
BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
34 | GEOLOGIX
Dr Julian Pickering
Digital twin of gas
processing plant
Geologix develop software applications and provide advisory
and technical services to the oil and gas sector. Director
Julian Pickering says the company helps to optimise drilling
and production through specialist technology platforms that drive
better decision-making and higher levels of efficiency. As a director
of an organisation with a focus on digital transformation, Julian
discusses the importance of embracing technological innovation
and looks at how Geologix is positioning itself for the future.
We have been growing our business over the last few years to meet the changing
demands of global energy support. We have been a leading supplier of geological
software tools and services to support oil and gas drilling for more than 25 years
but we now have new products that optimise oil and gas production, predict
the declining performance of major equipment long before failure and enhance
collaboration through advanced visualisation methods.
These are all valuable to UK producers directly but also create UK business through
their sale to overseas operations. We are very aware that the UK and other leading
energy consumer markets are looking to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels
and for this reason, we have been promoting the application of our tools and work
processes to support the development of green energy. An example of this is the
transition of our oil and gas well monitoring services to lithium mining, an essential
technology for electric vehicles and all applications where remote electricity storage
is required.
FACTS ABOUT
GEOLOGIX
»Managing Director:
SamitSengupta
»Director: Dr Julian Pickering
»Established in 1994
»Based in Norwich
»Services: Technological and
software support to the oil
and gas sector
»No. of employees: 12 in the
UK; 33 worldwide
Geologix
35GEOLOGIX |
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS
Surviving sector adversity
The oil and gas business has been
through a tough economic time over
the last five years, with low energy
prices and a sharp decline in major
projects. We are proud to say that
we have retained all of our UK staff,
apart from a small number of voluntary
leavers throughout this period. This is
a claim that very few service providers
can make.
We employ a large number of young
professionals in our organisation and
we see the career development and
job stability of upcoming engineers as
essential to our business as well as to
the future success of the UK economy.
Embracing technological
innovation
Our most recent products apply
virtual reality and augmented reality
to “digital twins” of process facilities.
These are potential multi-industry
solutions but our focus so far has
been on our traditional drilling and
production operating areas within oil
and gas. These digital twins may be
viewed on conventional video screens
in 2D or navigated in 3D using VR
technology. We have animated the
digital twin with live plant information,
which gives the user a true sense of
“being there”. This brings enormous
value to operators and their training
programmes by providing realistic plant
simulation. It also reduces the number
of personnel working in a hazardous
environment and improves efficiency
by enabling experts to diagnose
performance issues without having to
attend the plant.
For some years, our staff have been
involved in the design and installation
of collaborative work environments,
or CWEs, for oil and gas drilling
and production. These are work
rooms where experts from operator
and service companies can share
knowledge and make informed
operational decisions, as well as
addressing problems as they occur.
Some operators have invested very
large amounts of money in these
environments but physical CWEs come
with a number of problems in addition
to cost: they cannot be reconfigured
easily as operational requirements
change, personnel must be in the
CWE to contribute and the rooms
occupy a finite amount of building
space whether in use or not. Through
our experience with VR, we are now
able to offer a virtual CWE, a vCWE,
which solves these problems and
is much lower cost to set up in the
firstplace.
The vCWE mimics a physical CWE
by having a number of large display
panels on the walls showing live
operational information. In the physical
room, experts collaborate around
the display panels and generally
there is a video conference link to
the control room on the plant or
offshore platform. As the control
room operators are remote from the
CWE, it is difficult for them to share
in the same collaborative experience.
With the vCWE, however, personnel
can collaborate remotely. They can
join the room from anywhere with
a good internet connection and
Subsurface information
in a vCWE during drilling
operations
We see the
career
development
and job stability
of upcoming
engineers as
essential to our
business as well
as to the future
success of the
UK economy
“
“