Digital Change Takes a Network

Abstract

A lot is expected of Meindert Dillen and Philipp von Wussow by Wintershall Dea. Their mission is to ensure that the company’s technical team is increasingly able to use advanced data analysis to find and produce oil and gas more productively. The focus is on increasing the capabilities of those with traditional engineering and geology training. “Someone who can understand seismic processing can program a neural network,” said Patrick von Pattay, a vice president for Wintershall Dea and chairman off the Digital Transformation Committee of SPE’s Digital Energy Technical Section. That is an apt description of Dillen, whose work as a geophysicist using advanced analytics led to his current job. In both roles, finding new ways to extract useful bits of information from massive data sets is valuable. This team was created after the merger of Wintershall and Dea - with one member from each company. They have been working to scale up their influence by “building a community and pulling people together.” A key part of their effort was creating a digital skills network a few years ago. This grassroots effort has helped bring together technical staffers with the wide range of traditional and digital knowledge needed to deliver digital change. “We are in a lucky position,” Dillen said. “A lot of people are interested in this technology and want to apply it in ways” that can have a significant impact. The number involved must be expressed as a range - between 100 and 200, because engagement varies - with people including geophysics experts who were learning about neural networks in the 1980s when the available computing power limited its uses and digital natives who wonder why their workplace is not using the tools found in everyday life. A network’s worth of skills is required because the potential applications are as varied as the many disciplines within engineering, geology, and geophysics, among others. “No one on Earth can define all the use cases,” said von Wussow, whose career began in subsurface roles and later included stops in business development and management along the way to analytics. The company does offer digital skills training and discussions - which are done online because of COVID-19. A lot of the new thinking is spread by word of mouth in online communities. “Now, people in Norway who know people in Argentina and Russia spread the ideas,” von Wussow said. Von Wussow and Dillen sometimes play the role of matchmaker. Relatively simple requests can be met by connecting people with complementary skills inside the company or steering them to outside sources. Other times, the problem is bigger and project evaluation and management skills are required, beginning with figuring out the root of the problem, how digital might help solve it, and whether the benefit of doing so justifies the effort. If a project is a go, those involved need to think through the plan of attack and consider the people and resources required and whether they will come from inside or outside the company.