Oil & Gas Industry Use of Cloud to More Than Double in Next Two Years

Oil & gas operators worldwide report plans to increase their use of the cloud to access software and database applications over the next two years. Overall operators expect to more than double their use of the cloud in two years.

Kimberlite Oilfield Research recently published the 2018 G&G Software report based on interviews with 289 geologists and geophysicists worldwide and also published the 2018 Production Software report based on interviews with 130 operators worldwide.

While only 17% of the G&G professionals interviewed are currently using the cloud to access any G&G software databases and applications, the figure grows to 47% of respondents indicating they will be using the cloud to access G&G applications in the next two years.

Respondents indicate that roughly 7% of their G&G applications are currently accessed using the cloud and the share of G&G applications accessed using the cloud is expected to increase to approximately 23% in two years. Major oil companies are leading the market in adoption and use of the cloud.

Production engineers and managers, however, report a higher use of the cloud today versus that of their G&G counterparts. Approximately 32% of production engineers and managers worldwide are currently using the cloud to access production software applications. Almost half of the respondents (49%) said they expect to be using the cloud to access production software applications in two years.

Approximately 17% of production software applications are currently accessed using the cloud and the share of applications accessed using the cloud is expected to increase to 32% in two years. Major oil companies, again, are leading the way in adoption and use of the cloud for production related applications.

Microsoft/Azure is the leading cloud vendor being used by the oil & gas industry and has clearly taken the initiative to step out and lead the category among the E&P operators versus that of both Google and IBM.