Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) has joined Energistics, a not-for-profit consortium designed to unite oil and gas industry professionals and to explore ways to facilitate exploration and production (E&P) information sharing and business process integration. By joining Energistics, Microsoft will help the consortium in meeting its goal of uniting people, issues and ideas to facilitate E&P information sharing and business process integration.
Microsoft, along with its ecosystem of partners, are experienced in bringing technologies and solutions to the mainstream oil and gas industry. This experience will be used to deliver the reference implementation of Energistics’ standards such as the Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language (WITSML) and Production Markup Language (PRODML), enabling oil and gas companies to increase the implementation of standards while lowering adoption hurdles.
Energistics’ founding objective was to unite the oil and gas industry and foster an environment of collaboration. Microsoft is a advisor and go-to company for developing and implementing the use of a unifying language as a common platform, for example, as a founding member of OPC (OLE for Process Control).
“The oil and gas industry is undergoing massive changes,” said Albrecht “Ali” Ferling, managing director, Worldwide Oil and Gas Industries at Microsoft. “By helping the industry adopt standards, Microsoft believes the industry can drive down cost by improving interoperability and building a platform for collaboration and communication. Our customers benefit when standards are implemented because their software prices decrease, interoperability increases and adoption hurdles are lowered. As a result, they will be able to better execute their E&P information sharing and business process integration strategies.”
“We are pleased to have Microsoft on board to help us to deliver the reference implementation for our standards,” said Randy Clark, president and CEO of Energistics. “As a body which facilitates an inclusive user community for collaborative technologies, we are keen to draw on Microsoft’s experience in the industry to help facilitate the development and deployment of open data exchange standards in addressing information challenges.”
“Having Microsoft as a member of Energistics is very positive news for the oil and gas industry,” said Jaap Van Ballegooijen, leader of Royal Dutch Shell’s plc’s Smart Fields group. “Microsoft will be able to contribute its experience and expertise to help drive the adoption of Energistics’ standards. Microsoft has demonstrated ongoing commitment and support of the Energistics standards through its participation and sponsorship of the latest PRODML specifications presentation at the Microsoft Global Energy Forum. Shell, Microsoft and Energistics also collaborated to explore new and innovative solutions through the software-plus-services approach by implementing a PRODML proof of concept utilizing Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform.”
In joining the Energistics consortium, Microsoft, together with industry partners, will continue to drive change in the oil and gas industry by providing IT solutions and knowledge that offer companies a strategic edge in tough economic times. With a focus on standardization, cost savings, productivity, collaboration and innovation, Microsoft is helping oil and gas enterprises do more with less.