Finnish-Russian AI oil venture eyes Indian market
ZYFRA Group, Finnish-Russian AI and IIoT solutions developer for industries has successfully tested the ESP software unit, designed to enhance the efficiency of oil extraction by boosting oil well production rates by 1.5 percent with no additional capital investment. The electrical submersible pump (ESP) software unit is operational now for more than three months on 500 oil wells in Western Siberia, Russia, which claim an additional profit of $2 mln and growth in production of 1,5 percent. It is equipped with artificial intelligence to provide recommendations based on historical Big Data analysis. The unit recommends a mode of well operation that will ensure the maximum oil flow rate for a certain period of time and provides for stable operation during that period by analyzing the current frequency, gauged oil flow rate, periods of intermittent pump operation and other operating parameters. The highest demand for the ESP software unit is expected from Russia, India, US, Canada and countries, where there are large numbers of brownfields. “Scientists regularly claim that the era of oil will end soon and that readily available hydrocarbons are almost exhausted. The digitalization of the oil & gas industry will help simplify the extraction of hard-to-recover oil while at the same time extending the lifespan of the oilfield by more than one decade”, said Dmitry Krikunov, ZYFRA’s AI team leader in the oil & gas sector. “The primary motivation for investing in digitalization is to improve efficiency. According to Gartner, the “smart oil deposit” concept could help oil companies to cut costs by 5 percent and enhance production volumes by 2 percent. CERA calculates that “smart oil and gas deposits” could cut production costs by 1–6 per cent, shrink oil-well downtime by 1–4 percent and reduce labour intensity by up to 25 percent”, said Dmitry Krikunov. ZYFRA aims to take a $366 mln share of the global market of digital solutions for the upstream oil & gas industry with its new AI equipped electrical submersible pump (ESP) software unit. The total global market in this sector is valued at up to $8.9 bn. ZYFRA has cumulatively earned more than $3 million from India-related deals. The company plans to enhance its presence in the Indian market and reach the target of $50 million in deals by 2021. ZYFRA is a Finland-based company with R&D center in Russia, which provides IoT and AI-based solutions for industrial sector. The company is operating in Finland, Russian, China, India, Singapore, Bulgaria, Romania, Peru. In 2018 ZYFRA Group revenue was $26 mln. ZYFRA has cumulatively earned more than $3 million from India-related deals. The company plans to enhance its presence in the Indian market and reach the target of $50 million in deals by 2021. ZYFRA has launched 17 pilot projects in India with its major partners like Spudweb, Parivartan Automation, Abcon Group, Wimera Systems and OJB Engineering from the defence, aerospace, petrochemicals, metallurgy and mining fields, the statement said.
Saudi Aramco set to become world’s biggest crude consumer
Saudi Aramco is well known as the world’s top crude exporter. If all goes to plan, it may also become the biggest user of the fossil fuel. More than a third of Aramco’s oil is currently fed into its fully-owned and joint venture refineries, according to its bond prospectus. The company plans to double its refining network to handle as much as 10 million barrels a day by 2030, locking in a friendly buyer for the kingdom’s crude. Aramco’s “goal is to provide a reliable destination for its future oil production,” said John Stewart, an analyst at consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. The expansion “would make it the biggest refiner in the world by some margin.” Saudi Arabia is leaning on Aramco’s coffers to build its sovereign wealth fund and help develop new industries that can break the kingdom’s reliance on oil. For its part, Aramco is trying to wring more profit from the crude it pumps by turning it into gasoline and diesel as well as plastics and other materials used in consumer goods. The company is spending $69 billion for a majority stake in petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp. The Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as the state-owned producer is formally known, will still probably sell to outside buyers even if it hits its refining target. The company processes a mix of crudes from its fields in Saudi Arabia. Its refinery ventures abroad, while designed to use the company’s crude, will likely rely on a mix of oil from the kingdom and other suppliers. Aramco fully owns three refineries in Saudi Arabia and the Motiva Enterprises LLC plant in the US Other facilities are joint ventures with foreign partners. By the end of the year, it will start crude processing at new facilities in the kingdom and in Malaysia that will bring its total refining capacity to more than half the company’s current oil production. By 2030, half of Aramco’s refining capacity will be located outside of Saudi Arabia, WoodMac estimates.
PetroChina International launches its first gas station in Myanmar
PetroChina International started its first gas station in Myanmar by late March, marking the energy firm’s entry into the Southeast Asian country’s retail fuel market, parent company China National Petroleum Co (CNPC) said on Friday * The gas station in Yangon is a joint venture between PetroChina International’s Singapore unit and a local Myanmar firm, while gasoline is being supplied by PetroChina International’s Singapore operation, said CNPC * The Chinese state energy firm annually supplies more than 1 million tonnes of refined fuel to Myanmar, and also started running a fuel storage in Yangon last September * PetroChina operates a 260,000 barrels-per-day refinery in southwest China’s Yunnan province that processes crude oil piped from a Myanmar-China pipeline. The refinery exported its first refined fuel via trucks in April 2018, said CNPC