaying instructional videos. Such real-time the technologies they use, but their cultures as well. The industry’s
information makes workers more productive and cuts costs. By 2025, traditional approach has been to explore more, produce more, and sell
workers with IoT connectivity could be up to 15% more productive more oil. Profit margins in the past were staggering, offering little in-
than their nonconnected counterparts, the WEF report states. centive for change.

Harnessing the Automation Revolution But over the past two decades, the industry’s agenda has altered
Cloud-based technology, combined with machine learning and AI radically. Stakeholders, regulators, and consumers are increasingly
algorithms, enables increasingly sophisticated levels of automa- pushing for alternative energy and demanding that oil companies
tion. At its highest level, an automated system can become auton- reduce carbon emissions, regardless of strained economic condi-
omous, detecting and solving problems without the need for hu- tions and more difficult extractions.
man intervention. Autonomous systems represent a quantum leap
in productivity. Renewables are set to grow rapidly. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration predicts that hydropower, wind, and solar technolo-
The oil and gas industry has already automated many processes and is gies will provide nearly half of the world’s electricity by 2050.
increasingly moving toward autonomy. For example, sensors can now
measure oil-tank levels across multiple well sites, open relief valves But those who believe that the rise of alternative energy spells doom
when necessary, and summon truck drivers when it’s time to haul oil for oil and gas are misinformed. The same agency also says that world
away, optimizing their driving routes. In the meantime, automakers energy consumption will increase by nearly 50% during the same
are working toward manufacturing automated fleets. period, driven largely by economic expansion in Asia.

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The world’s energy needs are enormous and growing. Industries and LEADING THE WAY TO THE
consumers will continue to rely on oil and gas for many decades to FUTURE WITH TRANSFORMATIVE
come, but those resources will exist as part of a mixed-energy system. ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
Nagaraj Srinivasan | Senior Vice Pres-
To adapt, today’s oil and gas companies must find ways to reduce their ident | Landmark, Halliburton Digital
environmental footprints while remaining profitable. They must cre- Solutions, and Consulting | Halliburton
ate new business ecosystems by engaging in partnerships with wind
and solar energy producers and manufacturers of electric vehicles. To reap digital technology’s full
benefits, energy companies must
Pursuing these initiatives will require companies to adopt a “digital- embrace it as a fundamental change
first” mindset. Digital analytics will help them explore new revenue in the way they do business, rather than viewing it as a series of com-
sources and evaluate the economic and technological feasibility of ponents to be acquired piecemeal to address specific pain points. The
working with nontraditional partners. Software applications and good news: In recent years, we’ve been seeing a shift to a more ho-
cloud connectivity will help them get new lines of business up and listic approach as companies realize technology’s positive impacts on
running quickly. efficiency and costs. Events over the past year have only accelerated
that transition.
These efforts should be at the heart of every energy business rather
than on the sidelines. That means leaders must retrain employees to Moving to Cloud-Based Communications
become experts in technology and data analysis instead of hiring out- The COVID-19 pandemic brought headwinds to an industry that was
siders. They must give people incentives for exploring new ideas. And already struggling. As partners and customers shut their doors to
they must make their organizations more attractive to new talent by combat the spread of the virus, the supply chain was disrupted and oil
adopting more agile ways of working. The organizations that succeed demand decreased. Geopolitical tensions and trade restrictions com-
in the coming decades will be those that make innovation a priority by pounded the problem.
wholeheartedly embracing digital technology.
But the COVID coin also had a flip side. With offices closed and
Manish Sharma heads the Energy and Resources Business Unit for travel greatly restricted, energy companies began to move business
the Americas at Tata Consultancy Services. In a career spanning processes to the cloud at a much more rapid rate. For example, at
more than two decades, he has held leadership roles across Halliburton, the number of customers using our digital technology
industries and has been at the forefront of nurturing several solutions in 2020 was five times greater than it was in 2019.
strategic relationships. He has partnered with the world’s leading
organizations to transform their businesses in the new digital Operators collaborated and communicated through cloud-based
era. His experience in strategy, business transformation, technology audio and video applications, including those running on Halliburton’s
transformation, and innovation spans the energy, metal and mining, DecisionSpace 365 platform, an integrated experience of exploration
manufacturing, life sciences, and insurance sectors. He is a strong and production (E&P) cloud applications. DecisionSpace 365 runs on
believer in the Tata Group core values. He personifies TCS’s com- iEnergy, the Landmark hybrid cloud designed to deploy, integrate, and
mitment to its culture of customer-centricity, its reputation for high manage customers’ E&P applications.
service quality, and its tradition of innovation, and he is a champion
of diversity and inclusion. He received a bachelor of technology During the pandemic, cloud-based collaborative tools allowed people
degree in computer science and engineering from Pantnagar across the energy business — from geoscientists and drilling engineers
University in India and graduated from the executive management to production managers and reservoir operators — to exchange infor-
program of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University mation and view graphic representations of assets together as though
of Michigan. they were in the same room. Organizations using such tools have told

