American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016 - 72

SpecialReport: Big Data & Geostatistics
Ball joined Devon last year, and says she has benefited from
the technological foundation that was put in place by "those who
came before." The projects Ball and her team are working on include predictive, prescriptive and cognitive analysis.
"These are exciting times!" she exclaims.

ago, changes in greenhouse gas regulation necessitated better data
to satisfy new reporting rules.
"From there, it has expanded throughout our exploration and
production operations, and now includes drilling; completions; production; planning; land; health, safety and environmental; and other functional areas," she states, adding that Devon's management
Operational "Nerve Centers"
places a heavy emphasis on innovation, including on finding "new
Devon's initiative to leverage the power of data science and
ways to do things better through data analysis and collaboration."
analytics began in 2012 when it made the decision to establish
"We are applying analytics wherever it makes sense to Dereal-time "nerve centers" for its U.S. production operations, Ball
von's strategic plan," Ball relates.
relates. Soon thereafter, it built a centralized facility to support
She describes the analysis hierarchy as beginning with busiall its drilling operations.
ness intelligence, where the goal is to visualize what happened
in the past through a dashboard. "This level of analysis
Describing her work at Devon as "part data is useful, but it is a bit like
whisperer, part data detective," Ball is focused on looking in the rearview mirror;
collaborating with subject matter experts to solve it does not help much with
driving forward."
complex oil and gas issues using advanced analytics
The next level tends to foand big data. She previously served in systems cus on predictive analytics,
engineering, data science and energy analytics roles which help in understanding
at SAS®, and as business development manager at why something happened and
when it is likely to happen
Progress Energy. A certified project management
again, Ball says. One step up
professional, Ball holds a B.S. in geology and civil on the hierarchy is predictive
KATHY BALL
Manager, Exploration and engineering from Guilford College, and an M.S. in optimization and forecasting.
Production Analytics
"This is where the money
and Data Science management and operations management from
is," she says. "Here we learn
Devon Energy Corp. Purdue University.
what the absolute best outcome is if all opportunities are
maximized."
The final step is what Ball assesses as the hottest area in anDecision support centers (DSCs) are located in Devon Eneralytics right now: cognitive analytics using artificial intelligence,
gy's core producing areas, and operate 24 hours a day, seven days
machine learning, and deep learning to make better decisions in
a week. Experts analyze real-time data streaming in from profar less time. "This is the new frontier in analytics. The key is to
ducing wells to optimize performance and lower operating costs,
think beyond data as a tool for optimization and to see data as a
according to Ball. Similarly, she says, the well construction (Wellstrategic asset," she offers.
Con) center is devoted to optimizing drilling and completion engineering on all Devon wells.
Real-Time Analysis
"The premise of having expert support centers for real-time analyFor oil and gas companies, analyzing data at the real-time speed
sis and decision making depends on the ability to gather and anaof
a
drilling or well completion operation quickly has become a
lyze data from remote field operations," she says. "If you are geosteernecessity, particularly given the need to improve operational and
ing a well or managing a producing well, the centers have to be able
cost efficiencies. With the right insights at the right times, Ball
to scrutinize relevant information in a timely enough fashion to imsays it becomes possible for companies to boost asset performpact decisions or avoid a potential problem before it can occur."
ance, improve decision making, lower cost structures, and optiRecognizing that good analysis is predicated on having
mize efficiencies across the board.
good data, Ball relates that one fundamental aspect of the ana"The analytics team at Devon is growing in every dimension,"
lytics effort is a companywide data cleanup and governance inishe reports. "We have more projects every day, and with larger
tiative Devon began four years ago to ensure that experts in the
and larger scopes. Our goal is to become a center of excellence,
data centers were provided with high-quality, reliable data.
The quest for improved data quality had been building for years
helping Devon's disciplinary and asset teams improve the peras Devon grew through acquisitions, according to Ball. The first
formance of oil and gas operations."
internal disciplinary domain to launch a formal data management
Enabled by production automation and digital oil field techprocess was geology and geophysics, she says. Then a few years
nologies, Devon has established decision support centers in each
72 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016

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