Norway's largest and leading Data Management community?
"We are the consulting firm with the largest and most advanced subsurface Data Management environment in Norway," says Kristin B. Altern at Cegal. Our Data Management team ensures data quality, accessibility, and structure for oil and gas companies worldwide. The outcome is enhanced operational efficiency, increased sustainability, and reduced IT costs.
For many years, managing subsurface data in the oil and gas industry has been a core component of Cegal's offerings. Subsurface data management, or looking after subsurface data, involves collecting, storing, organizing, ensuring quality, and sharing geological, geophysical, and reservoir-related data. This management includes data integration, data quality, metadata handling, governance, security, and compliance with regulations like GDPR.
High-quality data management ensures that information about the seabed and subsurface is accurate, up-to-date, and accessible.
"What sets our data management team apart is the blend of technological expertise and Geoscience knowledge. Nearly everyone in the department has a background in Geosciences. This domain expertise in Geology and Geophysics provides us with a deeper understanding of the data and how best to make it accessible to those who need it. Our technological proficiency allows us to refine the underlying processes, such as databases and data structures. This enables us to delve deeper into the data and optimize the data flow and the entire value chain associated with the data," says Kristin B. Altern, Manager Energy Consultants at Cegal.
Data management enhances the utilization of energy resources
Subsurface data is utilized to locate oil and gas, optimize drilling and well placement, and enhance the utilization of energy resources in reservoirs. A crucial aspect of data management is ensuring the quality of data, such as verifying correct coordinates and depths. Since data is shared among operators, partners, and authorities, maintaining data quality and integrity is essential.
Similarly, the data management team works with data in the renewable sector, including power producers and grid companies. Data quality and integrity are equally critical in renewable companies, where data is also shared among stakeholders, partners, and authorities, notably through the Elhub platform.
Effective data management offers numerous benefits, including:
- Effective exploration and production decisions.
- Increased accuracy in models and analyses.
- Reliable data across the organization and applications – a single source of truth.
- Reduced risk.
- Easier collaboration across locations and disciplines.
- Lower IT costs.
- Enhanced sustainability due to reduced energy consumption associated with decreased storage needs.
Poor data management leads to several disadvantages:
- Poor decisions based on incomplete or outdated data.
- Loss of valuable information and increased risk.
- Higher costs and delays.
- Less effective collaboration between departments, disciplines, and locations.
Our Data Management consultants collaborate with power companies, some of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, as well as smaller companies operating solely on the Norwegian continental shelf. For certain clients, we provide large DM teams, while for others, we offer DM as a part-time service, such as 20 %. We can also deliver Data Management as a Service (DMaaS) as part of Cegal's Agile IT.
Read the article: Navigating the future: embracing Agile IT Governance >
Unique data management expertise
Kristin B. Altern, Manager of Energy Consultants at Cegal, outlines several advantages of our data management.
Our consultants deliver what clients request. Additionally, thanks to our expertise and experience from numerous clients and diverse projects, we can offer specific improvement suggestions and propose more efficient ways of working.
says Altern.
She continues; Even when we are engaged with a client on a 20 % basis, we provide the full range of expertise, both technical and Geoscience.
Some of the benefits of data management from Cegal:
- Avoids the need to hire in-house staff. Expertise in Geoscience and data science is challenging and costly to recruit.
- Data management as a service. Clients do not receive a single dedicated resource. Instead, the DM service is delivered by multiple specialists with expertise in various areas.
- Optimized data handling. Our extensive and broad expertise in DM and IT operations ensures that data is made available where it is most beneficial for users and systems.
- Optimized data storage. We provide advice on data deletion. Smaller data volumes makes it more efficient for users, while also saving significant resources on data storage.
- Aggregated expertise. Since we deliver DM to many different clients, our consultants gain broad experience from various projects. The result is continuous improvements in our DM services.
Prizm and Python
When consultants deliver data management solutions, they utilize our proprietary software, Cegal Prizm, alongside the programming language Python.
With Python, one can extract, load, and modify most data types. This versatility allows data to be utilized across applications, and it also enables the execution of complex analyses using artificial intelligence and machine learning. This interaction with data also makes it possible to automate tasks, thereby reducing the time spent on repetitive activities.
Customer data is frequently utilized in Petrel, an application from SLB (Schlumberger), which is used to construct detailed 3D models of reservoirs. Petrel is just one of the many applications mastered by the DM team. The team also focuses on optimizing data related to other industry and specialized applications such as OpenWorks, Techlog, ArcGIS, PaleoScan, Eclipse, tNavigator, and FME.
"Many oil and gas companies have numerous Petrel projects that are outdated or unused, containing several terabytes of data. We know which data can be deleted and which is important to retain. For one client, we removed approximately 3,000 Petrel projects, about 80 percent of the company's Petrel projects. This results in significant savings and a much more efficient use of data", explains Altern.
Cegal has organized data optimization into a dedicated service called the Cegal Data Program (CDP). Through CDP, data and processes related to various applications and data storage technologies are reviewed and optimized.
Read more about our Data Program here >
Diversity drives Norway's leading data management team
Cegal's Data Management department in Norway consists of four teams with 36 employees from 17 different nationalities, ranging in age from 22 to 68. Globally, nearly 50 people work in Data Management at Cegal. The department provides services worldwide. The blend of expertise, nationality, and age allows the team to more easily access and adopt new technologies and smarter ways of working, benefiting the clients.
Read the article: Cultural diversity as a driving force: 16 nationalities give this team at Cegal a competitive edge >
"Diversity is crucial because it encourages different ways of thinking and brings forth more and better ideas. We have a well-thought-out hiring process to ensure that those we employ fit in seamlessly. Personality and professional competence must go hand in hand. We seek individuals who identify new opportunities and smarter ways of working," says Altern before concluding.
The team leaders do a great job at supporting the team, including employees, and fostering a secure environment where diversity can thrive 💐
