Alberta’s Digital Oilfield: Technological Opportunities and Benefits for Alberta Companies and Communities

Abstract

<p>The global oil and gas sector has recently undergone a significant shift in supply economics, which has rippled throughout the supply chain. This has been felt as strongly in Alberta, Canada as it has in any other oil producing region. The intense need for operational changes to production, coupled with the proliferation of digital technologies into industrial processes (Industry 4.0), has led to new opportunities to dramatically reduce costs and inefficiencies through the supply chain. These opportunities can be summarized as Digital Oilfield Technologies, which are a combination of tools and disciplines that are incorporated into advanced software to improve operations efficiencies. This paper explores the different types of Digital Oilfield Technologies, its benefits to industry, and uncovers how communities in oil and gas producing regions can support the growth of this new subsector to improve the health of local industry and economy. </p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>oilfield technology, oil and gas, oilfield optimization, digital analytics, digitalization, industry 4.0</p>