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us they are collaborating more effectively and making better and fast- Digital twins can also be used to create detailed simulations of the
er decisions as a result. Companies that have adopted more efficient, construction sequence for undersea or in-ground wells. Well con-
cloud-based ways of working together will stick with them long after struction is a massive, long-term endeavor that requires coordinating
the pandemic subsides. the operations of many companies in the proper order to avoid expen-
sive delays. Twenty years ago, it took oil companies five to 10 years to
Better Together: Benefiting From ‘Digital Twins’ bring an oil discovery to first production. With digital twins, they can
For the oil and gas business, enhanced collaboration is just the begin- do the job in three to seven years, saving billions of dollars.
ning of the digital revolution. Companies are increasingly using a key
technology, known as “digital twins,” to As well construction proceeds, digital
remotely plan and manage operations. twins incorporate new data about the
environment below from fiber optics
“When oil companies try
Digital twins — virtual representations of and acoustic sensing instruments, en-
geologic structures, equipment, plants, out a new process or piece abling companies to modify plans as
and business processes — are created of equipment, it typically they move from one phase of construc-
through advanced data-modeling tech- takes them a long time to tion to the next.
niques. The companies we work with are
using applications in DecisionSpace 365
obtain feedback from the Companies also use digital twins to op-
to create digital twins across the energy field. With digital twins, they timize production. In the past, if pro-
value chain. can experiment digitally and duction quantity or quality declined,
identifying the source of the problem
determine effectiveness
Among the most complex use cases is required lengthy and often dangerous
the development of plans for new wells, before implementing physical physical inspections. Today, sensors
a multipart process fraught with uncer- equipment and paying attached to interior valves and controls
tainties, especially for offshore projects. workers to operate it. ” feed managers continuous information
Traditionally, planning for an offshore about the well’s productivity and condi-
well begins when geologists believe a tion. Companies can change equipment
deposit of hydrocarbons may be sitting settings remotely to optimize produc-
in a reservoir five miles or so beneath the ocean floor. The size and tion. Data can now help diagnose well problems and pipeline leaks
dimensions of that potential pool are unknown, and devising a drilling faster than humans, saving time and money by getting equipment
path to reach it is complicated. Companies have spent tens of millions back up and running sooner.
of dollars to drill paths to a promising location, only to find that the
deposit is not where it was thought to be. Digital twins can be used in industrial operations as well. At Hallibur-
ton, we have created models of our well-equipment manufacturing
A digital twin for a planned well crunches enormous amounts of data facilities. By remotely analyzing factory operations and making tweaks
about subsurface geology, including advanced reservoir mapping, to machines and procedures, we have improved throughput, velocity,
revealing faults, water conditions, and other variations that affect drill- and product quality.
ing trajectory. The twin pinpoints a location with the best probability
of containing a reservoir and determines the best path for reaching Another important benefit of digital twins is their ability to speed in-
it. It then ingests financial data about operational costs and projected novation. When oil companies try out a new process or piece of equip-
returns, helping companies determine the financial feasibility before ment, it typically takes them a long time to obtain feedback from the
they spend the capital. All of these processes substantially lower the field. With digital twins, they can experiment digitally and determine
risks involved in drilling a new well. effectiveness before implementing physical equipment and paying

