Why Oil and Gas Efficiency Support is Integral for the Industry

Companies within the oil and gas industry are continually implementing new technologies to further safety, maximize assets, and improve efficiency for their employees. The energy sector as a whole is slowly shifting towards embracing and implementing AI and machine learning technologies as solutions for efficiency support. 

Jeff Whitney, President of Berkana Resources and Dave Quick, Senior Systems Architect of Berkana Resources, sat down with Rachel Gregory, Digital Host at The Global Energy Show, to discuss the importance of oil and gas efficiency support, how their company is providing solutions based on Cisco products, and examples of how to reach hard-to-reach data using Cisco's technology and expertise.

Global Energy Show Spotlight Series - Technology Edition with Berkana Resources

Improving Oil and Gas Efficiency

Rachel: Berkana helps oil and gas, midstream, MLPs and electric utility companies increase efficiency and improve asset performance. Jeff, how does Berkana do this and why are these services important for the energy industry?

Jeff: The way Berkana does this is we approach the industry from a solution space standpoint. What we provide to oil and gas are solutions that basically help drive efficiency in oil and gas infrastructure. We're an operational technology company and we provide those solutions based around Cisco products. We're usually providing solutions for a specific issue that the client's having and the way the clients benefit is they traditionally will either get a lot more efficiency out of the assets or safety. 

Berkana has been an integral partner with a lot of the oil and gas industry for years, helping provide solutions that drive the industry forward towards greater efficiency from the standpoint of newer technologies like AI and machine learning that are being incorporated now by the industry

Why Cisco and Berkana’s New Partnership Is Building a Better Future 

Rachel: In May, Berkana was selected by Cisco as a Design-In partner. What does this partnership mean and how will it benefit Berkana's customers when it comes to your service offering?

Jeff: Well, it's a huge deal from our perspective, because from the Design-In side of the house, they provide a lot of resources for us to develop solutions at the edge. We're seeing more and more solutions go out to the edge, such as demand for more data, for more efficiency at the edge. 

And Cisco, through Design-In, helps solve a lot of those problems. Some of the issues are centred around the technology. Some are centred around security, and data transmission. I mean, how do I get the data connectivity implemented? How do I get the data to the right location and how do I do that securely? And what can I do at that edge layer? 

With the Cisco equipment with the new technology that they've introduced, we can actually load applications at the edge layer and provide solutions to clients. Everything from just data transmission, through implementing AI on specific assets or AI for the whole process. Then you can also connect to the cloud of course, and bring in things like machine learning. From our perspective, it gave us a huge advantage and a huge benefit to provide our clients with edge solutions.

How Oil and Gas Companies are Adopting New Technologies 

Rachel: Dave, can you provide an example of a case where you've acquired Cisco's technology and expertise to find hard to reach data?

Dave: What we have done, is provide a number of solutions where large corporations are upgrading and moving from older technology to new technology. The problem was just how to do that without disrupting their current production. What we've done is design entire networks that sit in parallel with their existing ones and allowed them, utilizing Cisco equipment, to move from older technology to newer technology. Therefore, increasing optimization and availability of assets in the field.

How the Oil and Gas Sector Is Leveraging Crucial Data

Rachel: How does connecting an operator to this data make their business decisions better?

Dave: With the case of a pipeline, you're looking at different portions of the flow of product through a large pipe. The more you can actually gain the data, the better the model you can build of what's actually happening to your process. This allows optimization of moving the product along the pipeline, and it also increases security from environmental impact because now you have a model that you can look for anomalies and find leak detection and processing so that it's easier to find when an anomaly occurs.

Why the Oil and Gas Industry is Turning Towards Security Technology 

Rachel: Dave, what are some trends you are noticing when you assess customer infrastructure when it comes to technology, security and compliance?

Dave: There is a larger concentration on security. People are becoming aware that infrastructure assets are a prime target for nefarious operators on the outside. With Cisco's technology, we have the ability to move a lot more security down to the asset level. Now we're putting in encryption and anomaly detection. First of all, with encryption, we can stop nefarious actors and with anomaly detection, we can see if there are protocols that shouldn't be there.

Measuring Success Within the Industry 

Rachel: Jeff, what inspired you to start Berkana Resources? What does success look like for you?

Jeff: Success means that we've met or exceeded the client's expectations when we get engaged for a project. It's really that simple for why I started it. 

I actually am a serial entrepreneur. This is my fifth company, and I at one point got into IT and didn't have a great experience. So I merged a company, went back into process control to try to help clients that actually deal with real assets in the real world. 

For me, critical infrastructure was just a really exciting place to go. I felt that we could actually make a difference. It's really an amazing space. The people are fantastic that we work with. We like our customers. They're very smart people. I mean, every time anybody goes to turn on a light switch or pump gas at a gas station, there's a bunch of people that we work with that are very good at providing those services to people. To me, it was just very appealing to go back into the process and see if we can make a difference.

Rachel: 

Thank you so much, Jeff and Dave, it was a pleasure chatting with both of you learning about Berkana Resources and about your partnership with Cisco. Thank you so much.

Learn More About Efficiency Support For the Oil and Gas Industry 

Looking towards the future, technologies such as AI and machine learning will become commonplace in the energy sector as more oil and gas companies invest in improving safety and maximizing efficiency. Berkana’s partnership with Cisco provides clients with new operational opportunities to maximize their assets. 

If you’re interested in learning more about topics like edge solutions and increasing the efficiency of oil and gas operations from industry leaders, register for the next Global Energy Show today.