DX Activities

DX Vision

Our business has long benefited from the widespread use of digital technology in the oil and gas industry. In recent years, cutting-edge digital technology has made data processing faster and more sophisticated, enabling us to utilize large volumes of diverse data. INPEX is actively working to transform the energy landscape to help achieve a net-zero carbon society by 2050, while meeting the energy demands of Japan and the world. The use of digital technology is positioned as an important pillar of these efforts.

DX Strategy

Our DX strategy aims to promote the resilience and sustainability of our oil and natural gas business by digitalizing operations in accordance with our medium-term business plan and technical strategies. Furthermore, as part of our ongoing efforts to improve our operational structure, we have formulated a plan to increase efficiency and create new value by establishing a digital data infrastructure and accelerating the adoption of digital technology. The DX strategy focuses on the following five items.

  1. 1.Efficiency & automation: Thorough improvement of workforce efficiency using integrated digital technologies and promoting unmanned/de-manned business areas.
  2. 2.Technology sophistication: Enhance INPEX technology through effective utilization and analysis of both internal and external technical data.
  3. 3.Extension to decarbonization: Application of E&P's digital technology to improve efficiency and sophistication in decarbonization fields (e.g. CCUS, hydrogen/ammonia, renewable energy, methanation).
  4. 4.Strengthen data management/analysis and infrastructure: The development of technical data infrastructure and technical study tools to effectively support technical operations.
  5. 5.Development of Human Resources for Digital: Strengthening company-wide digital capabilities and promoting internal transformation and business operation enhancement.

DX Organization

An organization dedicated to DX, led by the DX Head, have been established at the Headquarters of the Technical Division, which oversees and promotes activities related to DX.
In addition, a cross-organizational taskforce has been formed, comprising members from business divisions and domestic/overseas departments, and functions as a hub for planning digital projects and knowledge-sharing.
Each DX project is executed by a project team comprising the responsible business department and DX Group members.

Development of Human Resources for Digital

Developing human resources for digital is one of the crucial initiatives under DX Vision. By identifying the required knowledge and skills along with conducting practical training programs, we aim to develop digital human resources that can create new business value and customer experiences.

INPEX has defined the prerequisite of two skill categories and separately implements the training programs for basic and advanced levels.

  1. 1.Human resources for planning and execution of DX projects.
  2. 2.Human resources for data utilization, management, and analysis.

To enhance the digital literacy of employees, we provided basic programming courses and posted various DX information through the groupwide portal. In addition, we set up a data science course to develop special skillsets. We intend to continuously conduct training courses focused on digital literacy, programming, and data science throughout the company.

DX Initiative References

  • Unmanned/De-manned and robots
  • Optimized maintenance scheduling tool: SPOT
  • *We are actively promoting the use of digital technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) in the geological and geophysical fields of oil & gas. Click here for the link.

Unmanned/De-manned and Robots

With the aim of ensuring safety and maintaining/improving the competitiveness of production and operations, we are working toward comprehensively implementing the integrated DX measures at the existing production facilities. Based on the following three concepts, we are executing a small-scale pilot project since spring 2022 prior to full-scale deployment.

Concept

Integrated operation center: Integrated control and monitoring of multiple facilities assisted by AI monitoring, collaboration center, etc.
Smart facilities: Improving the automation level of field work, various sensing technologies, and data transfer with integrated operation center.
Plant Digital Platform: Seamless integration among multiple system platforms supporting the operation processes

Concept of unmanned/de-manned DX

In the feasibility study phase, we established an organization and business improvement plan along with the DX implementation plan based on the applications of effective automation methods and robots determined from diverse analyses of the existing facilities. In addition, certain improvement measures have been identified for operational business processes to facilitate effective decision-making in operation, maintenance, and safety management.

Scheduling and Planning Optimization Tool (SPOT)

The scheduling and planning optimization tool (SPOT) has been used at Ichthys; it is a tool that optimizes maintenance plans and reduces operational risks by effectively utilizing the data of maintenance work management. SPOT applies data science and data analysis methods to automatically generate optimized maintenance plans for facilities taking into account the aspects of work management processes, personnel availability, delivery periods of necessary equipment, and existing constraints at work sites.

Cloud Data Platform

Big Data Management for Exploration and Development using Technical Data Platform AI-land

The technical data platform AI-land is a system that manages technical data on the INPEX cloud. AI-land is in operation since 2021, and its core system is formed by the geographic information system (GIS) that acquires and stores underground data such as seismic exploration data (data quantity of 1 petabyte) and well data (data quantity of 4 terabytes).

Society's views toward a net-zero carbon society have posed new issues limiting the expansion of business avenues of oil and gas companies, but conversely, they have created new business opportunities as well. For instance, the visualization of geospatial data by overlaying the maps of well and seismic exploration data in AI-land utilizing maps of CCS and CO2 emission sources data. Such initiatives contribute toward new synergistic approaches for realizing a net-zero carbon society.
Strengthening of data governance has been the critical challenge for constructing the solid infrastructures of digital platforms. As such, the data management procedures must be improved to prevent data management on an individual basis. The definition of the principles of technical data management and processes along with performing centralized data management under the company-wide rules have contributed toward realizing a high level of security and accessibility as well as maintaining data quality.
Furthermore, AI-land has contributed to the implementation of remote-working system that has become prevalent since 2020 by offering a safe and simple method for employees to access technical data from their homes and utilizing the cloud technologies.