Energy companies use data to locate, quantify and model onshore and offshore reservoirs. This data is held by energy companies in massive quantities dating back decades. Even today, data may be held in various vendor-specific formats, requiring the costly storage of multiple copies of very large data volumes.

Geoscientists can lose substantial amounts of time moving data between systems and converting it between formats. These delays hamper energy organizations’ ability to define their resources and optimize their field development plans. Moreover, a lack of common formats for reservoir data slows innovations like carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) that also rely on accurate subsurface models.

With Microsoft Energy Data Services, energy companies gain actionable insights, improve operational efficiency and accelerate time-to-market on an enterprise-grade OSDU^™ Data Platform. For energy-related businesses and the partner companies that service them, Energy Data Services is a fully managed and integrated cloud-based OSDU Data Platform that reduces the time, risk and total costs of ownership associated with energy exploration and production.

One of the most important aspects of Energy Data Services is that it is developer-ready and enables a large and diverse global energy partner ecosystem — an open, extendable platform which partners and developers can use for their innovations.

Better Together: AspenTech + Microsoft

Energy companies are large and complex, with data bottlenecks within them slowing down operations and innovation. That’s why Microsoft is collaborating with AspenTech, a Microsoft partner for almost twenty years, to help energy customers move their critical data to a hyperscale platform to liberate their siloed data and improve productivity.

AspenTech is an important partner of the recently announced Microsoft Energy Data Services: an open, developer-ready platform that connects once disparate energy data sets to applications built by Microsoft and their partners. A robust set of SDKs and APIs enable integration, innovation, and accelerated time-to-market to help developers from around the world build solutions on top of our extensible platform.

“OSDU Data Platform installation has been greatly improved and simplified with Microsoft Energy Data Services, facilitating our platform deployment. Keeping current with the latest releases allows our teams to focus on delivering high-value workflows.”

 

Trusted energy data solutions, now built on Microsoft Energy Data Services

AspenTech has been building its suite of products on top of Microsoft Energy Data Services so customers can enjoy the speed, scalability and security of the Microsoft Cloud while also continuing to work with software solutions they already know and trust.

The Aspen Geolog^™ Formation Evaluation product suite[1] provides petrophysical and geological analysis tools, well data management, superior graphics and robust data integration. Geolog helps team members access well data in a shared repository to improve collaboration.

Aspen SeisEarth^™ is a comprehensive and flexible seismic interpretation and visualization system. This innovative multi-survey solution allows interpreters to perform structural and stratigraphic interpretation across many different vintages of 2D and 3D seismic data, while also integrating well data into their interpretation. SeisEarth is designed to handle projects scaling from basin to prospect and reservoir, from exploration field to development field, and from a single user on a laptop to multi-disciplinary teams of geoscientists, petrophysicists, and drilling engineers. All the day-to-day tasks of the seismic interpreter can be performed quickly and easily through the use of efficient volume roaming.

AspenTech has contributed open source code for the Reservoir Data Management Service (DMS) to the OSDU Forum. Reservoir DMS allows the ingestion, storage and consumption of reservoir data generated in the RESQML open data standard for Earth Modeling. The AspenTech code enables the OSDU Forum community of users and developers to freely and transparently collaborate around reservoir data management.

Reservoir DMS will be integrated into future Energy Data Services releases, with seamless access from Aspen modeling technologies SKUA and RMS.

Innovating for a net zero future

How else can the energy industry continue to innovate and expand partnerships?

With liberated data, a powerful technology foundation and closer collaboration, the opportunities are endless. By moving their data to the cloud, energy companies can access AspenTech’s leading-edge capabilities to better define resources, optimize existing fields and plan more efficiently. Further, the AspenTech SSE technology will help producers and operators meet the world’s changing energy needs more reliably and cost-effectively.

For AspenTech and the entire energy partner ecosystem, the possibilities of innovating on top of Energy Data Services go even further. The International Energy Agency’s Sustainable Development Scenario projects that CCUS will account for 15% of cumulative emissions reductions.[1] Achieving a better understanding of reservoir dynamics will help companies identify optimal locations for the underground storage of captured carbon dioxide, and monitor and manage it throughout the projects’ life cycle.

One customer using Microsoft Energy Data Services to increase operational efficiency is Equinor, Norway’s state-owned energy provider. Equinor is transforming their company toward a net zero future and needs to remain competitive while diversifying their energy mix to include more renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture. Cleaner, connected data makes it easier for business units to collaborate, reduce costs, and save time on projects. Equinor’s adoption of an open, enterprise-grade data platform service on the Microsoft Cloud will be an important part of their energy transition because it has enabled faster access to actionable data, efficient workflows, and innovations in renewables and lower carbon solutions.

Start liberating customer data on the Microsoft Cloud

AspenTech has joined the Energy Data Services partner ecosystem as one of many partners working with energy companies move their data to the cloud. We are thrilled to enable more partners to take an active role in building solutions to accelerate digital transformation for energy companies.

Learn more

• Read about Aspen Subsurface Science & Engineering solutions
• Read the Optimizing Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage to Meet Ambitious Sustainability Goals white paper
• Check out the Microsoft Partner web page

NOTE: Alice Chanvin worked with Kapil Raval of Microsoft on this article. In his current role as Director, Ecosystem Enablement, Energy at Microsoft, Kapil Raval identifies, builds, and nurtures an ecosystem of high-impact partnerships, investments, and acquisitions to realize product vision. Kapil has been with Microsoft for nearly four years and brings 25+ years of experience in multiple industries. Before joining the Energy team, Kapil worked for the Microsoft Corp Business Development team, driving AI solutions in Energy and Manufacturing verticals. 

[1] “CCUS in the transition to net-zero emissions,” IEA 2022.