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workers to operate it. Companies using digital twins thus make better Multiplying Digital Benefits
and faster decisions about which innovations to adopt and can deploy Companies gain the most advantages from digital technology when
them sooner, gaining a significant competitive advantage. they use it for both office processes and field operations. By delivering
joint solutions with TCS for the past 15 years, Halliburton has helped
Using Digital Technology to Boost Equipment Capabilities companies improve their entire business through deeper integrations.
Oil field equipment is becoming increasingly digitized, helping
companies cut costs and improve efficiencies in the field. For ex- For example, TCS worked with an oil company to reengineer its
ample, a couple of years ago, Halliburton developed iCruise Intel- back-office processes while we developed software to help them
ligent Rotary Steerable System, an automated drilling technology gain information about subsurface operations and improve petro-
that uses advanced sensors and AI algorithms to increase speed, chemical engineering processes. Then TCS and Halliburton together
accuracy, and reliability. created a software architecture to connect the complex inter-
dependencies between these systems. As a result, the customer
Accurate drilling is especially valuable for lateral wells, which traverse improved efficiency and lowered costs for both its field operations
rough, uneven terrain as they branch out from a vertical drilling plat- and its business processes.
form. As many as six horizontal wells can be drilled from a single ver-
tical platform, and more companies are using laterals to save on costs Easing the Transition to a Greener Future
as oil prices decline. Because oil flows more freely through them than We are also using technology to help energy companies transition to a
it does in deeper operations, one lateral well can replace as many as green future in three ways.
30 vertical ones.
First, we are gathering data to help companies quantify their digi-
Embedded algorithms in iCruise help operators position their lateral tal footprints. Second, we are applying “sustainability labels” to the
wells more accurately and measure the intensity of downhole vibra- equipment and solutions we provide to our clients, making infor-
tions, providing early warnings about maintenance issues to prevent mation about emissions as transparent and clear as possible to both
costly breakdowns. customers and regulators — similar to the way the food industry
provides nutrition labels on its products. Finally, in 2020, we also
Companies also use digital technology to improve mechanical controls launched Halliburton Labs — a collaborative environment where
on hydraulic fracturing equipment. With the Halliburton SmartFleet entrepreneurs, academics, investors, and industrial labs come to-
Intelligent Fracturing System, equipment operators receive detailed gether to advance cleaner, more affordable energy. Halliburton Labs
geographical measurements and real-time 3D visualizations of a well’s will accelerate the growth of innovative early-stage companies by
subsurface. As the information flows in, they use remote controls to providing them with access to Halliburton’s lab facilities, technical
improve fracture placements and fix equipment problems as they arise. expertise, and business networks.

“We are applying ‘sustainability labels’ to the equipment and solutions we

provide to our clients, making information about emissions as transparent
and clear as possible to both customers and regulators — similar to the
way the food industry provides nutrition labels on its products.”

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Planning for a cleaner energy future is like planning a new well: The ABOUT TCS
path is complex and filled with unanticipated risks and expenses. In Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting, and business
both cases, digital technology plays a key role by quantifying opera- solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the
tional and financial challenges and revealing the most effective way world’s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for more
to proceed. than 50 years. TCS offers a consulting-led, cognitive-powered, in-
tegrated portfolio of business, technology, and engineering services
Nagaraj Srinivasan is senior vice president of Landmark, Halliburton and solutions. This is provided through its unique Location Indepen-
Digital Solutions and Consulting at Halliburton. He has extensive dent Agile delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence
experience leading teams in developing and delivering enterprise- in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest
class software solutions. He joined Halliburton in 2011, focusing on multinational business organization, TCS has more than 469,000 of the
product strategy and delivery of Landmark software. Previously, he world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. For more information,
spent 18 years at Oracle, where he was vice president for visit www.tcs.com.
supply chain products. He also served as Oracle’s senior director
of advanced planning for applications and director of business
development for supply chain. He holds several patents in
technology and supply chain management and serves on the ABOUT HALLIBURTON
advisory board for the Master of Science in Analytics program at Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of
Texas A&M University.Identity
He received
for TCS master’s degrees in business products and services to the energy industry.
TCS Design Services With more than 40,000
management from the University of California, Los Angeles, and in employees, representing 130 nationalities in more than 70 countries,
02 June 2020
engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned the company helps its customers maximize value throughout the life
Clearspace
a bachelor’s degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Tech- cycle of the reservoir — from locating hydrocarbons and managing
nology, Madras. geological data to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction
X X X X production throughout the life of the
and completion, and optimizing
X at www.halliburton.com.
asset. Visit the company’s website

X X
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